flash fiction writing assignment

99 Fun Flash Fiction Writing Prompts

You keep running into microfiction stories in your social media feeds. Some of them are really good, too.

And you’re thinking, “I bet I could write something like that.”

All you need are some inspiring flash fiction prompts to get you started.

Even if you just want to challenge yourself to write more and to share more of what you write, flash fiction is an excellent way to hone your storytelling skills.

And if you win some flash fiction writing challenges along the way, so much the better.

Understanding Flash Fiction

99 flash fiction writing prompts, general flash fiction prompts, fantasy or sci-fi flash fiction prompts, crime/mystery or horror flash fiction prompts, historical or revisionist flash fiction prompts, romance flash fiction prompts.

The trick with flash fiction is to cram a compelling story into 100, 500, or 1,000 words. And while it’s tempting to give your reader some backstory, they’ll thank you for starting in the middle of the action.

Good flash fiction gets right to the juicy stuff — i.e., something that will make it impossible for the reader to put the story down. It should also give them a reason to believe something in the story will leave the main character changed somehow.

This point is where his or her life irrevocably changed, for better or for worse.

That’s the magic of flash fiction: distilling the essence of a life into a story you can read in a few minutes — and that will stay with you long after.

To get you started on your first (or next) short story , we give you the following 99 flash fiction writing prompts .

Keep in mind that your first draft doesn’t have to fit within your target flash fiction word count. That’s what editing is for.

For now, enjoy this list of flash fiction prompts , and get some writing in today when you can.

Who knows which flash fiction ideas will become the seeds for your best stories this year?

1. A new mother gently lays her sleeping infant in the bassinet seconds before the phone rings. She closes her eyes, knowing exactly who it is — and who it isn’t.

2. “They have families, too. What do I have that they don’t ?” he asked, glaring at me. “Nothing. Not a damn thing!”

3. When I woke up, he was gone. All that remained of him were the socks he lent me (still on my feet) and a note he left on my fridge: “You know why I need to do this.”

4. “Well, what I find very interesting is…” he began, and she sank into her chair, exhaling quietly and turning her attention to the empty fields outside.

5. “I’ve noticed you don’t hang out with girls your age,” he said. “I think it’s because you’re less… developed than they are.” I looked at him and felt nothing, at first.

6. My arm slipped on the wet tile, and I went under. When my hand found the rope, I pulled myself up and out of the pool, gasping for air. None of them had noticed.

7. She stood shivering knee-deep in the surf and laughed. “Come and get me,” she called out. The waves heard and came galloping to meet her.

8. “Don’t say that,” she said. “They can hear you.” He looked at the trees and then at her. “You okay?” And then, not a question, “You really think trees can hear us.”

9. “I nailed the last window shut,” she said. “Those cats are smart. Strong little buggers, too. But they’re not getting out, now!” I smiled and closed my door.

10. People make assumptions about women with short hair, comfortable clothing, and practical shoes. I knew that. I’ve even used it to my benefit. But the words stung.

11. He was responsible for all those kids , and their parents won’t let him forget. He stops at the memorial display to set a teddy bear in front of one of the pictures.

12. Measuring it out each night wasn’t helping. It was all too easy to splash in another few ounces when he was downstairs, and the girls were in the bathroom.

13. “What kind of mother lets her kids do things like that? Are you a Christian? Most libs aren’t. Are you?” I saw my mother’s face in my mind as I answered, “No.”

14. The yarn felt soft to the touch, and the dark green reminded her of the piece of polished kambaba jasper on her desk. Working with it would help distract her.

15. She let me hug her then when I asked. She shook, and I tightened my hold. “It’s normal, after what you went through, to feel disoriented… rattled… I think I’m still in shock.” I felt her nod. “Me, too… Please don’t tell Dad.”

16. In less than twenty minutes, she would come out of the room, and we’d spend the new few minutes in silent chaos preparing dinner.

17. The man called from Pennsylvania, pretending to be her 18-year-old grandson, calling her “Grandma.” He was “so embarrassed.” She kept him on the line a bit longer.

18. “You couldn’t have stopped me,” she said. “I’m so scared,… and so angry! I know what’s at stake, but I’m too young to vote. There’s nothing I can do!”

19. It was the last time he’d gotten away with making tasteless jokes about her size. Now, he sat alone in the closet that used to be her office while she enjoyed the view from her new one.

20. I have this freaky sense of how dangerous people are just by looking at them. My dad was an 8. My new lab partner at school has been giving me a strong 10 vibe.

21. He clicked on the arrow, and I watched a video recording of myself doing exactly what he’d described. Only I didn’t remember any of it.

22. “I just want you to know how sorry I am,” he said. “We don’t know why your clone turned on you the way she did. We’re looking into it.”

23. Eating disorders are virtually unknown in this age, since everyone receives daily rations based on their nutritional needs. So, why the box of chocolates?

24. I woke up to the glare of a flashlight shining in my face and a hand clamped over my mouth. “Not a word. They’re close, now. And you’re just their type.”

25. I finally had my very own AI housekeeper. She learned quickly, anticipating every need. What I never expected was the look she gave me when I thanked her.

26. He’d found the ring during one of his digs and had never turned it over to his boss. “It’s perfect for you,” he said. So perfect that I could no longer remove it.

27. Though obviously in her 20’s, she was dressed in the same clothes I’d seen earlier on Mrs. Alder. She smiled at me nervously before reaching into her purse.

28. No one told me that the changes I would undergo would be this obvious. Had I known what to expect, I wouldn’t be on stage right now.

29. She knew how attached I was to this planet. That’s what this was about. And all because I refused to donate my child — my half-human child — to her service.

30. That was the deal. I do the job, and my BFF spends the rest of her life trapped in an alternate universe, while I step back into the life she stole from me.

31. This was the day to prepare her for the changes she would undergo. She’s trusted me for sixteen years. If I lose her now, we’re all dead.

32. “How could I possibly have been on the other side of the planet an hour ago?” I asked. She tilted her head and smirked. “I didn’t mean all of you.”

33. “So, in one of my past lives, I was a drag queen,” I asked her. She nodded. “A good one, too. Unfortunately, you were… ahead of your time.”

34. Just one capsule, and my mind and body would be upgraded to Human 2.0. I’d be brilliant and hot. The only drawback? My best friend doesn’t want me to take it.

35. He’d finally agreed to get the implant and was demonstrating how easy it was, now, to get into his smart home and pay for his coffee with just a wave.

36. The runt of the litter she might be, but sometimes, it paid to be small. These air vents would never accommodate her brothers.

37. Her neural link with the building’s security system was about to pay for itself.

38. The color scheme was gray in varying shades. She wore a gray sheath with a dark purple jacket and pumps, and, thanks to her implant, her eyes changed color to match. She opened the box in front of me. “It won’t hurt much,” she said.

39. The starship was damaged, and only one person could get it moving again and fix the shield. Unfortunately, he was in a cryogenic sleep to protect him from a virus that would kill him in three days if we woke him.

40. With their alien tech, they’d find her in a matter of minutes. She only needed one.

41. I chose to become part AI to cure my cancer. And I did it for her. So, why was she leaving me for a Luddite princess?

42. I’d designed this vehicle with everything I needed to live off the grid — out of harm’s way — with my alien partner. I wasn’t about to

43. She held the thread between her fingers and gave him a meaningful look. “One snip is all it takes,” she said. He sighed and threw up his hands. “You win.”

44. “The nanites appear to be rewriting your DNA — doing more than we programmed them to do. They’ve gone rogue.” I stared at my hand as my skin changed color.

45. They found her with a full bottle of Jameson and a carefully-wrapped pickle from the deli. “Poor lass,” he said, scowling at the bottle. “Cause of death?”

46. It was too good an opportunity to pass up: $1,000 just to deliver a letter to an old recluse who’d lost his daughter. How was I supposed to know I looked like her?

47. Other pregnant women craved pickles, fries, and Mexican food. Me? I craved my next door neighbor. He looked me up and down and smiled back, inviting me in.

48. After planning to murder her fiancé and almost murdering me, I didn’t expect her to call and tell me I was the one person she could trust.

49. He was the only customer who tipped me that day. The tip had his phone number. Now the phone rang in his pocket as he lay in the dumpster behind my shop.

50. She’d made a habit of challenging him. And for a while, we all thought he liked it, if only deep down. But as he sat across the table from me, I saw the familiar tic.

51. They found him badly bruised and wearing one of those strap-on pregnant bellies, stuffed with rocks. She’d kept her promise to him.

