Flash Fiction

FLASH A.K.A VERY SHORT 

By Jeremy Leariwala 

 Growing up as a reader of the novel, I loved to plough through acres of words, flipping over pages and tracing the story scene after scene. Packing a Tom Clancy or an Andy McNab novel in a day-sack and stroll down to the riverside always felt good. I learnt of flash fiction, just the other day! 

During the Corona Virus lock-down, surfing the internet was one of the activities that filled the vacuum. The internet became the window and avenue to see what the neighborhood held. And so, through it, I explored the world of fiction writing. Talk of the Comic novel writing, the short film screenwriting or the short-short story writing. I dug deeper into the flash fiction story. 

Now to cut long story short, the flash fiction story is a complete story that is about 75 words long! That is all the elements of good story telling employed in 75 words only. How on earth could I tell a whole story in such few words?

It is not easy to cut away your sweet words in order to meet the word count requirements. But in flash fiction there is no space to accommodate long paragraphs of narrations. What you get is a small window that can only hold 150, 100 or even 75 words. You have no choice but to decide what stays out (your readers will have to be creative, think and imagine what is missing). Pack your tale, concisely, in the fewest words possible, without losing focus of the plot. 

That is it... The internet has resources on it that you can refer to: Never give up, The Raven’s Query etc Friday Flash Fiction, Flash Fiction Online, Everyday Fiction, and 100 Word Story, among others. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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