A few years ago, I hit writer’s block. I was halfway through writing my first novel and I was stuck. I needed a side project, something to give my brain a break from my work-in-progress but keep me on track with my writing habits.
This was when I discovered flash fiction. Flash fiction is an entire standalone story anywhere between 500-1500 words (called flash because you can read it “in a flash”). The challenge being that you must work through an entire plot structure within the constraints of the word count.
If you are a plotter, here are some helpful tips to structure your flash fiction using the most effective and “right-brained” way. If you are a pantser and find yourself longwinded, this might help you reel it in a bit. I’ll use a 1,000 word example.
Plot Structure of Flash Fiction
Introduction (150 words)
• In flash fiction, the reader should immediately be thrown to the wolves, so to speak. You hardly get a paragraph to explain (in some context) the setting and characters in your story.
Rising Action (600 words)
• This is the meat of your story, where you develop the main conflict and how it affects your protagonist. There are a handful of literary conflicts you can use in flash fiction: (wo)man vs. (wo)man, (wo)man vs. self, (wo)man vs. nature, (wo)man vs. society, and (wo)man vs. technology. Identifying this will help you to stay on track.
• With only 600 words, much is sacrificed. Descriptions, for example, unless they are important to the storyline, should be skimmed until you have developed your story within the confines of the word count.
• Less is not always more; however, metaphors and symbolism go much farther in flash fiction. Foreshadowing, not so much.
Climax (200 words)
• Here is where you have some leeway. Word counts can be shuffled if your climax is a quick confrontation or a simple piece of irony revealed. You’re able to lend more to the rising actions if your climax is abrupt.
• Your conflict needs to be definitely addressed. The main confrontation between (wo)man and the struggle needs to happen. It is incredibly important (unless you are writing literary fiction) that your story include conflict resolution within the story. It’s what John Updike calls the “reader/writer contract.” The reader expects to be delivered to an answer or else the work will seem unfinished.
Resolution (50 words)
• I say only 50 words because flash fiction is often a cut-and-run business. In my personal experience, I often end up killing people in flash fiction because, well, it’s short and sweet and what more can you do?
• The answer is a ton. Softly “closing the door” on your story with a few loose ends is sometimes fun, but be sure to resolve the main conflict
What to Do if Your Flash Fiction is Too Long
The first thing which should be cut from your story is unnecessary description. Clothing, eye color, even minor characters. If you can mash two minor characters into one, you might save some valuable real estate on the page.
What to Do if Your Flash Fiction is Too Short
Nothing. If you have a full plot structure, you are welcome to add in details to beef up the story. If you come up short, I would say you completed the exercise of writing flash fiction.
All in all, unless it is a challenge hosted by some platform you follow, there really are no rules. The famous Somerset Maugham quote goes “There are three rules for writing… Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
Lastly, because I am not John Updike or the genius who defined plot structure or types of literary conflict, here are some links to help you better understand these concepts if they are new to you.
References:
John Updike: In His Own Words
Plot structure
Literary conflict