52. He’d died giving her time to run. Today, at the gym, she showed me the ring. When I asked if she knew the masked killer, she looked across the room — to her trainer.

53. He bought me a coffee and a scone, and we talked about his missing sister. They’d argued about her fiancé the day her dog had shown up without her.

54. She rolled down the driver’s side window and yelled, “Hey! What the hell are you doing in this neighborhood? Aliens and half-breeds aren’t welcome here.”

55. He was that sure rust was responsible for the color of the water. “Too much iron,” he said. Smelled more like copper.

56. She kept looking out the window, ignoring my feeble attempts at conversation. Then, with no warning, she turned to face me, the skin around her eyes puffy and red. “You broke your promise. You know what comes next.”

57. Maybe my aunt’s disappearance was proof the town wasn’t ready for a shop run by two women married to each other. Her wife was my first client, and I’d already walked outside to find my tires slashed.

58. He told me to stay in my room that night with the door locked. But those leftover dumplings were calling me. I quietly tested the door and found it wouldn’t open.

59. He spent his last moments crocheting an amigurumi lobster. The murder weapon was a Hot Pocket shoved in his mouth. It left second-degree burns. Messy.

60. One fateful conversation steers Jeffrey Dahmer in a different direction. Five years later, he’s running Hell’s Kitchen with Gordon Ramsey. They don’t get along.

61. “She was wearing the necklace you gave me,” I said. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again before shrugging and looking away. I gripped the door handle.

62. On her desk was a haphazard collection of small gifts, some created and some found. But the folded note resting on her keyboard stood out.

63. The flat gray of the morning sky matched her mood. For now, she sat at her desk, her eyes often wandering to the wooden rune stave. Today, she would do it.

64. The corgi started scratching at the door, standing on his hind legs and peering through the glass. She turned the handle to let him in. “Where’s Colum?”

65. A corrupt and predatory bishop is elected to the papacy. One child, named Petra, loudly prophesies: “With this rock, I will shatter what you’ve built in My Name.”

66. One by one, the women rushed to put out the fire out before it reached the girl’s feet. “Who are they?” one asked her, pointing a blade at the minister. “Name them.”

67. “I do not allow a woman to speak,” he said, quoting St. Paul. “And since when does any woman need your permission to speak?” she asked aloud, rising to her feet

68. King Tut’s tomb was on display for the first time. But as I looked, I saw that something was missing. The fools had taken it, after I’d warned them not to.

69. She held up their second child for the prince to see. “Not another girl,” he said. “And this one even has red hair.” Her face said everything, and she held her baby closer.

70. “We narrowly missed it,” the captain said, “and we owe our lives to this man.” He stood on the Titanic’s deck, his dark skin glistening, and gave a silent nod.

71. She stumbled into his arms, clutching the diary as though it contained the last bread on earth. “You’re safe, now, Anne,” he told her. “Let’s go home.”

72. “Thank God, Charles! They’ve found our baby alive,” she said, embracing and kissing the child as he clung to her, wrapped in a familiar coat.

73. Henry VIII catches his reflection in the mirror and sees another face looking back at him, wearing strange clothes but exuding the same dismissive arrogance.

74. No one knew what happened to Aaron Burr’s daughter when her ship went missing — until a younger version of the same showed up at his door. “I found something.”

75. The aliens have cloned a president and unleashed the horde on a dying planet to speed up its demise. One of them malfunctions and becomes self-aware.

76. Emperor Constantine has just decreed that all Christians must cut ties with the Jews in their communities. What about those who are married to one?

77. I can see the Viking ships approach, and after the conversation I just had with my parents, all I want is change. Yet I can’t help feeling terrified of what might happen.

78. They’re calling it a plague, and it’s already taken one of the elders in our village. My parents tell me it’ll pass and we’ll be all right. One of them turns away to cough.

79. They told me to expect great things from Michaelangelo, so there I was standing in a crowd to watch the unveiling of his newest statue — the one he called David.

80. These were heading straight for our beach in boats larger than any we’d seen before. Each one could hold an army. I held my spear at the ready. (Yucatán, 1517)

81. As a court member, I heard King Henry VIII loudly condemn what he called “buggery” and declare it punishable by death. What would I tell my brother? (1533)

82. A crowd burst through the front doors of the church. We hid and watched them tear down statues and deface paintings. I saw a familiar face among them.

83. My father has coerced me into going with him to condemn the “witch” at her trial. I stand facing Mrs. Olivet for a few long seconds before I blurt out, “She’s innocent!”

84. “I need to know,” she said. “Where do you see us a year from now?”

85. “You know whatever you choose, I’ll be there, right?” he whispered. I exhaled, closing my eyes, and leaned into him. I knew. “I’ll have the Reuben. And a beer.”

86. The date started out well. He showed up with a rose and cartons of Indian takeout. After we ate, he withdrew a stone from his pocket, and asked, “You trust me?”

87. “So, you’re asexual,” he said. “Does that mean you can never…?” “No,” I said. “It means I’d rather not — most of the time.” He sighed, nodding. “All right, then.”

88. “Did you take notes today in class?” he asked, catching up with me. The dark circles stood out against his ashen face. “I did.” “Trade you a peek for some coffee?”

89. A couple sits at a table in the restaurant where they first met. One of them is acting nervous, fidgeting with a letter.

90. The first thing she said when I told her was, “You’re young. It’s too soon to tell something like that. And what have you been watching lately?”

91. No one expects an amateur sleuth not to be straight. There I was looking at the stereotypical hunky cop, and all I could think was, “Do you have a sister?”

92. “Don’t be ridiculous. Soulmates are for people who believe in a sadistic creator who watches from a distance and laughs when they make a mess of things.”

93. She lay there like a steampunk sleeping beauty. I took a step closer, and she rolled out of bed, grabbed something from underneath the pillow, and threw it toward me. It pierced my shoulder, and the tray in my hands fell, clattering to the floor.

94. I was sure the double date was a terrible idea. But I didn’t expect her to start flirting with my date. Her date and I left early and went for a walk.

95. He stood there waiting for us in the foyer, and his face lit up at the sight of my sister. I swallowed and put on a smile as I let her step ahead of me.

96. The ferris wheel froze with us at the top, and I regretted leaving my jacket with Nell and Jack down below. I glanced at the stranger next to me, and he smiled nervously, taking slow, deep breaths. “They’ll fix it soon,” I said.

97. The snow fell steadily, slowly burying her car as the wind blew clouds of tiny flakes against the window. “I’ll get you some blankets for the couch.”

98. I knocked on the door, sure he’d been spying on me, and determined to confront him. He saw me and smiled warmly, inviting me in.

99. I gave the taxi my address. So, why had he taken me here? A stranger opened the door then and said, “Good! You’re here. Let me show you around.”

62 of the Best Flash Fiction Story Prompts

Flash fiction is a highly underrated branch of fictional writing. It is essentially just an extremely short story. Flash fiction usually falls under 1000 words, though some may stretch it to 1500. Flash fiction doesn’t usually become popular the way a novel or even certain short stories do, but it is a very valuable form of writing. Even if they aren’t highly read or recognized, writing good flash fiction is a true test of a writer’s abilities and creativity.

Flash fiction can be deceptively difficult. You don’t have very much time to reveal information or develop characters. For this reason, it is a challenge that every writer of fiction should take on at least occasionally. If you’ve never done it before, finding some flash fiction prompts is a good way to start. You can find many in our writing prompt generator .

The great thing about flash fiction prompts is that they don’t have to be complex ideas. The story doesn’t have to stretch very far. Short, simple, and catchy ideas will do just fine for some flash fiction prompts to help you get started.

A Quick Overview Before Getting Into Flash Fiction Prompts

Before diving into your flash fiction venture, take a moment to think about how you can make your flash fiction interesting and effective. Consider these tips:

Start in the middle of the action. You don’t have time for lengthy exposition or character backstory.
Don’t use a lot of characters. You won’t have time to describe any of them. Sometimes characters are not even named unless it is relevant or significant to the story in some way.
Make your title bold and strong.
Don’t actually end the story. Leave the resolution up in the air. End it on a cliffhanger that will never be realized. This will make it stick in the reader’s mind.
Make sure your last line leaves them wondering. In addition to the climax that will never resolve, don’t let the last line give off a “finished” feeling. Don’t bring your readers to the end, but take them somewhere new with the last line. A place where they will continue to question and wonder about the ideas and themes of the story.

