It was time for reunification, which Amelia knew was the goal of the foster system. An officious woman clutched the wheel with the same grip that Amelia found herself clutching the boy’s hand. On the last day, the same white car that had dropped him at her doorstep months ago rolled into Amelia’s driveway. She drank in the sound like it was sweet nectar. It tickled the inside of Amelia’s ribcage and sent her into fits of tearful giggles. His laughter vibrated through the house like the satisfied lilt of a starling, declaring his place in this tree. He liked these things, and soon, he loved them. He liked cowboy pajamas and the glow-in-the-dark stars she’d painstakingly pasted on his ceiling just minutes before he’d stepped through her doorway, his possessions stuffed into a garbage bag at his feet. The boy liked pancakes with grape jelly, Amelia learned, on the blue-and-yellow plastic plate. And the night after that, he’d slept all the way through. The next night, Amelia’s embrace got him to sleep in just a few minutes. He hadn’t fought her as she held him, his tears sinking into Amelia’s cotton nightgown as she ran a hand up and down, up and down, up and down his back. Until one week, his nocturnal screams had given way to the soft sobs of a broken child. She could bring no comfort to his pointy shoulders, which shook against her chest during his night terrors. His nose was too pointed, his hair too thin when he turned to the side he resembled a cliff swallow who’d lost his muddy nest. Does it meet the criteria for flash fiction?Īmelia knew from the beginning that the boy wasn’t hers. Take a quick read of a full flash fiction story below. Sample Flash Fiction Story: Reunification She uses the brevity of the piece to emphasize the importance of each emotional word, such as “unhappy,” “irritable,” “crossly,” “yell,” “slam,” and “frustration.” The introduction to Davis’s satire brings in the motif of crying that carries through the remaining five paragraphs. By the time he was ready to leave for lunch, tears of frustration would be running down his cheeks. He would yell at me, “Type it!” I would yell back, “I won’t!” He himself would become petulant on the phone and slam it into its cradle. My boss would give me a document to type, and I would push it away crossly. Toward lunchtime, as the people in the office grew hungry and tired and irritable, they would begin to cry. For a short time, when I was young, I worked in an office.
Her 423-word work, “ Everyone Cried,” is an example of an effective flash fiction story. 2053, or as good as alone, and with a final decision made, a path selected, he would stride off, sending patterns of frosty air before him like the smoke of a cigar.īradbury folds description, a futuristic setting, and characterization into his introductory paragraph, allowing the plot to unfold throughout the remainder of the story.įamous for her very short stories, Lydia Davis is the modern master of packing a lot of emotion and meaning into a few words. He would stand upon the corner of an intersection and peer down long moonlit avenues of sidewalk in four directions, deciding which way to go, but it really made no difference he was alone in this world of A.D. To enter out into that silence that was the city at eight o'clock of a misty evening in November, to put your feet upon that buckling concrete walk, to step over grassy seams and make your way, hands in pockets, through the silences, that was what Mr. Its 1,445-word format reveals a dreary reality where a man’s desire to escape the glow of a television is a highly suspicious activity. Originally published in The Reporter in 1951, “The Pedestrian” is one of Ray Bradbury’s most famous works.
Stories that lack description are not satisfying to read, and a flash fiction piece should feel complete.
However, a strong piece can balance vivid descriptions with a quick-moving plot. Description: One may think that flash fiction stories are short on description to save space.They may include some character development, but too much backstory can use valuable space. Characters and backstory: Flash fiction pieces are plot-driven and include no more than three or four characters.It allows the writer and reader to focus on the plot. Setting: Most flash fiction stories take place in one setting, as moving between locations uses up too much space.Story structure: A flash fiction story is not the shortened version of a longer story it still follows the elements of plot, including a beginning, middle and end, as well as a conflict and satisfying resolution.Here are some traits of strong flash fiction stories. Flash fiction is shorter, but it should not feel too short. If you’re writing a flash fiction story, it’s important to know how they are similar-and different-to longer stories.
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