• Start in the middle of the action.
• Static characters are okay.
• Allow only brief, telling character descriptions.
• Run with small ideas.

Sanford Nowlin (sanfordallen.com and www.missionsunknown.com) laid these and other flash fiction writing and selling tips on the San Antonio Writers Guild members at our June meeting. In his blog, Candy Skulls!, Sanford describes his [then] upcoming talk best:

What’s flash fiction? The short answer is that it’s about a third to half of what I write. The longer answer is that it’s fiction of extreme brevity, usually under 1,000 words.

The flash form’s been around a long time, but it’s enjoying a resurgence as more fiction magazines go online and feature shorter pieces.

Of particular use to me was his stating that, though flash fiction should have a beginning, middle and end, the "story" is a moment. "It is a story...of a moment, an interesting moment." My apologies to Sanford, but at that flash-fiction-worthy epiphanic moment, the flood gates opened and I found myself scratching story ideas in the margins of the page I had, until then, been jotting notes. God knows what other important nuggets I missed.

I raced home to get at least one of the stories out. As it turned out, I completed two before heading off to bed. Two complete--if unedited--stories, ready for peer review. Sanford made the point early in his talk that exactly the sort of thing I had just accomplished was one of the major attractions of flash fiction: with substantially less heartache and time, one can feel the instant gratification of completing a work.

Of course, that is not to say flash fiction demands less skill or attention from the author; that is a constant. Flash fiction requires only less time due to its brevity. The point was made, either by Sanford or another SAWG member, that editing flash fiction is akin to editing poetry in that, due to that aforementioned brevity, every word counts.

Another attractive aspect of writing flash fiction is its natural fit with the changing face of publishing, namely online-only publications or online divisions of traditional publishing houses. Online outlets are accepting more and more flash-length work. Some sites feature a new flash piece daily, so their appetite for work is steady. What can be more appealing to an author, especially one needing to fill out his early resumé?

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