General Flash Fiction Prompts

A character with chronic sleepwalking problems one day goes on an adventure as he does what his waking self was too afraid to do all these years.
The protagonist is painting an image of what he thought was fictional, but it suddenly triggers forgotten childhood memories.
The paranoid protagonist is convinced she is being spied on and breaks into her neighbors’ house to confront them. She is met with more than she expected.
Someone does something extreme to return a borrowed item from many years ago.
Write a story that contains ONLY dialogue.
Recount a personal experience but write it from the perspective of someone who was on the sidelines.
Your character is a young child’s imaginary friend. The child is growing up, and their friend is slowly fading away.
There is an urban legend floating around about a taxi that doesn’t take you where you want to go, but rather where you need to go. Write about a character that gets into this taxi. Where do they go and why? Alternately – who or what is the driver?
Write about a character whose house is burning down. Their family escapes out the front. They escape out the back and run into the forest in a panic and get lost. When they are unaccounted for by rescuers, they are pronounced dead. Rather than show up and correct everyone, they decide to roll with it for a while.
Write about someone who is observing their own funeral from out of sight
Your character is literally the devil himself, taking human form because he got bored in hell. He’s actually a pretty fun guy and a good, respectful roommate.

Action Flash Fiction Prompts

A school bus driver falls asleep and it is up to some 10-year-old students to steer the bus and their class to safety.
A young teenager is babysitting for the first time. The house is in the middle of a forest and despite being locked up really well, a robbery commences. She must fight to protect the children.
A patient’s heart has stopped and they embark on a supernatural journey that leaves with a new outlook on life.
Write about a character who is caught in the middle of a devastating natural disaster, but for some reason, he remains untouched and unharmed.
Write about a character who is the clone of a master criminal. They were created solely for science – to study the mind. But, they want a life of their own.
A teenager has the ability to see how dangerous a person is – on a scale of 1-10 – simply by looking at them. An angry man with an assault rifle and a list of enemies would be a 7 or 8. The new kid at school is measuring 10 every day.
Your character committed a murder decades ago. It was investigated but went cold after a couple of years. Suddenly, a detective shows up at their door asking some questions.
Your character slowly starts to realize that all her closest friends are actually secret agents who have been tasked with keeping her alive. At her 21st birthday party, with all her friends around her, the people who are after her finally arrive.
Write a scene that happens right after a tragedy. Don’t reveal what the tragedy was.

Thriller Story Prompts

A sailor returns home from the sea only to find that his wife somehow knows everything that happened with him while he was away.
Write about a character who is born into a family of highly respected superheroes. But, he never sees them as they are always out and about saving people and fighting crime. The only family time they ever get is Sunday night dinner where talk of their day jobs is not permitted. Your character realizes that the only way to see his family is to become a villain. Sunday night dinner just became much more interesting.

Romance Flash Fiction Prompts

A glimpse into a Victorian-era love story. Write about a single day or a single moment in their lives.
Winter is the only time two lovers can be together, for whatever reason.
A double date goes slightly awry when two girls begin to fall for each other’s boyfriends.
Two strangers are caught at the top of a broken roller coaster. A love story ensues.
Write about one character from two perspectives. One person is in love with them, the other hates them.
Write about a romance that had every chance to succeed but one person damaged the relationship beyond repair.
Whenever a heart breaks, so does a piece of the world. This is where cracks, fissures, and valley’s come from. Write about the story behind the grand canyon.
Everyone is born with two tattoos. One matches their soulmate and the other matches their biggest enemy. Write about a character who’s two tattoos are the same.
A women goes on a lot of dates and becomes frustrated that it never seems to work out. It’s not actually multiple guys, it’s a shapeshifter who has fallen in love with her. He vows to get it right one of these times.

Historical Flash Fiction Prompts

A king with six wives… and a secret boyfriend.
The Salem witch trials are well underway. Unfortunately, the witches are the only ones who can save the world from an impending alien attack.
Your character is burning old, historic family photos one by one. Why?

Horror Story Prompts

The building is burning and someone is trapped. The smoke is thick and they start seeing words written in it.
Someone finally learns the origin and meaning of their longtime recurring nightmare.
A world-renowned surgeon is curing patients of cancer. The technology he is using to do so is leading to shared hallucinations which cause his patients to do the bidding of a mysterious leader. He is secretly the leader, and he is controlling them. Write from a patient’s perspective.
An alien community has invaded earth and is biding their time before the takeover. They are staying under the radar by hiding in the lifesize character costumes at theme parks.
The protagonist receives a strange text message warning her NOT to look at the moon. Her phone is full of other messages, notifications and posts raving about how beautiful the moon is. Everyone is encouraging everyone else to look at it.
Write about a character who sold their soul to the devil years ago. The devil appears one day to return the soul because it is just too burdened for even the devil himself.
Your character is watching a video recording of themselves. What they are seeing is not what they remember.
Your protagonist finds a collection of “missing person’s” flyers and newspaper clippings. They all contain their photos, spanning their entire life.
Write about a world where dreams are the currency. In order to achieve yours, you must shatter someone else’s beyond repair.
Your character accidentally finds some old, buried home videos. The first few are nice, until they realize something – there is a sibling in the videos that they have no recollection of.
Once a year, dream catchers need to be emptied of all the nightmares they have collected. Where do the nightmares go?

Fantasy Flash Fiction Prompts

A young teen boy struggles with his newfound identity as a werewolf. It doesn’t help that he ends up going through his very first transition in front of the whole town.
A group of friends angers an evil wizard and he transforms them into board game pieces. They must complete the game in order to return to the real world.
Everyone is born knowing the day they are going to die. Write about a character whose day of death already passed, but they are not dead.
Write about a character who suddenly wakes up with the ability to detect any and all lies immediately. It turns out their best friend of 20 years has lied about everything, including their name.
Your character has always been able to read minds. They are used to it by now. Until one day, someone talks to them through thought.
Write about a character who is interrogated by authorities. A man comes in and presents them with multiple photographs, all from different points in history. Your character is in all of them, but they don’t know why nor do they remember any of the photos… except for one.
Your character wakes up with no memories. Everyone tells them that they were in a bad car crash and are suffering amnesia. They accept this and go about their lives. Ten years later, they find an old journal of theirs that tells a very different story.
When your protagonist asks someone a question, they can mentally see the real answer, no matter what the person says. It’s most entertaining, until one day they look in the mirror and ask a question they really shouldn’t have.
Astronauts are exploring more and more of mars. One day they come across a cave that contains a single human skeleton and a short note.

Dystopian Story Prompts

A new injection is being test run in a high school. It is a serum that instantly gives kids great knowledge – the idea is to replace formal education. Everyone’s set of information is a little different. Write about a character who has gained the knowledge to somehow stop the program in its tracks.
Evolution is starting to go backward. Humans are reverting back to instinct. Behavior is more closely resembling that of animals every day. What does this look like?
The entire world is at war. A small group of humans in one city have taken over and locked down a subway system. They are running out of supplies – what do they see when they are forced to venture out for the first time in several years?

Published in Writing Prompts

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When You Write

Flash Fiction Writing Guide with 15 Flash Fiction Writing Prompts

Flash fiction always presents an exciting challenge: write an incredible story in a bite-sized word count.

Challenge accepted! Anytime. Any day.

For us writers, flash fiction presents an opportunity to play and practice with word choice, try some creative ideas, and keep a check on our writing abilities.

For the readers, flash fiction might be a short read but it’s still a difficult undertaking for writers, and the fact that it’s tough to get recognition or money solely from writing flash fiction makes it even harder to devote time to this type of writing in fiction .

However, flash fiction prompts are usually simple; just a short catchy idea and you’re good to go.

Alright then, let’s get started!

Types of Short Stories

Before I go on to talk about flash, I’d like to briefly define the types of writing in short stories that are there. Of course, there are varieties of formats, and some of these formats are unique in so many ways but I’ll just briefly define them.

An anecdote is a brief, interesting account of a real incident. An anecdote tells a story about an actual incident or person.

A drabble is a very short piece of fiction, normally having a word count of 100 words.

Mini-saga/Dribble

A mini-saga is a type of short story written in 50 words precisely.

Simply put, a fable is a short moral story. The story often features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, and other things. The moral is told at the end of the story.

Flash fiction

Finally, we have flash fiction.

What Is Flash Fiction?

We can define flash fiction as a very short version of a short story. This type of short fiction can be as long as 1500 words depending on the publishing platform.

