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What is Flash Form Writing?
I started writing “flash” before I knew what I was doing. After a few semesters of graduate school in creative nonfiction, I decided my “little pieces” were actually “lyric essays.” Later, I learned that a more appropriate name for my 1-3 page lyrical, literary, scene-based writings was “flash nonfiction.” A few years after that, I met flash nonfiction’s very similar cousin, “flash fiction.” And the rest, as they say, is history.
Labels aside, what are the defining characteristics of this form that catches the attention of nearly everyone who stumbles across it? Believe it or not, whether we’re writing flash fiction, or flash nonfiction, the major parameters of the form are the same. Of course, our nonfiction needs to be emotionally true and as factually accurate as the content demands. We can’t put penguins on Mars and call it nonfiction. But we can, when it’s all said and done, find a lot in common between flash fiction and flash nonfiction, not to mention their distant cousin, prose poetry.
Here’s an essay that I published about what makes flash, flash. While this refers only to flash fiction by name, the points are equally applicable to flash nonfiction as well. As an editor with 10 years of experience working for 4 different literary magazines under my belt, and as an author who has edited 3 fiction anthologies, I can tell you that if your flash form writing contains the following 5 characteristics, your chances of finding a magazine to publish your work will increase exponentially.
What is Flash Fiction?
Originally published June 2016 in Fiction Southeast
A friend of mine recently asked about the difference between flash fiction and prose poetry and I found myself, somewhat embarrassingly, stumbling over words. I knew there had to be a difference—I’m a flash writer, after all, and an obsessive one at that. I can admit to hearing echoes of prose poetry in some flash fiction, but it would never occur to me to consider the two genres other than separately. Close, but separate nonetheless.
My friend’s question forced me to sit down once and for all and articulate for myself—and my friend—What are the defining characteristics of flash fiction?
Of course, I’m not the first person to ask. Thanks to Rose Metal Press, who published the Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction (2009), I had access to a 38-page mini-history of flash fiction from around the world. This introduction, written by Tara L. Masih, is one of the most engaging, specific introductions to a book I have ever read. I have a hard time not crossing my eyes when someone starts “talking history” but the combo of her succinct thoroughness and my own love of flash, has convinced me Masih’s intro is the best source around for the history of the genre. Coming in close second would have to be Charles Baxter’s introduction to the 1989 anthology edited by Robert Shapard and James Thomas, Sudden Fiction International.
It’s with these two books perched on my shoulders, and immeasurable amounts of my own study and practice, that I’ve gathered the following thoughts on what defines flash fiction:
- Flash fiction stories are 250-750 words, but this length has more to do with quality of attention than duration of attention. In an era of bombardment, Baxter emphasizes, we’re hungry for precise details and a widening of the moment. We’re anxious for an excuse to hold time and look closely. Some of the best flash out there today does precisely that.
- Flash fiction is different than prose poetry because it uses the prose line and paragraph form and always, always, tells a story. Something happens to someone, somewhere. Can a prose poem do that? Sure. But does it have to? No. Flash does, and it must. Additionally, most flashes can be categorized as: the monologue, the tale, the individual scene, the snapshot story, or the experiment. (Thank you, again, Rose Metal Press.)
- Flash fiction is more about reaction than action, therefore the situation frequently out-sizes the characters. The characters certainly react, but the reactions reveal more about the human condition in general than they do about any one, specific fictional person. We’re not dealing with heavy backstory or what if’s here. We hit the ground running; get in, get out—done.
- Flash fiction employs lyrical writing, which means that every word bears weight and bends the right direction. In lyrical writing, the skeleton of the sentence perfectly enhances its content and vice versa. It also means that flash avoids high-speed chases for the sake of themselves, for instance, but can certainly include high-speed chases for the sake of yearning, of revealing, of epiphany.
- Flash fiction is the story of smart surprise. It is always leaning toward “explosive moments of tremendous clarity” (Baxter, again). It catches us unaware by showing us that what we were looking for was always already there. In short—the truth is under our noses and flash enables us to see it.
With these characteristics in mind, I also like to remind flash writers that experience is not a writer’s only teacher. Empathy, observation, the imagination—these are equally, if not more, important. To that end, I find that a holistic approach to teaching flash writing affords the most satisfaction amongst writers. Yes, we need to celebrate the flash form on the technical and craft levels, but we also need to celebrate each individual writer’s keen experiences of curiosity, mindfulness, and metaphor in everyday life. That takes a certain kind of presence and way of seeing the world.
After all, the truth is in the immediate details of our lives. That’s what flash shows us over and over again—and how lucky we are that it’s so alluring and delightful to not only read, but write.
Task
Highlight any salient or unclear points in the above essay. While flash form writing may be whittled down to 5 characteristics, each has its own complexities. Email me 1-3 questions that this essay brings to mind--perhaps even a challenge you're facing in your own flash work that you'd like to publish--and I’ll reply and continue the conversation. (Send to: katey.schultz@gmail.com.)
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