Hello everyone
Recently I’ve been thinking about flash fiction.
What is Flash Fiction?
Flash fiction involves telling a story in a highly limited number of words.
There is no word limit under which a piece of fiction qualifies as “flash”, but often 1,000 words is seen as the maximum, although usually flash stories do not exceed half that count. There are many people who try to tell stories in far fewer words, for instance in under 50 or 100 words.
Economy in Story Telling
To me, the word count is less important; I’m much more interested in economy in story telling. I’m in awe of writers who can tell the maximum story with the minimum of words.
Fiction with a highly limited word count also requires more of the reader: the reader has to fill in the gaps left by the author. For instance, if we take this (rather extreme, in terms of word count) example of flash fiction which is often attributed to Ernest Hemingway:
For sale: baby shoes, never worn.
These six words evoke an image, but the reader’s imagination then tells a much broader story looking to the fate of the baby and the situation of the baby’s family. The six words are not explicit about the wider story, but the implicit tale is heartbreaking.
Assembly
One book that prompted me to think more about short-form writing is Assembly by Natasha Brown.
There’s a lot to be said about Assembly. It’s an important book which looks at the issues of race, class, sex, income, and privilege, and in particular, disparities and treatment based on these factors. However, for this communiqué, I’m more interested in the form of the book.
While it is a (very short) novel length piece of work, in many ways, Assembly is structured as a collection of flash fiction pieces. There is a central narrative, but the story is (largely, but not exclusively) told in small flash fiction vignettes. These vignettes are much more than passing scenes—they’re often complete stories in their own right and so the scenes could be presented in any order with the same end result.
Assembly, like Baby Shoes, says much more in what is not written. Do check it out.
Goodbye Earl
Outside of books we are conditioned to consuming very short stories, but often we don’t realize that we’re hearing stories. One really common example of storytelling that we may not think of as story, is songs.
Some songs can give a glimpse of a situation, observing a fleeting thought or a passing emotion. Others songs can tell a story.
One great example of a complete story encapsulated within a song is Goodbye Earl which was written by Dennis Linde. The song has been recorded several times by different artists, but perhaps its most commercial success was the version by The Chicks.
The entire story of Goodbye Earl is told within 325 words. But, what you are getting in the 4 minutes of the song is a complete novel. There are also some great lines which really tell you about the character, Earl:
And it turns out he was a missing person who nobody missed at all
You can watch the video/hear the story on YouTube. As an aside, it’s a great video, but interestingly, it doesn’t give you any more of the story than is already told by the lyrics.
To Close
Stories are all around us—in songs, in adverts, in the news—not just in novels. And very often these shorter, less conventional stories come with an image that lingers long after you’ve forgotten the story.
That’s me for this month. Pay attention to the stories around you, and I’ll be back in June.
Until then.
All the best
Simon