There isn’t a set word count that tells it apart from the usual short stories. However, flash fiction is so brief that it doesn’t offer much room for a comprehensive backstory or character development.

Writing flash fiction requires the wizardry of compacting entire story ideas into a couple of short paragraphs . It’s like loading an entire planet, like earth, into a cargo plane.

Flash fiction has most of the elements that longer stories have. The skeleton is basically the same—the story has a beginning, middle, end, and it has the main character.

Good flash fiction utilizes the following elements: Brevity, surprise endings, and rich language.

Brevity : Usually, flash fiction has to tell a complete story in 1500 words or less, or… a lot less.

Rich language : Flash fiction uses poetic language to give the story a thicker texture. Creativity in this short fiction category includes great story ideas and knowing to use impactful words.

Surprise Endings : I have emphasized this point in this section. Good flash fiction writers know how to twist their story ending. They always try to finesse the reader’s expectations and when they succeed, it means they’ve succeeded at making the end a good one.

Why Write Flash Fiction?

There are a lot of reasons for writing flash fiction. For me, writing flash fiction is just pure fun. Most of the time, I join flash fiction writing challenges on social media.

For a lot of writers, writing flash fiction helps them escape from the rough grip of writer’s block. Flash fiction does help shake up the creative juices and give you enough motivation to go back to writing longer fiction.

Other writers treat flash fiction writing as a way of practicing and strengthening their writing abilities—just like the way athletes train to keep themselves in shape.

How to Write Captivating Flash Fiction

Flash fiction is a type of short fiction but writing it is a tall order—the creativity that goes into creating this short read cannot be underestimated.

Here are a couple of tips that will help you write good flash fiction.

1. Make Every Word Count!

With such a small word count, you can’t afford to use ineffective words—you’ll end up writing a lot of things and saying very little. To make sure every word is effective, you have to use strong imagery and help your readers visualize your story.

2. Don’t Spread Your Story Too Thin

Flash fiction doesn’t offer you as much freedom as a novel or a novella does. This means that you have to be economical with your elements. One or two characters will do; too many characters will only complicate things as you have to fit them all into a very short story.

Sometimes you’ll notice that the story needs more characters. If this happens, you have to consider moving it to the short story section.

Otherwise, you have to remove any excess characters and inessential dialogue.

3. Be Economical with Your Scenes Too

Again, you have to remember that you don’t have many words to waste and you can’t stuff more than two scenes into a piece of flash fiction.

The best way to go about this is to let your story revolve around one particular moment in time. Then, just make sure you make this moment as captivating as possible.

A story in the flash fiction category doesn’t need extraneous plot points—you have to be concise and freestyle your way through the writing rather than try to map your story as that can lead to a bloated story.

Avoid jumps in time and background stories; there’s neither time nor space for those. Instead, try to describe the character using this single moment or scene.

4. The End Should NEVER be a Cliché

You let your reader end up with the “I knew it’d end this way” feeling. Don’t give us what we expected; rather, try to switch things toward the end.

Try to end your story with a surprise, on a different emotional note than the one the story began on. And since the story is short, this different emotional note will naturally be quick, adding to the enthrallment.

Overused settings are always not impactful—you have to experiment with every story, that’s what creativity is all about.

The thing is: stories are always similar, and it’s hard to create a completely different setting or ending. However, you have to take this as an advantage—tell the reader whatever they expect to hear early on and blow a reader’s mind towards the end.

5. Be Magical With Your Titles

When I say magical, I’m not talking about writing fantasy. What I’m saying is: you have to come up with a title that sort of fulfills our “make every word count” shibboleth.

You only have so few words to work with, you might as well make use of the title to captivate your readers. Even if you’re not sure about your story, the title can act as a honey trap.

6. Don’t Be Ambiguous

Just because your story needs to be wrapped up in a few words doesn’t mean that you have to write a story that isn’t very clear.

If you intend to have an enigmatic ending, then being ambiguous can actually work. However, the rest of the story has to be told using sentences and phrases that are trenchant and replete with dynamic details.

7. Connect With Your Reader

Try to create an instant connection to the reader and make them understand your story better and faster. The faster they connect with the story, the fewer words you need to tell the story.

One way of achieving this is by using the first-person point of view. The first-person POV always succeeds at creating an immediate connection to the reader and you can use this to your advantage.

It’s a NO-NO for a flash fiction piece to have POV shifts. Use one POV, and use that to build the story.

15 Flash Fiction Writing Prompts

Usually, and somehow, my prompts for flash fiction are amusingly longer than the story itself.

But there isn’t a guideline on flash fiction prompts anyway, so they are okay. A flash fiction prompt can be an elaborated idea or a single word.

What matters is creating a story with a good hook, complete arc, and impactful ending. Take a look at some flash fiction prompts I came up with:

A young man meets his father for the first time, at his father’s funeral.
A groom realizes that his bride is a vampire, on their wedding day. He also realizes that he’s the only human at his wedding.
When a car salesman gets back home, he realizes that his dog has been trying to tell him that his wife wants to kill him.
“It’s exactly a minute before I die and I intend to live life to the fullest in the next 60 seconds.”
“Joey, outside, earth as we know it, is gone. The moon is bigger, the air stings, and the soil burns.”
Ted, who was in solitary confinement for six months, escapes from prison but is greeted by a ghostly silent city.
A pirate ship is sinking. Everybody but the captain has abandoned the ill-fated ship. The captain knows what sank his ship and wants to confront it, deep in the Martian sea.
Jeff’s promoter has just informed him that they will make 100 times more money if he loses the fight. Jeff’s 18-year-old son is sitting ringside and the 36-year-old Jeff is burdened with the dilemma of choosing between money and making his son proud.
A homeless man dies and meets the spirit who’s tasked with welcoming him to the ‘afterlife’ but the spirit thinks there’s been a problem. It isn’t the man’s time to die but the homeless man insists he’s more than ready.
Bertha meets the queen of England for the first time. They’re sitting on the same dinner and Bertha is feeling a little tensed up when, suddenly, the queen asks if she’s in the mood for a karaoke battle.
A monk finds himself in a mental institution. He’s trying to figure out what drove him round the bend.
Kiara just ate some ‘mushrooms’ and she, suddenly, finds herself at the bottom of the ocean.

The Difference between the Graphic Fiction and Flash Fiction

Graphic Fiction combines words, picture boards, and typography to tell a story. Take, for example, a comic novel, that’s graphic fiction.

On the other hand, Flash Fiction may be just a brief story and doesn’t have to use pictures to tell a story.

Well… graphic fiction can also be short, but you tell that it’s graphic because of the pictures and their descriptions.

Short Stories and Flash Fiction

People think that the only difference between flash fiction and other short stories is length. However, this is not entirely true—the difference in length leads to other differences.

There isn’t a universally accepted word count for flash fiction and the length varies depending on the publisher. For some publications, the word count lies between 100 and 1,000, while others put it as high as 1,500 words. The range for ‘normal’ short stories is 1,000-10,000 words. You can see that the ranges do overwrap sometimes.

The extreme brevity of a story in the flash fiction category means that the story isn’t given much freedom to develop. On the other hand, a short can contain more details (but, compared to a novella or novel, a short story still enjoys less room for creativity, backstories, etc.).

So, unlike flash fiction, short stories are more flexible and can contain more characters, scenes, and a subplot.

Flash fiction works off one idea for plot and character and, just like other longer forms of short stories, tells a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end with the elements of storytelling in place.

When writing either flash fiction or short stories, you need to be efficient with your word choice, clear and concise. As I said in the tips, remove unnecessary descriptions and dialogue and deal with inessential adjectives and adverbs. And as long as you don’t “tell,” you’ll be fine.

Flash fiction writing is a great way to keep your creative juices flowing. However, flash fiction isn’t something you write for fun; there are a couple of literary magazines that accept flash fiction submissions. You can also keep your social media pages relevant by publishing micro-stories continuously on those pages.

The best thing about creative writing is that you can always break the rules—whatever one publishing says is a NO-NO, another deems acceptable.

And that’s also the best thing about flash fiction, you’re free to experiment, and you don’t have to worry about publishing; there are countless avenues with little to no restrictions.

Learn how to write short-short stories in this flash fiction writing course.

In the first volume of Sudden Fiction , the editor Robert Shapard writes, “It may well be that the new popularity of the short-short story began in the spirit of experiment and wordplay in the 1960’s.” In this class, students will approach writing flash fiction as an opportunity to experiment with approach, form, structure and style.

