All writers want to improve their craft, from newbies to veterans. From reading books about writing, taking courses, asking advice from fellow writers, we do everything we can to hone our skills.
One great way to improve your writing skills? Start writing flash fiction.
When I decided to officially make the leap from poet to novelist, I struggled with the massive task ahead of me. The word counts for chapters alone brought on the anxiety sweats. I felt overwhelmed with the immensity of an entire novel since I was used to writing poems that were 100 words or less.
I was reading a lot of flash fiction at the time, and I thought: what if I started writing flash fiction first before I dive into a novel? I had never written short stories before much so this was a new and fun challenge for me.
And I know what you’re thinking. “I’m a novelist! How will writing flash fiction help me?”
All writers, no matter your genre or style, can benefit from writing flash fiction. Keep reading to discover the benefits of writing flash fiction, and how it can help you become a better writer.
What is flash fiction?
Flash fiction is usually described as any short story that is one thousand words or less, although some writers differ on the specific number. The key here is brevity. To be flash fiction, it must be short and deliver a punch to your readers in a very short amount of time.
Other types of flash fiction include:
- Six-word fiction: a story in only six words (inspired by Hemingway)
- Twitterature: stories written in the 280-character word limit
- Dribble: a 50-word story; also called a mini-saga
- Drabble: a 100-word story
- Postcard fiction: a story up to 250 words
- Sudden fiction: 750 words max
While all these have different names, they all fall under the umbrella of flash fiction.
Following are five of the top benefits I’ve found of writing flash fiction, especially if you’re planning to write a novel but are feeling overwhelmed by the length. Even if you’re a veteran with ten books under your belt, you can still benefit from a writing practice that includes flash fiction.
1. Little to no planning
Pantsers rejoice! Unlike a novel, which requires hours and hours of painstaking planning, sitting down to write a flash story is as easy as sitting down at your computer. Whatever kind of fiction you write, it takes a good bit of research and outlining before you even start. You also have to plan your characters, their arcs, minor characters, plot points, etc. If you write sci-fi and fantasy, worldbuilding is also extremely important, which also takes a good bit of time.
But if you’re ready to just jump in and start writing, flash fiction is perfect for you! Because it’s so short, you won’t need an outline. You just need one or two characters, a plot, and an arc. You don’t have to worry about building backstories—there’s no time for that. Don’t use more than two characters, three at the most, as you won’t have the word count to explore more than that.
I’m always inspired by art I see whether it’s on Pinterest, my Instagram feed, or in a Google search. Picture prompts are a great way to get the ideas flowing. Story prompts are also useful, and there are thousands of free writing prompts you can find online to help spark your next idea.
2. Build a steady writing routine
I don’t know about you, but when I’m overwhelmed, I tend to procrastinate. Just thinking of all the planning required just to start a novel had me panicked, so I found myself not writing much at all.
But when I started writing flash fiction, it became a daily practice (for a while before I started drafting my book). Knowing that you only have to get through a few hundred words is less daunting than the thousands it takes to complete a novel.
Start setting goals for word counts each week. If you’re new to writing short stories, start with the 50-word story and work your way up to 1000 words. Before long, you’ll find that one thousand words is so easy, you’re ready to keep going!
Before I started writing flash even getting to one thousand words was tough. It felt like pulling teeth sometimes. However, with persistence and practice, I began banging out stories even longer than that in one sitting, without any issues.
From here, you can begin building up to longer stories, like five thousand words, and before long, you’ll have a novella on your hands (10K words). Or you can string together 100 to 200-word segments into a longer story, like I did here, with my story “The Fear Eater”. Writing in smaller chunks kept me from feeling overwhelmed, and it made it so much more fun to write—although more challenging. See the next point to find out why.
3. Learn the power of conciseness
I like to call flash fiction “economical” prose. When you have a set word count, you can’t waste words, hence the term economical. Each word is weighted more heavily in flash than in a novel or longer piece because you have so few words to work with.
Every word must propel your reader to the end of your story to the twist that inevitably awaits. Writing flash also forces you to become a better editor, as you learn how to “trim the fat” from your story. Your writing will be tighter and more focused.
One of my favorite authors to study for “economical” writing would be Philip K. Dick (read free here) and James Maxwell, who both have a way of saying so much in so few words. Their writing isn’t verbose and flowery. It gets right to the point without a lot of flowery language that becomes overwhelming to the meaning.
4. Get published faster
Let’s face it, writing a novel can take years, which means you won’t see your name in print for a very long time, unfortunately. If you’re tired of playing the long game, and you’re dying to get published, flash fiction is one of the best ways to get started.
Because flash fiction is so fast to write and edit, you can get many stories submitted in just one day if you want to. Some digital magazines will publish your story usually within a week or two, and a few, like Friday Flash Fiction, where I got my start, publish on the same day you submit! You can’t beat that. Here are a few great sites to submit your work, in any genre you want. They love new writers and are happy to publish unheard voices.
There are so many others out there, but these are the ones I started with that got me a lot of publication credentials quickly, so I could build up to more prestigious publications.
If you want to try your hand at self-publishing your stories, you can do that right here on Fictionate.Me! I do recommend waiting until you have a few stories built up for a collection so your readers will get their money’s worth (or post them for free if you want to publish a standalone story).
Having your stories published will help you feel a sense of achievement. There’s a total rush when you get that acceptance letter in your inbox!
For more tips and tricks on getting published in literary magazines, click here.
5. Build your fanbase
Building a fanbase while writing a novel is certainly a slog. All you can do is post snippets, mood boards, and the like until your book is published.
However, if you start writing and publishing or posting flash fiction on social media, you might build your fanbase quicker, which you can then transition to readers for your future novel. Flash fiction is getting more and more popular all the time, what with our dwindling attention spans. People love a quick bite of fiction, whether it’s on Instagram, your own website, or a digital magazine.
Switching my content from poetry to flash fiction on Instagram has helped me build the right audience, which is growing every day. After a year of writing and publishing stories, I began teasing my dark fantasy novel, and it’s been so fun to see the interest! Without first laying the groundwork with my flash fiction, my audience would not have grown as quickly.
I hope these benefits will spark the desire to write flash fiction. Not everything you write will be publishable of course, but if you write a little each day, after a month you’ll have thirty stories you can use for publication or springboards for longer pieces (which is how my novel idea got started!).
You can also try your hand at writing and publishing your flash fiction with our short fiction fairy tale retelling contest, right here on Fictionate.Me. When you submit your story, it’s automatically published on the site, so you’re instantly a published author. The top ten stories (not including the three top winners) will be featured in our digital and print anthology, and you can win other great prizes like cash and official Fictionate swag! Click here for more details.
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And come back next week for an article on the nitty-gritty of writing your own flash fiction!
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