Flash Fiction Craft Talk
I recently read The Art of Brevity. Crafting the Very Short Story by Grant Faulkner (University of New Mexico Press, 2023), and this is a craft book you want on your shelf.
Faulkner writes on everything that makes flash and micro, well, flash and micro. White space, poetic techniques, repetition, titles, endings, and how everyone has (because we can never agree on anything) a slightly different definition of what constitutes flash and micro fiction.
Each chapter is nuanced yet expansive, and ends with a specific prompt.
I believe flash is the hardest form to write well. It’s not just a slice of life story, neatly wrapped up at the end. Flash forces us to make much with little.
In his introduction, Faulkner writes “Flash communicates via caesuras and crevices. There is no asking for more, no premise of comprehensiveness, because flash fiction is a form that privileges excision over agglomeration, . . .” (page 3)
What is left out of flash is as important as what is put in. Every word must lift weight. Every white space is meaningful. Each paragraph must lead us forward or disrupt us, either overtly or covertly. While the flash, at first glance, may not follow standard narration (though it may), each sentence and each paragraph must build upon themselves to an overall cohesion.
Flash’s 1000-word constraint forces you to think through your decisions as a writer. It encourages you to think outside the box because you’re already in a very narrow box of word count. But how freeing is that?!? The sky’s the limit, really, on what you can do with flash and how you achieve it on the page. Does starting the story at the end make the most sense and pack the most punch? Do it. Does repeating a certain word or phrase build the tension you’re looking for? Then do it.
The only thing I will truly caution against is wrapping up a flash in a neat little bow. It’s like death to flash, those neat little endings, those ta-da moments. I see it happen far too often, where a flash has my attention, only to be disappointed when that proverbial rabbit is pulled out of the hat at the very end.
I highly recommend Faulkner’s craft book. He’s far more eloquent and thorough than I could ever be. You can purchase it in paperback or ePub HERE
A fun, subversive, and oh so very human novel I read this month is Scott Mitchel May’s Awful People. Scott is one of my favorite people in this world, and finally getting to meet him at AWP this year was one of my top highlights. You can buy his book from Malarkey Books HERE
I published a new flash in the wonderful Ghost Parachute this month. You can check “Baby” out HERE
Until next time. Keep reading. Keep writing. Keep living.