Attention to style and structure is very important to the writer of tiny fictions, just as it is important to poets. That’s why this genre is often described as a borderline genre, in between poetry and prose. With that in mind, some of our assignments may begin with a form typically used in poetry, but instead of the line, we will be working with the sentence and the paragraph.

Under the guidance of Barbara Henning , students can craft ten new flash fictions during this course or choose instead to work on writing less and revising more. Each week, Barbara will post a lecture and an assignment, and she will respond to your submissions, giving you critical and supportive feedback. Her objective is to introduce students to new approaches for writing and to encourage a supportive community of writers.

Please note that this course can seem like a graduate-level course (if students are inclined that way), involving theory and extra content to delve deeper. However, if you are interested only in the workshop part of the course, it is fine to skip the optional readings.

Many published writers take this class, but beginners are also welcome.

Super, as always. Barbara’s course materials are generous, plentiful, well researched, inspiring. —Sophie Cayeux

Writing Flash Fiction: Course Syllabus

Week one: introduction: an overview of the class.

Discussion of some elements in fiction with excerpts from critics on fiction, as well as Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” and a chapter from Ann Carson’s Autobiography of Red . Informal journal writing for the first week.

Week Two: Haiku in Prose

Discussion of haiku and the importance of images and detail in fiction. Read examples of haiku by Kerouac, Richard Wright, Basho and Issa. Read a short selection from Banana Yoshimoto’s novel, Kitchen . Write a short travel narrative with at least three or more haiku embedded. Class critiques of each other’s work (to continue every week).

Week Three: Experimental Fiction?

Discuss the differences between experimental and traditional fiction writing, as well as stories by Bobbie Louise Hawkins, Lydia Davis, Anne Waldman, Grace Paley and William Carlos Williams. Assignment: Write an auto-flash fiction using material from your journal.

Week Four: Auto-Flash Fiction

Discuss automatic/autobiographical fiction writing and stories by Kenneth Koch and Yasunari Kawabata. Descriptive writing assignment.

Week Five: The New Novel Writers

Read selections from Alain Robbe-Grillet and Nathalie Sarraute. Discussion of the new novel project. Three possible assignments: Writing long sentences, sestina prose, or dream assignment.

Week Six: Vertical Fields & Dream Narratives

Discussion of stories by Fielding Dawson, Robert Walser, Lynn Crawford, Harry Matthews, Barry Yourgrau, Richard Brautigan, Robert Creeley, Lydia Davis, Jayne Anne Philips and Kenneth Koch. Text-inside-a-text assignment, following-a-line-or-a-shade, retelling an old story, or the hyper-language-conscious narrator assignment.

Week Seven: A Text Inside a Text/ Retelling/ or/Tilling the Telling

Discussion of stories by Julio Cortazar, Dale Herd, David Kaplan, Charles Baxter, Raymond Carver, Steve Katz, Robert Walser, Franz Kafka, Lydia Davis and Gertrude Stein. Assignment options: Sentence-paragraph life story; a fictional monologue that mostly tells rather than shows;  a modern parable; a narrative with disruption.

Week Eight: One Sentence at a Time & Anti-Stories

Discussion of stories by T. Coraghessan Boyle, Lewis Warsh, Linh Dinh, Laura Riding, Ron Sukenick, Ed Dorn and Franz Kafka. Assignments options: restricted senses; I wanna be someone else; writing about a crime while resisting focusing on the crime; and accepting the unacceptable.

Week Nine: Something’s Wrong Here

Discussion of stories by Pagan Kennedy, Mitch Berman, Eugenia Montale, Ferdinando Sorrentino, Ed Dorn. Assignments: Write a story that unfolds from a list.

Week Ten: Narrative Lists & Exercises in Style

Discussion of stories by Steve Katz, Jamaica Kincaid, Bobbie Louise Hawkins and Cathryn Alpert. Transformation assignment with examples from Raymond Queneau and Clarice Lispector.

Bonus Zoom Call

During the course, I am offering an optional Zoom call to build a more proactive writing community. I’ll provide additional details in the course itself.

Why Take a Flash Fiction Course with Writers.com?

We welcome writers of all backgrounds and experience levels, and we are here for one reason: to support you on your writing journey.
Small groups keep our online writing classes lively and intimate.
Work through your weekly written lectures, course materials, and writing assignments at your own pace.
Share and discuss your work with classmates in a supportive class environment.
Award-winning instructor Barbara Henning will offer you direct, personal feedback and suggestions on every assignment you submit.

Reserve your spot in this flash fiction writing class today!

Student feedback for barbara henning:.

Excellent. Barbara's teaching and critiques are first rate. Such a terrific and talented instructor for the organization! And the student group was wonderful as well - committed and helpful. Great overall experience. Michael Mabrito

The assignments were stimulating and [the teacher's] responses rapid and enlightening. I learned a great deal. ...this is the best site I have come across for writing. ...Keep up the great work, the wonderful selection of classes, the tremendous instructors. Michelle Vanstrom

Barbara is a great teacher. She obviously puts a lot of effort into the lectures and reading material, which are based on her extensive knowledge and experience with the poetry genre. And she offers innovative and inspiring assignments. I highly recommend her as a teacher. Melissa Airas

As with every Writers.com course, this one was planned with care and delivered with engagement. The instructor, Barbara Henning, offered challenging prompts that really forced us to explore a space between experience and invention. For the entire 10 weeks, she responded promptly to each person's post, with a close and constructive reading. And also as always, the participants were essential to the adventure: the writers brought generosity, insight, and creative energy every week. Nina Goss

Great class. It certainly helped me stretch my limits, and I got to meet some excellent writers and people in the process. This was my first class with Writers.com and Barbara set a very high standard for my next. John Lee

Barbara's Poetic Prose course was in-depth and surpassed my expectations. Barbara's feedback was timely, thorough, and compassionate. All-in-all, a terrific experience. Carol Schoder

I loved the class content & assignments... The content was of a very professional/university level; it is exactly what I would want from an on-line class... Barbara's critiques were very clear, delivered as ideas to ponder and consider; and gave me much to work with during the class and even now, as I continue to revise & study. Christine Robert

This class was one of the best courses I have done. It gave me new insight, as well as practical experience, into writing prose which is alive with concrete images. Barbara's guidance and enabling feedback pushed my writing to a new level. I highly recommend it. Anne Schuster

Barbara is a five star teacher. Always available, always engaged in each individual participant, always encouraging. Sophie Cayeux

The prose poem course with Barbara Henning was excellent. She was a generous and stimulating teacher, and gave us great ideas and materials. I'd really like to take her course again. Gabrielle Daly

I ventured into some new territory with this course. Barbara is top notch. Overall, I enjoyed it a lot. Lee Heffernan

The course stretched and pulled at the writer’s imagination and creativity. Students who participated became a highly supportive group who gave regular and valuable feedback. Barbara was prompt and considered in her feedback. Su Pollard

The lessons and assignments were well conceived and comprehensive. Considerable effort went into designing the content of the course. Barbara was a very attentive mentor, gave honest and valuable feedback, and a pleasure to work with. Mary Raihofer

Barbara is a superb teacher. She tailors her comments precisely to each student's needs. She is a joy to study with. Your classes are fantastic! Helen Salter

This was my first online class experience and I must say that it exceeded all of my expectations. Barbara was the best! She is so competent, receptive, and generous with her time and attention to our writing that I can only say she could not have been better. The resource materials she provided as well as each week's assignments will be useful to me for years to come. In summary, it was a terrific experience and one that I will highly recommend to others. Colleen Burns

I want to thank Barbara for such an enlightening, hands-on flash fiction class. She introduced us to some wonderful new authors and challenged us with an array of writing techniques. Chris Wenzel

Barbara is a brilliant teacher, very highly skilled, very helpful and very kind and encouraging. The whole set up of the classes worked extremely well and the instruction and feedback was excellent. The classes I have taken with Writers on the Net have not only been very rewarding in what I have learned but also sheer pleasure in the doing. Many thanks. Ray Prowse

Barbara is an exceptional teacher. And exceptional writers are drawn to her groups, so her classes have that added bonus. Melissa Airas

Very happy. Barbara provided an eclectic mix of information and inspiration, which I never would have encountered on my own. The depth of her lectures encouraged us to think more deeply, more profoundly than I have in any other class. Kirsten Whatley

