Flash fiction
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Likely coined by James Thomas, Denise Thomas, and Tom Hazuka in their 1992 anthology by this name, flash fiction, also called "sudden fiction," "micro-fiction," "postcard fiction" or "short-short fiction," is a sub-genre of the short story characterized by limited word length. There is no "official" or exact word limit, but flash-fiction stories are generally less than 2,000 words long, and tend to cluster in the 250- to 1,000-word range. Occasionally, stories under 1,000 words are categorized as "Flash" and those 1,000-2,000 are described as "Sudden." Regardless, "Traditional" short stories range from 2,000 to upwards of 20,000 words in length, and tend to cluster in the 3,000- to 10,000-word range. A good rule of thumb is that a short story (flash, sudden or traditional) is meant to be read in one sitting, unlike a novella or a novel.
Flash fiction differs from vignettes in that the works contain the classic story elements: protagonist, conflict, obstacles or complications, and resolution. However, unlike a traditional short story, the limited word length often forces some of these elements to be unwritten, that is, hinted at or implied in the written storyline. Ernest Hemingway's six-word flash, "For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn."[citation needed] illustrates this principle taken to the extreme.
Flash fiction has roots going back to Aesop's Fables, and practitioners have included Bolesław Prus, Anton Chekhov, O. Henry, Franz Kafka and Ray Bradbury. The Internet has brought new life to flash fiction with its demands for short, concise works. Ezines are a ready market for flash-fiction works; however, many print magazines publish them as well. Some markets that specialize in flash fiction include SmokeLong Quarterly and Vestal Review.
One type of flash fiction is the short story with an exact word count. An example is 55 Fiction or Nanofiction. These are complete stories, with at least one character and a discernible plot, exactly 55 words long. Another is the Drabble, exactly 100 words, excluding titles. Storybytes.com is a web site and email newsletter with stories whose lengths are powers of 2. Another good example is Short Short Fiction by DBA Lehanewho produces a daily short story of no more than 500 words based on the word-of-the-day at Dictionary.com.
Recently, a new twist on this form has appeared within short fictions written for the web that are created entirely in Flash. [verification needed] These interactive fictions contain audio, video, images, text, and other components. They are uploaded to the web as .swf files, and the user views them using a Flash player already embedded in their browser. Examples of these new types of Flash fictions can be found at webyarns.com, dreamingmethods.com, and other sites.
