Flash fiction
Encyclopedia
Flash fiction is a style of fictional literature or fiction
of extreme brevity. There is no widely accepted definition of the length of the category. Some self-described markets for flash fiction impose caps as low as three hundred words, while others consider stories as long as a thousand words to be flash fiction.
In one particular format, established by Steve Moss
, Editor of the New Times, the requirement is 55 words; no more and no fewer. Another, unspecified but frequently held, requirement is that the title may be no more than seven words. Hyphens do not alter the word-count (that is, "word count" has as many words as "word-count"). However, an exception to the hyphen rule is that if a hyphenated word cannot be separated, then the hyphenated word could be considered one word. As an example, (as given by the website, see reference) the word "co-worker" can be considered one word, where "long-suffering" is two words.
"sudden fiction".
The term "flash fiction" may have originated from a 1992 anthology
of that title. As the editors said in their introduction, their definition of a "flash fiction" was a story that would fit on two facing pages of a typical digest-sized literary magazine
.
Amazon has a large assortment of flash fiction anthologies, some of which are collections by many different authors.
, and practitioners have included Saadi
of Shiraz (The Gulistan
), Bolesław Prus, Anton Chekhov
, O. Henry
, Franz Kafka
, H.P. Lovecraft, Yasunari Kawabata
, Ernest Hemingway
, Julio Cortázar
, Arthur C. Clarke
, Ray Bradbury
, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Fredric Brown
. New life has been brought to flash fiction by the Internet
, with its demand for short, concise works. Ezines and hypertext literary spaces offer writers a ready market for flash-fiction works. However, flash fiction is also published by many print magazines. Markets specializing in flash fiction include Flash Fiction Online
, Vestal Review
. The Micro Award, created in 2007, is the first award dedicated solely for flash fiction.
One type of flash fiction is the short story with an exact word count
. Examples include 55 Fiction
, the Drabble
and the 69er. Nanofictions are complete stories, with at least one character and a discernible plot, exactly fifty-five words long. A Drabble
is a story of exactly one hundred words, excluding titles, and a 69er is a story of exactly sixty-nine words, again excluding the title. The 69er was a regular feature of the Canadian literary magazine NFG, which featured a section of such stories in each issue.
in that the flash-fiction might contain the classic story elements: protagonist
, conflict, obstacles or complications, and resolution. However, unlike the case with a traditional short story
, the limited word length often forces some of these elements to remain unwritten, that is, hinted at or implied in the written storyline. This principle, taken to the extreme, is illustrated in a possibly apocrypha
l story about a six-word flash reportedly penned by Ernest Hemingway
: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."
The Micro Award is presented annually for the best English language flash fiction work of the prior year. Eligible stories must not exceed 1000 words in length. Bruce Holland Rogers
won the first award in 2008 for his story, "Reconstruction Work
," published in Flash Fiction Online
. The 2008-2010 awards were given by Robert Laughlin. The 2011 Micro Award will be accepting nominations this fall and will announce the winner of the 4th annual award on February 17, 2011.
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
of extreme brevity. There is no widely accepted definition of the length of the category. Some self-described markets for flash fiction impose caps as low as three hundred words, while others consider stories as long as a thousand words to be flash fiction.
In one particular format, established by Steve Moss
Steve Moss
Stephen Donnellan Moss was an editor and publisher who founded two major weekly newspapers in California’s Central Coast and created the 55 Fiction short story contest....
, Editor of the New Times, the requirement is 55 words; no more and no fewer. Another, unspecified but frequently held, requirement is that the title may be no more than seven words. Hyphens do not alter the word-count (that is, "word count" has as many words as "word-count"). However, an exception to the hyphen rule is that if a hyphenated word cannot be separated, then the hyphenated word could be considered one word. As an example, (as given by the website, see reference) the word "co-worker" can be considered one word, where "long-suffering" is two words.
Terms
Other names for flash fiction include sudden fiction, microfiction, micro-story, short short, postcard fiction and short short story, though distinctions are sometimes drawn between some of these terms; for example, sometimes one-thousand words is considered the cut-off between "flash fiction" and the slightly longer short storyShort story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
"sudden fiction".
