Lorin Lee Cary's Blog

I'm having great fun with flash fiction, pieces of under 1000 words. Crafting a story arc in that space is challenging; sometimes I end up with just a vignette of a character. And that's okay. The bottom line is that's it's fun. Often I start out with a sentence I've overheard. "I got a job selling meat," led me into a tale about a hit man who said that because he didn't like other labels for his job. Or, "I got baptized four times because I didn't think it took." I ran with that.

The bottom line is that flash fiction is fun and a great way to learn the craft of succinctness. It's good practice for editing longer pieces as well.

Give it a try. The great thing is that there are numerous online journals open to this form.