The Flashiest Fiction

I've started writing flash fiction. Or microfiction, you might hear it called. Very, very short stories. The first one I've written was 112 words.

Incidentally, I've finally started using the Instagram account I've had for months. I've never been one for posting selfies, and I don't have anything interesting to take pictures of. So I've decided to write very short stories, put them in a square with a nice background, and post them to Instagram.

Just like books are divided into length based categories (novellas, novels, epics), so too is flash fiction. The term "flash fiction" itself is used for stories 1,000 words long. "Sudden fiction" is 750 words, "microfiction" is 100, and a "minisaga" is 50. A lot of them show up in literary contests where the goal is to have exactly that number of words.

I'm not so particular, so I'm using "flash fiction" in the general sense. I'm not so much constraining myself by word count, but by overall size. It has to fit in a box of 11.25 in2, with text large enough to read if that image is viewed on a smaller screen, like a phone. That's like 40pt font. So, depending on the length of the words and the distribution of paragraphs, you can fit probably 100-150 words.

Writing very short stories comes with its own challenges. You don't have a lot of time for set up, and backstory, and character development. You don't have a lot of time for plot. So really, what you want is just a moment, that implies a larger story. Just enough information to convey what's going on, and conveyed in a way to imply some kind of character, in some kind of setting.

Did I succeed at that? I don't know. Maybe. I didn't completely fail, I know that at least. I'm sure it's not the best piece of flash fiction, but it's probably also not the worst. And I like it. I'm happy with it.

I've been debating the entire time I've been writing this post if I should share my Instagram. My main reason for hesitation is that my username is not the same as my blog, or in any way writer-related. I could change it, sure, but it's short and easy to remember.

Eh, whatever. Here you go. There's only one story right now, and I'm not sure how often I'll write new ones. I wouldn't say they're easy, because you do have to fit a lot in a little, but once I get an idea, it doesn't take that long. I think I wrote that first one in less than an hour. Most of that is picking just the right words because you don't have a lot of room to spare.

It's the opposite challenge of NaNoWriMo. Rather than trying to get as many words as possible, I'm trying to get as few. It's a nice change of pace. But I should probably get back to my Camp NaNo story, which is probably about 60% done. I still have ideas about where it's going, but I'm running out of July, so I should probably get it done.