Overall, I was very happy (delighted) with the class. Barbara is always attentive to each student/writer. The writers Barbara brings to her classes are really terrific, writers, people – and I do feel I have a small network which connects ever so often online through Writers.com! That is really incredible. Barbara put together a unique class which let us read very different writers, but all converging on a theme of broadening our approaches to writing about a person, one self. That was fascinating and I do not think that I would have gained that perspective in any other course. Anne-Marie Audet

Absolutely fabulous. I loved the books and the assignments were interesting as well as challenging. Great content! Barbara Henning is one of the best teachers I've ever had -- and I've had many. She is first rateI This is my 3rd class under Barbara -- and I hate to see each of her classes end. You've got a winner here. Barbara Henning is a model of excellence. Sue Brannan Walker

Barbara always provides provocative readings and this class was no exception. I liked the fact that we read whole texts his time around. The pace of the class was brisk, but not so much that I couldn't manage my time. I am struck also by how much like a graduate level seminar her classes are: excellent readings, outstanding commentary and writing on the part of her students, and meaningful discussions. Thanks for another fantastic class! Cheri Ause

[Barbara] was warm and supportive and expected hard work and great things from each of us -- which we all tried to satisfy. Were you happy with the class content - the lessons and assignments? Yes, very much so. Barbara's enthusiasm for the stories and writers she choose was infectious, and she provided enough material and suggestions and writing ideas to keep me challenged and busy for years to come. Ann Winfred

The prose poetry class with Barbara Henning was fabulous. The content was more helpful than I ever thought possible. Barbara is an incredibly talented poet and teacher. I found her critiques kind and helpful. I write very short pieces and Barbara helped me focus them and weed out the unimportant, expanding upon what worked in my work. I've already recommended it to several people and I am excited about working with Barbara again. Jennifer Grant

Barbara's class was tied with one other workshop that I took for the best instruction in writing fiction that I have ever had. I would be taking her prose-poem class right now if I had not rashly made other plans before understanding just how deeply her flash fiction class was going to hit. [Barbara] was the most important element of the class. Her taste is fine, but entirely different from mine, so I was exposed to many new and enjoyable perspectives on fiction. She is consistently gentle and encouraging, without failing to offer help where it is needed and can be immediately used. Toby Jensen Perkins

Innovative, mind-stimulating, out of the ordinary material. None of the standard information you get everywhere. A well of well-researched references. Barbara is exceptional. Her feedback is spot on. She engages with each submission and picks out the essence of it and tries to guide you in developing your piece and further your writing. Sophie Cayeux

Barbara is very fast and effective in her responses. She provides in-depth comments, yet still leaves space for the writer to decide what changes might/should made. I really value her criticism. I will continue to have Barbara do some private evaluations for me and I hope to take more of her courses (probably her next flash fiction). I will definittely be taking more classes! Jean Wollam

Barbara Henning is remarkable. She always responds right away and gives expert advice on writing. I recommend your classes. They are taught by professionals, and are well organized. I was thrilled. Claudia M. Reder

I learned so much. The assignments were very enjoyable and allowed students to experience a new/different way of thinking and/or approaching the writing of prose poems. Barbara is the kind of teacher who skillfully guides students so that their work becomes what they had intended it to be; she has a very effective and subtle critique style. Kathryn Woronko

Very happy with the class content. Each assignment prepared me for the next, the reading materials and lectures educated, informed, and enlightened. Very happy with the teacher. I feel very lucky to have had such a talented teacher AND talented writer for a teacher. Her suggestions are concrete, workable and clear, and her comments help me think more clearly about the writing. She is also flexible, willing to work with what I wrote even when it didn't always quite conform to the assignment. Mica Mortensen

This was a really terrific class. It exposed me to a poetic form AND to several different schools of writers of which I was ignorant. There were times when I really didn't get some of the assigned readings, but that's more than okay. It helped clarify my own poetic opinions. The assignments were clear and thoughtful. I did some good writing. Barbara was responsive, both to the assignments and to the other conversation in the class about art & audience & other miscellaneous topics. She clearly loves poetry and the prose poem. I've recommended it already. Sue Swartz

Barb was a terrific instructor! She was very prompt and helpful in her responses and very clear in her lectures and assignments. I felt that she genuinely cared about our writing and about helping us to grow & improve. I thought the lessons and assignments were well thought-out, informative, and enjoyable. They offered challenge without being overwhelming. Katherine Lo

Delighted. The readings were carefully chosen and the assignments often yielded breathtaking revelations about writing. The variety of choices was terrific--now I have a dozen or more exercises saved up to try later on. I found the short short formats to offer me tools that will work in my longer fiction as well. Barbara is brilliant--and thoughtful, and kind. Always available even while she was traveling, and very clear in her comments on everyone's stories. Uma Krishnaswami

Barbara is an outstanding teacher. She was caring and respectful in her responses. Her suggestions were helpful and always presented in the context of ideas to consider in revision. When I had a question about her reponse to one of my postings, she was very thoughtful in her response. I hope to have future opportunities to take classes she teaches. Although I have an MFA, this was my first on-line class and I plan to enroll in another one in September. I also have recommended the classes to others who are interested in takin an online writing class. The class format, topics, and feedback from instructor and students are supportive and motivating. Thank you for providing wonderful classes and opportunities for writers. Kathleen Thoma

“Barbara is a great teacher. She clearly puts a lot of effort into the lectures and reading material, which are based on her extensive knowledge and experience with the poetry genre, and she offers innovative and inspiring assignments. I highly recommend her as a teacher.” —Melissa Airas

About Barbara Henning

Born in Detroit in 1948, Barbara Henning moved to New York City with her two children in 1983. After a few interim years in Tucson and Mysore, India, she returned to New York, presently living in Brooklyn. She is a poet who also writes prose—her most recent book is a hybrid biography of her mother, Ferne, a Detroit Story (Spuyten Duyvil, 2022), named a Michigan Notable Book of 2023; four novels, Just Like that (SD), Black Lace (SD), You Me and the Insects (SD), and Thirty Miles to Rosebud (BlazeVox); eight full length collections of poetry: Digigram (United Artists Books), A Day Like Today (Negative Capability), A Swift Passage (Quale), Cities & Memory (Chax), M y Autobiography (United Artists), Detective Sentences (SD), Love Makes Thinking Dark (UA) and Smoking in the Twilight Bar (UA); and numerous chapbooks. Recently a cross country tour journal, Poets on the Road (with Maureen Owen) was published by City Point Press (2023). She is also the editor of The Selected Prose of Bobbie Louise Hawkins (BV) and Looking Up Harryette Mullen (Belladonna).

Finally, Barb is the author of the text: Prompt Book: Experiments for Writing Poetry and Fiction (Spuyten Duyvil 2021). She is professor emerita at Long Island University in Brooklyn, and teaches for Writers.com .

For Barbara's publications, see our welcome page, Barbara's poets.org profile , and her website www.barbarehenning.com .

Barbara's Courses

Poetic Prose: The Prose Poem The Chronology of Mind: From Journal to Poem or Prose Flash Fiction: Writing the Short-Short Story The Watching Eye/Thinking Mind: Writing Flash Fiction

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Classes You're Interested In

The New York Times

The learning network | short and sweet: reading and writing flash fiction.

Short and Sweet: Reading and Writing Flash Fiction

<a href="//6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/the-story-behind-my-very-very-short-stories/">Go to related blog post</a> <a href="//learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/text-to-text-a-new-feature-and-an-invitation-to-share-ideas/">»</a>

Language Arts

Teaching ideas based on New York Times content.

See all in Language Arts »
See all lesson plans »

Overview | What are the essential elements of a story? How can writing flash fiction help us become better writers? In this lesson, students will consider the nature of stories and learn to write more concisely by reading and writing flash fiction.

Materials | Computers with Internet access, student journals, copies of the article “Going Long. Going Short.”

Warm-Up | Before students enter, project or write the following famous short short story, attributed to Ernest Hemingway :

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

When students enter, ask them to copy the story and consider whether or not they think it is a story. Once students have had time to record their ideas, come together as a class to discuss the following:

What does a story need in order to be a story?
What questions does this story leave you with?
What do you think is happening beneath the surface of these six words?
Is the amount of what’s left unsaid unsettling? Interesting? Annoying?
Do you think it’s harder to write a short short story like this one or a longer work, like a novel? Why?

