General/Intro to Flash Fiction
13 Ways of Looking at Flash Fiction
by Grant Faulkner
Lit Hub
One can best write a story with a metaphor of its shape and essence in mind, whether you’re writing a story that is a tangled web or an airy breath.
Why Flash Fiction?
by Liz Milne
SmokeLong Quarterly
A why write flash fiction? intro for newcomers to the form at the venerable SmokeLong Quarterly.
A Crash Course in Flash Fiction
by Laura I. Miller
Lit Hub
One Flash Fiction Writer’s Essential Reading List of Very Short Stories.
Flash Fiction
by Gina Ochsner
Writer’s Digest
A vintage article written in 2005 about falling in love with the form.
Five Reasons to Write Flash Fiction: Understanding the Literary Love Child of the Short Story and Poetry
by Nancy Stohlman
Writer’s Digest
On flash fiction as a marriage of poetry and prose.
A Conversation with Meg Pokrass
Adroit Journal
A conversation with Meg Pokrass about her New and Selected Flash Fiction Collection and the importance of themes and obsessions
The heart is a scarred warrior, but it still has a big dumb smile on its face
CRAFT Literary
A flash interview with Meg Pokrass.
Conversations Between Friends: Grant Faulkner and Meg Pokrass
CRAFT Literary
Co-Founders Meg Pokrass and Grant Faulkner discuss “telling it slant.”
Going Long. Going Short
by Grant Faulkner
New York Times Opinionator
A writer discusses how his writing education was about writing longer and longer. And then he found the short form.
On The Very Contemporary Art of Flash Fiction
by John Dufresne
Lit Hub
Why has flash fiction taken off and become the “next big thing”? John Dufresne, editor of the Norton anthology Flash Fiction America, discusses.
Five Asian Diasporic Writers on the Pandemic Present and the Possibilities of Flash Fiction
Lit Hub
An informative article told from 5 vital perspectives.
A Recipe for Flash Fiction
by Swati Khurana
Asian American Writers Workshop
Obliterating the blank page—a primer in how to get cooking a flash story ASAP.
What is Micro Lit?
by Cassandra Atherton
Spineless Wonders
Cassandra Athertonshares her insights into the history as well as the current state of play of the unique literary form, microliterature. She also talks about microlit videos, Japanese culture, micro-cocktails and her obsession with all things tiny.
Fiction in a Flash - The Literary Life
by Evan Marshall
Psychology Today
A more general overview of flash fiction—also called blasters, flashers, micro-fiction, micro stories, mini-fiction, fast fiction, quick fiction, minute fiction, skinny fiction, sudden fiction, furious fiction, postcard fiction, immediate fiction, smokelong fiction and short-short stories..
How-to/Craft
Stories in Your Pocket: How to Write Flash Fiction
by David Gaffney
The Guardian
Vital for any flash lover: how David Gaffney breaks the process down.
Flashy Tips
KYSO Flash
A down-and-dirty list of things to do and NOT to do by Editor of Best Microfiction, Meg Pokrass.
Flash Is Powerful When It Is Specific: An Interview With Angela Readman
National Flash Fiction Day, UK
Costa Award winning author Angela Readman shows us the importance of specifics in flash.
How To Write Flash Fiction
By Joseph Young
New World Writing
Joseph Young, author of the acclaimed and quirky microfiction collection “Easter Rabbit”, talks about how to do it
Writing Bite-Size Horror
by Ran Walker
Writer’s Digest
Perfect for those who want to try your hand at flash horror.
The ABC's of Flash Writing: Q is for Quiet
by Cathy Ulrich
Spry Literary Journal
A “how to write flash fiction” primer from the editor of Milk Candy Review.
Writing To Please Myself: Kim McGowan and Michelle Ross (Interview)
Fiction Writers’ Review
A “how to do it” interview between 2 prolific writers of the flash fiction form.
The Art of Yearning: Robert Olen Butler (Interview)
The Writer
Robert Olen Butler writes about the importance of desire in fiction.
Her Own Elephant Outright
by Joseph Young
CRAFT Literary
Why care and attention are a flash writer’s best friends.
The Craft of Flash Novella Writing
by Meg Pokrass
Talking Writing
Meg’s primer for creating a crazy-quilt out of scraps.
Lydia Davis to the Rescue
Josh Cook’s Substack
What is she up to in these puzzling fictions?
A Short Short Theory
by Robert Olen Butler
Narrative
Flash theory from Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize Winning Author.
Crafting Flash Fiction With Joy Bagio
by Joy Baglio
YouTube Video
A video in which the brilliant Joy Baglio talks about how great flash fiction is crafted.
Flash Fiction Craft: So What (Exactly) is Brevity in Flash Fiction?
by Randall Brown
Flashfiction.net
Veteran flash fiction writer Randall Brown on the importance of what is NOT said.
On the Mirror and the Echo
by Carmen Maria Machado
SmokeLong Quarterly
Carmen Maria Machado has much to teach us about flash, and she does it right here.
8 Mundane Elements You Should Cut From Your Story
by Jane Friedman
Elmore Leonard famously said “I try to leave out the parts that people skip.” Here, Jane Friedman talks about what can easily be left on the cutting room floor.
Conversations Between Friends: Tara Lynn Masih, Stacy D. Flood, and Kim Chinquee
CRAFT Literary
A fascinating conversation about flash fiction from 3 veterans of the form.
Form
Found Forms, Found Stories
by Grant Faulkner
Poets and Writers
A lesson in becoming a verbal junk collector.
The Erotics of Brevity
by Grant Faulkner
Poets and Writers
The aesthetic of brevity Brevity lures the reader forward with hints and possibilities—often with a seductive power.
Unusual Structures in Flash Fiction: Part 11
by Sophie Van Llewyn
The Short Story UK
Part 2 of Sophie Van Llewyn’s discussion of “borrowed forms.”
The Remarkable Reinvention of Very Short Fiction
by Robert Shapard
World Literature Today
Acclaimed flash fiction editor and author discusses the way flash fiction has been “reinvented.”
The Fullness of Omission
by Grant Faulkner
Poets and Writers
How much of a story can be left out?
Unusual Structures in Flash Fiction: Part 1
by Sophie Van Llewyn
The Short Story UK
Award winning novella-in-flash author discusses and shows samples of powerful “hermit crab flash.”
Protean Miniatures: The Adaptability and Sustainability of Flash Fiction
by Sean Hooks
LA Review of Books
Flash history and a general overview. Why flash fiction has become so compelling to writers and readers all over the world.
Flash: The Literary Theory and Analysis Teacher's Best Friend
by Jolene McIlwain
Smokelong
Flash can hit you emotionally, but it can hit you in more objectively quantifiable ways, too, when you take the time to deconstruct it. Here are six approaches Jolene Mcllwain uses when utilizing flash to teach students how to deconstruct and analyze texts.