I was delighted last year to be shortlisted for the Bridport flash fiction award, though I have written very little flash and am still not, to be honest, entirely clear of what it is. I like it because it requires less energy than short stories - I see everything in terms of energy - though flash is not just a case of trimming a short story to a paragraph or two, flash is its own thing, and it still needs to be crafted and edited like hell. A recent helpful article here by Vanessa Gebbie, from the Bridport Prize blog, on what constitutes flash fiction - I had not heard of drabble (100 words fiction) or dribble (50 words). I also came across - and loved - this description last year by Vanessa on Writers and Artists site: '...A flash of narrative lit up, then extinguished, leaving the reader wondering, but satisifed - because a good flash is never incomplete'.
4 comments:
Flash fiction is great so concentrated. We did flash in last weeks class in the short story course I'm teaching at the Ripple Project and people wrote such brilliant stories (but then they always do, they're an inspiring group of writers)
It is grand, isn't it?
Drabble and dribble!
Flash a fine word, too. All sorts of meanings.
Flash on!
Flashing off for now,
Mim
I like drabble, but dribble suggests lack of control which is not something you want associated with your writing, ever!
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