Many of the samples on this site are flash fiction, but what exactly is "flash fiction"? Flash fiction is a very short story that may run 250 words to 1,000 words, although most of these short works average 500 words. They may be about anything and represent both literary fiction as well as other genres of fiction, such as romance, horror, science fiction, western, romance, thriller, suspense, and more.
Writing flash fiction can be challenging since an entire plot must be condensed to fit this unique format. That having been said, flash fiction may only hint at thematic elements, and it is the reader's task to infer larger meanings from the piece. In that sense, it is not unlike poetry, the defining characteristic of which is brevity (in most cases) and a compression of ideas. In essence, a work of flash fiction is a vignette, a brief narrative that seeks to convey a maximum amount of information in as short a space as possible.
Many consider Edgar Lee Masters Spoon River Anthology and its sequel, Across Spoon River, to be a collection of flash fiction pieces given that the hundreds of entries in these works are very brief prose poems that tell the stories of characters that, when taken together, comprise a complete picture of a small town. It is a highly experimental and innovative work that deserves more attention than it gets.
Some of the more notable writers of flash fiction are Joyce Carol Oates, David Barthelme, and Amy Hempel. Looking back at literary greats, however, the list is much longer. Some of the more famous practitioners of the "short short story" are O. Henry, Anton Chekhov, Ernest Hemingway, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Garrison Keillor, Philip K. Dick, Walt Whitman, Ambrose Bierce, Kate Chopin, and H.P. Lovecraft. While flash fiction is not published as widely as novels and regular-length short stories, most literary journals and magazines with a literary bent, such as the New Yorker, publish the format.
One of my favorite flash fiction writers is Richard Brautigan, and a majority of my own flash fiction work resembles the flavor of Brautigan's short tales in that they are humorous and at times surrealistic.
Several examples of my flash fiction are exhibited on this site (and more will be featured in the future). I hope you will take the time to explore this very rewarding literary format.
~William Hammett
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