The term "flash fiction" may have originated from a 1992 anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
of that title. As the editors said in their introduction, their definition of a "flash fiction" was a story that would fit on two facing pages of a typical digest-sized literary magazine
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
.
Amazon has a large assortment of flash fiction anthologies, some of which are collections by many different authors.
History
Flash fiction has roots going back to Aesop's FablesAesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica are a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today...
, and practitioners have included Saadi
Saadi (poet)
Abū-Muḥammad Muṣliḥ al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī better known by his pen-name as Saʿdī or, simply, Saadi, was one of the major Persian poets of the medieval period. He is not only famous in Persian-speaking countries, but he has also been quoted in western sources...
of Shiraz (The Gulistan
Gulistan of Sa'di
The Gulistan is a landmark literary work in Persian literature, perhaps its single most influential work of prose. Written in 1259 CE, it is one of two major works of the Persian poet Sa'di, considered one of the greatest medieval Persian poets. It is also one of his most popular books, and...
), Bolesław Prus, Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
, O. Henry
O. Henry
O. Henry was the pen name of the American writer William Sydney Porter . O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.-Early life:...
, Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
, H.P. Lovecraft, Yasunari Kawabata
Yasunari Kawabata
was a Japanese short story writer and novelist whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to receive the award...
, Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
, Julio Cortázar
Julio Cortázar
Julio Cortázar, born Jules Florencio Cortázar, was an Argentine writer. Cortázar, known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, influenced an entire generation of Spanish speaking readers and writers in the Americas and Europe.-Early life:Cortázar's parents, Julio José Cortázar and...
, Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
, Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Fredric Brown
Fredric Brown
Fredric Brown was an American science fiction and mystery writer. He was born in Cincinnati.He had two sons: James Ross Brown and Linn Lewis Brown ....
. New life has been brought to flash fiction by the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, with its demand for short, concise works. Ezines and hypertext literary spaces offer writers a ready market for flash-fiction works. However, flash fiction is also published by many print magazines. Markets specializing in flash fiction include Flash Fiction Online
Flash Fiction Online
Flash Fiction Online is the first online magazine dedicated to professionalizing flash fiction in its own right.Flash fiction is loosely defined as stories of one thousand or fewer words, although the defining parameters vary from one publisher to another. Flash Fiction Online accepts stories from...
, Vestal Review
Vestal Review
Vestal Review is the oldest magazine dedicated to flash fiction. It has been published continuously since March 2000. Vestal Review was featured on NPR, formerly National Public Radio, in 2004 and is a recipient of a Broome Council of the Arts grant...
. The Micro Award, created in 2007, is the first award dedicated solely for flash fiction.
One type of flash fiction is the short story with an exact word count
Word count
The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. Word count is commonly used by...
. Examples include 55 Fiction
55 Fiction
55 Fiction is a form of microfiction that refers to the works of fiction that are either limited to a maximum of fifty-five words or have a requirement of exactly 55 words .-Origin:...
, the Drabble
Drabble
A drabble is an extremely short work of fiction of exactly one hundred words in length, although the term is often erroneously used to indicate a short story of fewer than 1000 words...
and the 69er. Nanofictions are complete stories, with at least one character and a discernible plot, exactly fifty-five words long. A Drabble
Drabble
A drabble is an extremely short work of fiction of exactly one hundred words in length, although the term is often erroneously used to indicate a short story of fewer than 1000 words...
is a story of exactly one hundred words, excluding titles, and a 69er is a story of exactly sixty-nine words, again excluding the title. The 69er was a regular feature of the Canadian literary magazine NFG, which featured a section of such stories in each issue.
Vignette
Flash fiction differs from a vignetteVignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
in that the flash-fiction might contain the classic story elements: protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
, conflict, obstacles or complications, and resolution. However, unlike the case with a traditional short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
, the limited word length often forces some of these elements to remain unwritten, that is, hinted at or implied in the written storyline. This principle, taken to the extreme, is illustrated in a possibly apocrypha
Apocrypha
The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....
l story about a six-word flash reportedly penned by Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."
