A few years ago, I became interested in the newer writing genre of ‘flash fiction’. In 2003, after reading John Gould’s Kilter: 55 Fictions, shortlisted for the Giller, I was hooked.
Flash fiction, also called ‘micro fiction’, ’sudden fiction’, and my personal favourite, ‘postcard fiction’, is generally characterized as a short, short story told in 2,000 words or less, but more commonly counting between 250 and 1,000 words. In my book (pardon the pun), anything over 1,000 words is a regular short story.
Flash fiction is particularly intriguing because it contains all the usual elements of a story (plot, characters, conflict) but due to its restrictive length, the author must use subtle dynamics to shock the reader in the story’s last few sentences, like a camera flash illuminating an entire, unexpected scene. In this type of story, each and every word is used sparingly, with extraneous adjectives carefully weeded out.
Since I tend to be a logorrheic writer, flash fiction is especially hard to write. For now, content yourself with my first flash fiction piece, Passenger.
Don’t be afraid to tell me if you hate it; I really won’t mind! In fact, it might encourage me to wrestle harder with the genre in future. 