Related | In this Opinionator article,” Grant Faulkner, executive director of National Novel Writing Month , muses on what writers can achieve when they “go short”:

Flash fiction, which is defined as being a story under 1,000 words, goes by the names of “short shorts,” “miniatures,” “sudden fiction” and “postcard fiction,” among many others. Flash communicates via caesuras and crevices. There is no asking more, no premise of comprehensiveness, because flash fiction is a form that privileges excision over agglomeration, adhering more than any other narrative form to Hemingway’s famous iceberg dictum: only show the top 10 percent of your story, and leave the other 90 percent below water to be conjured. This form speaks to the singularity of stray moments by calling attention to the spectral blank spaces around them; it can perfectly capture the disconnections that existentially define us, whether it’s the gulf between a loved one, the natural world or God.

Questions | For discussion and reading comprehension:

According to the author, how is the narrative form of the novel particularly suited to America?
How does Mr. Faulkner define flash fiction?
What is gained in “writing short”?
What must each line of a short short story do?
What do you think Mr. Faulkner means by “Such evocative, fragmentary brevity makes this Twitter and Facebook era perfect for flash fiction. Flash allows literature to be a part of our everyday life, even if we are strange multitasking creatures addled by a world that demands more, more, more”? Do you agree?

RELATED RESOURCES

From the learning network.

Lab Lit: Writing Fiction Based on Real Science
Sense, Sensibility and Sentences: Examining and Writing Memorable Lines
Less is More: Using Social Media to Inspire Concise Writing

From NYTimes.com

Series: Writers on Writing
The Short Sentence as Gospel Truth
What’s Your Six-Word Love Story?

Around the Web

Taking More Time to Write Less
Six Word Stories
The Remarkable Reinvention of Very Short Fiction

Activity | Here are two activities for working with flash fiction before students are invited to compose their own pieces.

Close Reading Flash Fiction: Choose several works of flash fiction to read and discuss. Below, we have provided four, but you can choose from many others via these links.

In the summer of 2012, novelist Curtis Sittenfeld wrote a flash fiction series for the Times Magazine. Learn more about how she composed them in her post for the 6th Floor blog, “The Story Behind My Very, Very Short Stories.” Here are two she discusses:

“The Margin,” by Curtis Sittenfeld

In 1987, when Jenny Ficker and I were in sixth grade, our goals were to have a double wedding at which we married the McMasterson twins, to trick my sister into drinking a glass of pee and to sneak in the middle of the night to Boland Square and put a bra on the Grecian-woman statue on top of the fountain. Weirdly enough, I did marry Andy McMasterson, but I lost touch with Jenny years ago; whenever I drive by the Boland Square statue, the bronze bosom still hangs there for everyone to see.

“The Femur,” by Curtis Sittenfeld

On my 21st birthday, my father revealed two facts about himself: that he was colorblind and that before I was born, he’d served four years for armed robbery. I suspect the colorblind disclosure was a test of my maturity, and if I’m right, I must have barely passed. After he told me, I became petulant and said, “I just think it’s really weird you hid that for my whole life.”

If you’d like to have students read even shorter works, here are two stories highlighted in a New Yorker review of “Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer”:

“Jermaine’s Postscript to His Seventh-Grade Poem Assignment,” by Christoffer Molnar.

“Ms. Tyler, the girl part was about Shantell. Please don’t tell anyone.”

“Houston, We Have a Problem,” by J. Matthew Zoss.

I’m sorry, but there’s not enough air in here for everyone. I’ll tell them you were a hero.

Invite students to read one story at a time on their own, annotating as they go. (Or, recording their thoughts via a double-entry graphic organizer .)

Then, have students meet in pairs or small groups to further the discussion. Some of the questions they might discuss:

What do they know about the plot, characters, setting and theme of the story?
What questions does the text raise?
What is unwritten?
What literary devices do they notice?
What individual words or phrases jump out? What denotations or connotations are important to note about individual words?
How “complete” a story is this? Why?

When students are finished, ask groups to share observations about the stories and follow up with these questions for the whole class:

In general, do you think these stories work?
How do you read them differently from the way you read a longer work?
What do they give you that a longer work doesn’t?

Classics in a Flash: Tell students that they are going to try their hand at condensing a classroom text into very few words. (Note: Set the word count at whatever limit you like, but it is generally true that the fewer the words, the harder the task.)

Begin by showing students some examples of classroom literary classics summed up in six words like:

The times were good. Also bad. “ A Tale of Two Cities” Kids sneak around, get married, die. “ Romeo and Juliet” Desperate, noble poor get shafted. Repeatedly.  ”The Grapes of Wrath”

Ask that small groups begin by considering what is essential to the text under construction, thinking about character, setting, theme, and plot. What is the bare minimum a text needs to reveal its story? Once students have crafted their mini-masterpieces, discuss the following:

What is lost, and gained, by adhering to strict and brief word limits?
What skills are engaged in writing concisely as opposed to developing an idea?
What choices did you have to make?
How is the effect different on the reader?
How easy or hard was this task? Why?

Going Further | Now it’s your turn. Write a piece of original flash fiction, 1,000 words or less, perhaps for submission to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for flash fiction .

Screenshot of the <a href="//www.artandwriting.org/">Scholastic Art & Writing Awards homepage</a>

How to begin such a challenge? Take a look at the essentials of microfiction and consider these tips from The Guardian newspaper.

Here are some sources for flash-fiction inspiration:

Previous Scholastic award-winners in Flash Fiction
100 Word Story, which also has written and photo prompts for writing
NPR’s Three Minute Fiction contests
Flash Fiction Online
The Guardian | Flash Fiction By Kids, For Kids
The Times Magazine’s Lives column. Though, as the name of the series implies, these pieces are memoirs, the structure and length can be good models. Here are some short student stories based on Lives columns.

Share stories with a classroom festival , then workshop your stories to fine tune them for the larger world.

Common Core ELA Anchor Standards, 6-12:

2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. 10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences. 4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience. 5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting or trying a new approach.

Speaking and Listening:

1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. 2. Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively and orally.

1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. 3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

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I just shared this with the English Language Arts teachers at my middle school. This lesson exemplifies how engaging Common Core lessons can be! More of this, and soon school districts might stop buying all the dry and boring “Common Core-aligned” nonsense I’ve been seeing. Thank you!

I don’t understand the question, “Why is it so particularly interesting that William Faulkner wrote a piece about flash fiction?” Is this a typo and did you mean Grant Faulkner?

Hi Shannon–I think the original question may have gotten a bit garbled in translation as it went through copy-edit, but thank you for calling it to our attention. I’m removing it since regardless of which Faulkner was meant, I’m not sure it makes enough sense to keep. I’ve replaced it with another. –Katherine

Flash fiction examples may be found here, as well //mdinu.wordpress.com

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3.26: Writing Assignment: Point of View Stories

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Writing Assignment Focusing on Point of View

Write a short, short story (flash fiction) for each of the following narrators:

First-person unreliable narrator
Third-person detached observer narrator
First-person or third-person naive narrator

Flash Fiction

Flash fiction is a full story even though it’s brief. Types of flash fiction include the following:

Six-word story
140-character story, the length of a tweet
Dribble, which is 50 words
Drabble, which is 100 words
Sudden fiction, which is up to 750 words.

To read a sample of flash fiction, go to this drabble story titled “Calling Mom Home”: http://www.100wordstory.org/6273/calling-mom-home/ .

Length and Details

You get to select your own story prompts (ideas) for each narrator listed above. Choose a different story idea for each narrator.

The three stories definitely should be short: only 1/2 to 3/4 typed, double-spaced page of flash fiction. Each story will be on its own page with a minimum of 100 words, a drabble, which means the entire document will be three pages in length. Each story should engage readers with vivid descriptions, dialogue (if necessary), and a setting.

Remember in order to keep your scene brief, don’t include a lot of characters. One character is enough to work with. Two are allowed if you need another one. Three is probably too many.

Remember to use the correct pronouns for the point of view you are writing in.

First-person narrators use these pronouns: I, me, my, we, us, our
Third-person narrators use these pronouns: he, she, it, they, them, theirs

Be careful to show the scenes not tell them. After you’ve written your first draft, go back and find the places where you need to show more vs. telling.

