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Flash Fiction Vs Short Stories - what's the difference?

allie_allie_
edited October 2015 in Writing
I've looked it up and I still don't understand what the basic difference is between Flash Fiction and Short Stories.

Can anyone help?

Comments

  • Tiny NellTiny Nell
    edited October 2015
    Welcome, allie.
    It's to do with the word count.
    Flash fiction is a very, very short story. In competitions the word count is specified and it can be anything from 50 words to 500, but this can vary.
    Short stories tend to be longer, usually over 1000 words.

    I recently shared this on FB:
    http://www.litro.co.uk/2013/07/flash-fiction-what-not-to-do/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork
  • Phots MollPhots Moll
    There isn't necessarily a difference.

    Sometimes flash fiction is written in a short space of time and generally the word count is under 1,000 - but not always and in any case it's still a short story.
  • allie_allie_
    Thank you so much both of you, that's really helpful
  • heatherheather
    Roger McGough asked me that question on Saturday. I had been prepared for some questions I might be asked (which I wasn't), but that wasn't one of them.

    People do often try to explain what flash fiction is in terms of 'no wasted words', a concentration of ideas etc etc but really I'm with Patsy and TN - it is just word count. Now what makes GOOD flash fiction, when you have so few words to play with - that's the question!

    Interesting article here http://may-on-the-short-story.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/best-british-short-stories-2013-some.html
  • ClaudiaClaudia
    edited October 2015
    Hi Allie - the others have nailed it for you.

    Excellent link, Heather - thanks for sharing it.
  • Debora_sPenDebora_sPen
    Hi allie_
    I'm afraid I disagree. It's not only about word count or wasted words. It's to do with *what* parts of the story you choose to show and how much. Think of it as a cut-out dress (the kind that is currently fashionable)... It is a dress with strategic bits covered and other bits see-through. So in your flash story, you make oblique references, you give glimpses of character and setting, you sort of hint at things without giving away too much.
  • Debora_sPenDebora_sPen
    If I recall correctly, one of the most famous examples of flash fiction is said to be "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." You can almost construct an entire back-story out of the images that this one sentence leaves in your mind.

    As another example, say the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme, a short story would go something like, "Once upon a time, long long ago, there was an egg named Humpty Dumpty. He was very curious about everything and jumped into situations, never stopping to think of the consequences. One day, he wanted to see what was over the wall.." Whereas a flash would go something like, "As he lay broken in pieces on the ground, his shell punctured and scattered around him like pebbles on a beach, Humpty Dumpty looked up at the wall and ruefully thought, "I'll never learn."..." Jumping straightaway into the action, but also giving us a hint of his character, the setting, and basically still using the power of imagery, but not in a very linear way.

    (Did any of that actually make sense? :D)
  • Debora_sPenDebora_sPen
    I've written a few flash pieces. Erm, am I allowed to post one here?
    http://www.undergroundvoices.com/UVBoradeDevyani.htm
  • heatherheather
    There's a difference though between what defines something as flash and what makes it good.

  • Debora_sPenDebora_sPen
    heather, yes of course, but that is not the question :)
  • neilneil
    I've rarely read so much unnecessary drivel about such a simple question. Go back to what Tiny Nell said above, and leave it at that for God's sake.
  • heatherheather
    edited October 2015
    .

  • neilneil
    Ha ha! A 'short flash' of inspiration actch (reaches for a Rennie).
  • LizLiz
    I agree it's about word count in the main. I think what Deb is referring to is more a style which any fiction, short or long could use so it cannot define a genre. If you are going to write a story in practically no words at all as in the shoes example above if course it it is going to be implication.
  • Debora_sPenDebora_sPen
    Right. Sniff. I know when I'm not wanted. Goodbye cruel world.
  • heatherheather
    You're as entitled to express your views as anyone else. Think Neil had grumpy juice for breakfast!
  • LizLiz
    Right. Sniff. I know when I'm not wanted. Goodbye cruel world.
    Good heavens. No need to go that far. We often disagree with each other.

  • SeaviewSeaview
    Yes, it's about word count but the amount varies quite a bit, eg, the Bath Flash Fiction Award states a maximum of 300 words and Myslexia's short story competition up to 2,200. I would consider Hemingway's 'baby shoes' as micro fiction, which is generally under 100 words and sometimes as few as 50. One difference is that flash doesn't have to have a clear-cut ending and often starts right in the middle of the action and leaves the reader wondering what might happen after the story finishes, whereas a short story usually follows the more linear beginning, middle and end. I think :)
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