The Big Lessons I Learned from Writing Short Stories
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Written by Austin Wilson
Flash fiction flows from economy. Its job is to evoke deep story through powerful hints and glimpses. Sometimes also called micro fiction or short-short stories, this form benefits from many of the methods that aid the longer fiction, although refined further and sharpened dramatically.
A story of only 100 words, sometimes called a “drabble,” is a puzzle where every “a,” “an,” or “the” adds another piece. Whatever the story may be, writing it in 100 words exactly can be difficult thanks to nothing more than definite articles and dialogue attribution.
It’s more nuanced than simply using fewer words.
How do you go about refining the words you have to make them as effective as possible?
Here are some big lessons I’ve learned after writing flash fiction for over 10 years and successfully placing my short-short stories in print publications and online:
MAGNIFY ALL MEANING
“Their hands briefly touched in the darkness, but only then.”
This line demonstrates one of the most reliable methods for writing efficient and effective flash fiction. Every moment of your story needs to burst with meaning, yes, but also to operate across several layers.
If the above sentence is from a story about unrequited love, or even about a couple going through a divorce, this brief hand touch becomes an emblem for so much more. Likewise, the darkness can indicate either a secret, an accident, or even shame.
Although this is somewhat related to the adage “Show, don’t tell,” it pushes you to imagine the reasons behind all you’re showing and telling, because you will most definitely need to do both.
A WORLD IN A WORD (OR TWO)
Where your story takes place can, more often than you may think, be indicated with some of the quickest details.
For the example above, if we mention the smell of buttered popcorn and the rough, crimson fabric of the seat cushions, what would that tell you?
Setting is often best paired with sensorial details because these impact your readers more acutely than simply saying “They walked into the movie theater.”
START MUCH LATER
Perhaps the most important lesson I’ve learned for writing flash fiction is to start the story much, much later than I initially planned. When you start a short-short story too early you use up precious words on unneeded details. They may help you understand the story you want to tell, which is one of the biggest benefits of drafting and editing.
Staying with the example sentence above, we don’t need to read the characters walk into the theater. Start in the theater, start as the film ends and the lights come up, right as the two characters yank their hands away from each other’s.
Focusing on these three methods has helped me write and submit successful flash fiction. Every short-short story is a puzzle to solve, but they’re always fun, and always help deepen my understanding of character, setting, and plot.
Austin Wilson is an Indiana writer whose graphic novel ‘Re•pro•duct: Self-Applied’ came out from Magnetic Press. His short fiction has been published by Ahoy Comics, Black Hare Press, Defenestration, and in the Mythic Indy and Fearless Future Anthologies. He is a screenplay reader for the Austin Film Festival, interviews writers on Ledger, and runs Moss Heart Books.
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