Micro Award
The Micro Award was established in 2007 by author Robert Laughlin to recognize outstanding flash fiction of both print and electronic media.The Micro Award is presented annually for the best English language flash fiction work of the prior year. Eligible stories must not exceed 1000 words in length. Bruce Holland Rogers
Bruce Holland Rogers
Bruce Holland Rogers is an American author of short fiction who also writes under the pseudonym Hanovi Braddock. His stories have won a Pushcart Prize, two Nebula Awards, the Bram Stoker Award, two World Fantasy Awards, the Micro Award, and have been nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award and...
won the first award in 2008 for his story, "Reconstruction Work
Reconstruction Work
"Reconstruction Work" is a flash fiction short story by Bruce Holland Rogers. It first appeared in the December 2007 issue of Flash Fiction Online and won the inaugural Micro Award in 2008. The story is of a conversation between a funeral home employee and the granddaughter of a deceased woman...
," published in Flash Fiction Online
Flash Fiction Online
Flash Fiction Online is the first online magazine dedicated to professionalizing flash fiction in its own right.Flash fiction is loosely defined as stories of one thousand or fewer words, although the defining parameters vary from one publisher to another. Flash Fiction Online accepts stories from...
. The 2008-2010 awards were given by Robert Laughlin. The 2011 Micro Award will be accepting nominations this fall and will announce the winner of the 4th annual award on February 17, 2011.
Winners and Nominees
| Year | Winner | Published in |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | “Reconstruction Work Reconstruction Work "Reconstruction Work" is a flash fiction short story by Bruce Holland Rogers. It first appeared in the December 2007 issue of Flash Fiction Online and won the inaugural Micro Award in 2008. The story is of a conversation between a funeral home employee and the granddaughter of a deceased woman... ” by Bruce Holland Rogers Bruce Holland Rogers Bruce Holland Rogers is an American author of short fiction who also writes under the pseudonym Hanovi Braddock. His stories have won a Pushcart Prize, two Nebula Awards, the Bram Stoker Award, two World Fantasy Awards, the Micro Award, and have been nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award and... |
Flash Fiction Online Flash Fiction Online Flash Fiction Online is the first online magazine dedicated to professionalizing flash fiction in its own right.Flash fiction is loosely defined as stories of one thousand or fewer words, although the defining parameters vary from one publisher to another. Flash Fiction Online accepts stories from... |
| 2009 | “Let x” by Chad Simpson Chad Simpson (author) Chad Simpson is a short and flash fiction author from Monmouth, Illinois. He has written numerous stories that have appeared in multiple literary magazines. His flash story "Let x" won the second annual Micro Award in 2009. "Let x" originally appeared in Esquire.com. Simpson earned a BA from... |
Esquire.com Esquire (magazine) Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:... |
| 2010 | “The Children’s Factory” by Michael Stewart |
Birkensnake 2 |
| 2011 | “Choosing a Photograph for Mother's Obituary" by Kevin A. Couture |
The Antigonish Review |
External links
- Flash What? A Quick Look at Flash Fiction by Jason Gurley
- The Micro Award: The First Annual Award for Outstanding Flash Fiction
- What is Flash Fiction? An Essay by Kathy Kachelries and Steve Smith
- Flash Fiction by Miriam N. Kotzin
- The Essentials of Micro-Fiction by Camille Renshaw in Pif MagazinePif MagazinePif Magazine is one of the oldest, continually published literary zines online. Founded in 1995 by Richard Luck, the magazine has published original works by authors such as Amy Hempel, Julia Slavin, Richard Yates, and David Lehman, as well as interviews with modern literary greats like A. Manette...
- Writing Flash Fiction by G.W. Thomas
- Anatomy of a Micro Fiction by Bob Thurber
- Flashes On The Meridian: Dazzled by Flash Fiction by Pamelyn Casto
- Flashfiction.net Website devoted to Flash Fiction
- Vestal Review Published by Mark Budman