Flash Fiction or not? - Writers Forum

babeonownbike · 04-02-2008, 10:56 PM

I posted this in the Short Story thread also, but I'm curious if it can be considered flash fiction or is it simply a paragraph in need of a story? What is the criteria for flash ficiton, a phrase I am only just becoming familiar with?
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She sat in her car, waiting idly as the long freight train crossed the road in front of her. She was in no hurry. Snow had just begun to fall and she toyed with the windshield wipers, clearing the window with a satisfying sweep. She watched as the wet line of snow slid down the glass, coiling up on itself like an icy intestine; the beginning and end inconsequential compared with the jumbled mass of the core. She flicked the wipers again, captivated by the image developing in front of her.

The train gate rose and traffic began to move.

When next she thought about the frosty entrails the slush was no more than that; a build-up of wet snow on a dirty windshield.

perilperilperil · 04-03-2008, 12:21 AM

For me, the point of flash fiction isn't necessarily the length of the story, (even though it usually has to be under 1500 words or so to be considered flash) but the way that the writer condenses a story to be as concise as possible. Yours is the correct length for a flash fiction, and it's a nice scene -- but it's entirely based on setting, and it has a slow, poetic feel that would be more at home in a longer story, in my opinion. I'm not saying that flash fiction has to have a definite beginning, middle, and end, or that it can't be abstract; just that it should give us the sense of a story taking place, even if we only get to see a bit of it.

If you want to read some good examples of flash fiction, check out this archive: Story Bytes

JosephB · 04-03-2008, 04:35 AM

The latter, I think as, the previous poster wrote.

I'm not a big flash fan. I see people crank out flash after flash, and I wonder how the writer learns to develop a story, characters, etc.

I just find it somewhat unsatisfying, like a little appetizer. Sometimes good, but not very filling.

shraga · 04-03-2008, 09:48 AM

Quote:

When she next she thought

I've said this before. I have written flash in the past but not intentially. Write, let the story tell you what it will be.
What you have here is not a story, it is a paragraph, that is nice but does not actually go anywhere.
A flash story should be a story.

babeonownbike · 04-03-2008, 10:06 AM

I appreciate each of your comments. This is how my creative process tends to work - in glimpses of a story. But that's lazy/too easy and I recognize Joseph B's point about learning to develop a story, character, etc. as valid.
I kicked myself for the repeated "she" pointed out by shraga - I saw it and then forgot to correct it before submitting my post. :S