12 October 2021

To Flash Or Not To Flash?

The deadline for the awesome November 2021 issue of Electric Spec is coming up this week October 15, 2021. Get those stories in!

Over the last couple of years we have received more and more flash fiction.
What is flash fiction? Savvy writers know it is a short short story. Definitions vary, but in general, it's a story of less than 1000 words. There are actually a lot of different terms for this including dribble, mini-saga, micro-fiction, drabble, micro-story, sudden fiction and others. It doesn't matter what you call it.
It's important to note that even though the story is short, it still needs all the elments of a short story including character, plot, emotion, and setting.

The most famous flash fiction, a six-word story, is attributed to Ernest Hemingway: For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.
There is no doubt this is a story with a lot of emotion because the reader brings a lot to it...

However, flash fiction is more difficult than standard short fiction. It's challenging to get all the story elements into so few words. At Electric Spec we have rarely published flash fiction because of this.

But, if you care to accept the challenge, go ahead and flash!
Good luck!

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