Writing Small
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
I moderated a panel on “Writing Small” at Flights of Foundry, during which we talked a lot about flash fiction and other stories told in very small word counts. I was on a similar panel four years ago, since which time I’ve written and sold a lot more flash fiction and gotten a better grasp on what it can and can’t do.
Some of the topics we talked about in this panel included definitions for flash fiction and other shorter lengths, figuring out whether an idea is flash fiction length or will end up being something longer, the tips and tricks we use to write small stories, how poetry can inform writing small stories (and vice versa), and places to sell flash fiction stories.
I always find the tips and tricks that other flash fiction writers use to be of interest to my own writing, and the one I often share is learning how to evoke visuals with just a few simple words. My example is often “high school gymnasium,” because even if you’ve never been in a high school gymnasium, you’ve likely encountered one in visual media. So by using only three words, I can evoke a sense of place, which may be more robust for some readers, but will resonate with nearly every reader. You can do this in speculative fiction as well–a space ship corridor might look a very specific way to some readers, but in general, they will have the gist of the setting without too much detail.
I’ve also used this shorthand for characters, which you can see in my flash piece “Not Their Real Names” which is out recently from The Arcanist. In this story, I have the narrator refer to the other characters by the pop culture icons they most resemble. So with just a few words, I’ve painted a picture of who these other characters are, at least visually. And while this technique won’t work for every story, it was a fun trick to pull off in this one!
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