Flash Fiction presentation for class SFCC, Spring, 2019

1. Flash fiction
Reading it, analyzing it and writing about it.

2. How itworks
 Taking the elements of fiction and compressing them
 Making every word count
 Ranges in length, but ”micro fictions” can be as short
as a sentence. 100 words fictions is a trend (and a
magazine). Generally, flash means 1,000 or fewer
words

3. TipsfromThe
Guardian
 Start in the middle, known as in medias res—don’t
waste time with establishing scene or location
 Don’t have too many characters
 Don’t put the end at the end
 Make the title work—every word counts, and the title
can be an important element of the story
 Give your last line punch
 Chisel your flash out of a longer piece

4. “Incarnations of
BurnedChildren”
byDavid Foster
Wallace
 What happens in this story?
 What jumps out in terms of language and literary
devices?
 Is it complete?
 What questions does it leave the reader with?
 Other observations?

5. ”WhereAre
You”byJoyce
CarolOates
 What is this story about?
 Does it feel complete?
 How does Oates use the techniques of fiction and
compress them (plot, character, POV etc)
 Other observations

6. “Child’s Play” by
Melanie
BuiLarsen
 Is this a story?
 What questions remain and how does that enforce the
sense of story?
 What elements work as compressed elements; which
don’t?
 Other reactions to a 100 word story?

7. Yourturn!
 The goal is to write very short, but still employ the
elements of fiction: plot, character, POV, voice, sense of
place, but compress them
 Take time with language; make every word count

8. Exerciseoptions
 Option no. 1: Take the story you’re already
workshopping and rewrite it as a flash fiction piece.
This can mean taking the entire story and compressing
it, or taking one scene or element and compressing it.
 Option no. 2: “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Take the premise
of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and make it your own in a
flash story.
 Premise: A main character reaches a breaking point in
his/her/their life. Nothing is working. He/She/They
think the world would be better if they’d never been
born. A mystical being appears and shows them how
the world would be without them. They decide “it’s a
wonderful life.”