The Pros and Cons of Flash Fiction

I've recently begun branching into some briefer storytelling niches, flash fiction in particular. A huge thanks to Rosalie Valentine and Just B. Jordan for their encouragement, support, and tips. Overall, I'm enjoying the venture. Here are some of the pros and cons I've seen so far.

Flash fiction is typically considered to be a story under 1,000 words. That's short. For those of you (like me) who can't picture what that looks like on paper, it's around 2 pages.

As someone who has only ever created stories on a much larger scale (30k, 80k, and 100k), there is an adjustment to trying out this kind of writing. I've found it to be a mostly positive enterprise.

Pros

• punchier because every words matters. It tests your true skills as a wordsmith ... hehe
• completed quicker because it can only take so long to write 1,000 words. (OK, so I've spent  a month stuck on one ... but still.) Checking that "finished draft" box way sooner is worth it!
• edited easier. The entire process is pretty much expedited. Three readthroughs just don't take as long. (Yes, please!)
• can be published in other venues like in magazines (check out Splickety Publishing Group) or on your blog. 
• low investment, high return. I consider it to be a pretty decent test of all facets of my writing abilities and it simply way quicker.
• easy way to experiment with new things like a different POV, person, or tense and not get stuck with a bad experiment for 200 pages
• great for the "half ideas." You know the ones--the story prompts and Pinterst boards that have no details but are so. cool. Maybe they're not meant to be books!

Overall, it's more poignant and speedy. You understand why it's called flash fiction now, right? The fiction part implies that no manual can possibly be that short, but hey? Maybe flash nonfiction needs to be a thing. ;)

Cons

Trust me, these are hardly cons. More like difficulties. And what writing doesn't have difficulties?

• characters have to develop quickly. This isn't a bad thing ... it's just way different than a novel in it's pacing. The character arc(s) is on warp-speed
• there's only one theme. You quite simply run out of room for much else. If you're like me and come up with a thousand plot bunnies in the first page ... you'll have to ignore them. Or just ... give them their own flash fiction?
• forces words to be important. Not bad, just difficult. It tests editing skills in this way, I guess.
• the exact opposite of long-form writing. Duh, right? Flash fiction requires a total mental shift for me as it's either summarizing a lot or focusing in on a little.
• not typically for profit. You likely won't be making money off the finished product unless you compile a bunch of flash fiction into a book or win a paid contest.
• takes as long to plan as to write. I have a super hard time planning flash fiction at all to be honest. I usually have to start writing to get anywhere so beware over-planning!

I'm not sure why I waited so long to give this a shot. It's not a very high-risk attempt (unlike setting out to write an entire novel ... or trilogy *cough*). And it's FUN. There's only so much room to get bogged down.

Have you tried flash fiction? If not, what's stopping you?! For tips on writing it, try this post that kickstarted me.

Speaking of!!! I'm sharing my first flash fiction piece in my newsletter which will be going out in ten-ish days. It may or may not ... be a prequel to Martin Hospitality? I'm very excited to share it with you all, so go sign up for the newsletter if you haven't! (If you have, I love you.)