Many Flash Pieces Will Begin as Failures and Fragments
I have almost literally never written a piece specifically designed to be flash
fiction. Some of my flash pieces came from much longer stories that were
radically edited down. Many others came into the world as poems that couldn’t
quite cut it as poetry. I actually spent years trying to figure out how to make
“The Day’s New Words” and “A Blessing for Brothers” into successful poems. It
wasn’t until I realized that they were in fact very short stories that I was
able to complete them and get them published.
Make Sure the Ending Does Its Job
I’m a big
believer that the ending makes the story. If an ending doesn’t shock you,
startle you, give you pause or fill you with unexpected waves of emotion, then
the story didn’t do its job. The ending is what gives a story its resonance,
its power. I have waited months and even years until I’ve found an ending that is
appropriate for a story. Many flash pieces end best when they stop short. “On the Proper Role of Desire” originally ran much longer, allowing the monk and
his apprentice to reflect more deeply on the nature and necessity of desire.
By ending the story where I did, I left the reader in a state of poetic
uncertainty, another apprentice contemplating a moth circling the flame.
Relax into Your Voice
Because
flash fiction pieces are so short, we have a tendency to write them as though
we are in a rush. There’s no time for meandering sentences or fruitless plot
tangents. But I think it’s a mistake to let your narrator feel hurried. The
narrator in “When All the Streets Are Closed” has all the time in the world.
He’s stuck in a traffic jam and could go on talking for hours. The story’s
strange and sudden turn of events are as much of a surprise to him as they (hopefully)
are to the reader.
Find the Courage of Creative
Patience
In my
daily life, I’m not a patient person. I can’t stand waiting on lines and it
seems like red lights always last a minute too long. In my writing life, I’ve
learned that you have no choice but to be patient. Stories take time to
percolate. It is not always obvious where they will go and how they should end.
It may take a year or even longer to turn a 700-word draft into a 659-word
finished product. Creative Patience takes courage. You need courage to admit
that your plot is interesting but your characters are flat. You need
courage to admit that your ending is clever but contrived. Most of all, you
need the courage to admit that there is something wrong with your story but you
have no idea how to fix it. If you can let go of that craving for immediate
gratification, if you can grant yourself the patience to let a story sit for
months or even years, then you will allow yourself to grow into the author who
can write a piece of flash fiction that will delight and dazzle readers for
years to come.
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