Flash Fiction

Flash Fiction/ Short Short Stories / Sudden Fiction

The above terms describe the practice of writing brief fiction than can be as little as a few hundred words long up to around a thousand. The UK based Bridport Prize puts the word cap at 250 words for their flash fiction category and describes the term as follows:

Flash Fiction is fiction of extreme brevity. The number of words can vary widely – for our competition it will be a maximum of 250. Other names for flash fiction include sudden fiction, microfiction, micro-story, postcard fiction, prosetry and short short story. Flash fiction work contains the classic story elements: protagonist, conflict, obstacles or complications and resolution. However unlike the case with a traditional short story, the word length often forces some of these elements to remain unwritten: hinted at or implied in the written storyline.

Flash fiction is long enough to get a great little story on paper without having to spend months planning and outlining a complex intricate storyline.