Final Draft Requirements

Follow these instructions for typing the final draft:

The flash fiction stories must be typed in a Microsoft Word file (.docx).
The document must have one-inch margins, be double-spaced, and typed in a 12 pt. readable font like Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial.
Indent paragraphs one tab, which is five to seven spaces.
In the upper left-hand corner of page 1, type your first and last name, the name of the class, the date the assignment is due, and the assignment name. Example:

Jane Doe ENGL 1465 – Creative Writing Due Date: Writing Assignment: Point of View

In the upper right-hand corner on all the pages, insert page numbers in the header. Type your last name in front of the page number. Example: Johnson 1.
Be sure to give each story a title. It should be centered and at the top of the page over the text of each story. Do not bold, enlarge, or punctuate the title. Capitalize the first word and each important word in the title.
Directly underneath title, type what type of narrator it is. Example: Told by a First-person Unreliable Narrator.
Remember each flash fiction story is on its own page within one document, and you are writing three drabbles.
Writing Assignment: Point of View Stories. Authored by : Linda Frances Lein, M.F.A. License : CC BY: Attribution

Flash Fiction 101

By S.D. Grimm

Fiction in a Flash

In the simplest terms, flash fiction is a story in 1,000 words or less. Yep. A whole story—any genre—in less than approximately four double- spaced pages.

You might wonder it it’s possible to write a story in under 1,000 words, and I’m here to tell you that it is. I’ve read flash fiction pieces in as little as six words before. If you think that’s tough, consider micro fiction, a story in under 500 words; or nano fiction, a story in under 100 words or less. But don’t be discouraged. Once you understand the basics of how to write flash fiction, I think you’ll want to try it out. Just be careful; writing flash fiction can be like eating potato chips—good luck stopping at just one.

No Flash in the Pan

Who doesn’t love a good story? Remember sitting around the campfire or at a slumber party and staying up late to listen to ghost stories? People love stories, and sometimes, they don’t want to read a huge novel or watch a two-hour movie. There is a whole audience out there of people who want to be able to read something on the go—on their mobile devices even.

There is an audience out there that is craving flash fiction.

Who can write flash fiction? You can!

As a flash fiction editor, I’m going to break down the fundamentals of what makes up “good” flash fiction for you and give you some tricks of the trade so you can write flash fiction.

Ten Components of Good Flash Fiction

Just like any narrative, flash fiction needs a beginning, middle, and end.

A clear story goal, a.k.a. plot.

Well-developed hero and villain, whether it’s man vs man, man vs self, man vs nature, etc.

But unique to Flash Fiction:

You’re not going to have subplots. There just isn’t room in something so short. So focus on one plot and one main conflict. Conflict is the heart and soul of a story, and the main conflict needs to appear in a flash fiction piece pretty much immediately.

Another thing you don’t want to overdo are scene changes and pointof- view switches. It can be done, and I’ve seen it done successfully, but when editing and rewriting, ask yourself if the change is really necessary. Often it will just complicate the plot in ways that don’t enhance the story.

In a novel, the opening hook is that first scene that draws the reader into a new world. Many times flash fiction will play out its entire story in one scene. So the hook here is the opening sentence. It should set the tone for the story as well as introduce your reader to your character and give an inkling of the main conflict (if it doesn’t delve right into the main conflict). I’ve heard it said that novelists have 250 words to hook a reader. In flash, that’s one quarter of a long story. Other stories might even be done already. You have to grab readers’ attention in the opening line and never let go. If a reader puts down your flash piece, it’s the death sentence.

It’s that “what’s going to happen next” factor. Great storytellers create tension in every scene. When you write flash fiction, there needs to be tension in every sentence. Each sentence needs to move the story forward. Imagine if you can craft a story in which you have tension in every line. Think of how that will improve your writing.

Tight Writing

Every word counts when you have so few. So here are a few tips for using words effectively: Backload sentences. This means putting an important, resonating, or strong word or phrase at the end of a sentence. So instead of saying, “She noticed the dagger in his hand,” try “He carried a dagger.” Use dynamic verbs. Tight writing forces you to rethink using those pesky verbs of being in exchange for something stronger, punchier. Instead of “broke” how about “shattered” or “snapped” or “crushed”? These different verbs each convey a more specific form of breakage that will make a reader’s mental image sharper.

Pick specific nouns. Instead of “car” try “Volvo” or “Mustang.” Or how about “Dachshund” in place of “dog”? Again, specific images are invoked. Use adjectives and adverbs in their most powerful form: sparingly. Instead of a huge, puffy, white cloud, pick one. Or pick something different: a cotton-ball cloud.

Watch those passive-aggressive-voice sentences. They often require more words. By using strong verbs in active sentences, you will keep your word count low and the reader moving through the story.

Beware, though. Tight writing doesn’t always mean you should choose the shortest possible sentences. Slipping into telling mode (instead of showing) for the sake of using less words isn’t going to make the story strong. And be careful that you don’t overload with adverbs for the sake of conciseness. You still have to SHOW your action, your emotion and your conflict. Flash isn’t about sacrificing good writing for fewer words. It’s an art all its own.

Creative Title

I’ve said every word counts, which includes titles. They don’t count as part of your limited word count, but that doesn’t mean it’s a chance to get verbose. Pick something clever or that has a double meaning. Maybe the tile will be a red herring or give readers an extra tidbit about the story. Load your title with subtext whenever possible.

For example, I once wrote a flash piece titled Fearfully and Wonderfully. The theme of the story was about how everyone is different and beautiful in their own way. The plot was about the main character’s death and how afraid she was, but that she ended up not needed to be so afraid because she wasn’t alone—the person with her helped her find the beauty even in her passing. I thought the title played with both of those meanings. Another example is a story titled Mirror, Mirror. Since it was a take on a retelling of the famous Snow White tale, the title helped readers make that connection before they even started reading.

Those kinds of hints can ground readers in context, or help the story resonate after they read it and the title brings extra meaning.

Every story needs a setting. It’s easy to think that with a limited word count, setting is a throw away, but it’s not. Readers need a sense of place and time and of who is in the room. Revert back to those deliberate nouns and pick and choose your adjectives carefully.

You can zero in on a specific part of the setting—like a vine crawling up a flagpole out of an abandoned playground’s crumbled asphalt. Those are specific details that give a broad sense of setting: abandoned, new life, or possibly something choking life from something else. Imagery in setting is so full of subtext. Use that to your advantage in flash fiction when you can. And make your setting a character. Not just a place card for your characters.

Character and POV

As I mentioned earlier, you need a clear hero and villain. Just like in other forms of storytelling, you need to make sure your characters aren’t boring, cookie-cutter, cardboard, people. Make them real. Breathe life into them.

In flash fiction, you want a small cast of characters. Large casts are warranted if you’re writing in a genre like epic fantasy. Not in flash. You don’t have time to introduce a huge cast and still have room for plot. After you’ve settled on your short list of characters, choose your POV carefully. You’ll probably only have one. Who will have the most to lose? The highest stakes? That’s your POV character. And don’t be afraid to think outside the box. I once wrote a piece in which the POV character was a snowflake.

Every story has backstory. But the thing about backstory is that it already happened and doesn’t need to be explained. Needed information should come out naturally in the story and only as the reader needs to know. You do not have time in your flash pieces to dump a bunch of BS (backstory, people!) at the beginning and then get on with your story. Flash forces you to weave in the things your reader needs to know organically.

Emotional Investment

All great fiction connects with readers on an emotional level. That’s what they’re looking for. Flash is no exception. This is why you need to show and not tell those emotional experiences. For example, not: “Harry gritted his teeth in determination.” Instead, simply write: “Harry gritted his teeth.” The context will let me know why, and what emotion he’s feeling. Readers don’t want to be told how to feel. They want to feel it with the character. Sometimes naming an emotion has its place, but showing the emotions builds a better connection with the readers. The limited word count of a Flash Fiction piece makes emotional investment even more imperative.

Unique to flash fiction is the twist ending. A lot of stories have a twist at the end, but it’s always a part of flash fiction. You’d think it would make the story predictable, and that’s where the fun of writing it comes in. The twist doesn’t always happen at the end, but it should be near the end. It makes the end satisfying and hard-striking. The whole story leads up to that moment, and it’s so perfectly set up and veiled at the same time. You’re pulling the blindfold off the reader, but having them nod and say, “Yes! I— Yes, this is exactly how it should have been! I should have seen it coming!”

from “Jot That Down; Encouraging Essays for New Writers” edited by A. L. Rogers

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99 Fun Flash Fiction Writing Prompts
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8 Flash Fiction Writing Prompts
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Introduction to Creative Writing
Title the portfolio with a creative title representing the entire collection of fiction you've written. Example: Fiction: Believe It or Not. Include your first and last name. Include the name of the class: ENGL 1465 - Creative Writing. Include the due date. Include a photo of yourself working on one of your stories on a computer.