Promoting Yorkshire Authors

 The Summer Flash Fiction Story

Each year the Writers' Support Group takes a diversion. In August we discuss the art behind writing a flash fiction story which members of the group then use to create a story to read out at one of the meetings in September.

If you missed the meeting in August here are some tips for creating your short piece for September's meeting, with thanks to Helen Johnson who hosts the Writers' Support Group.

There's no theme for September's flash fiction story; choose one from your current work-in-progress or try something new - something you haven't tried before to broaden your writing skills.

The flash fiction should be less than 1,000 words (the typical maximum length for flash - short stories are between 1,000 and 5,000 words and micro-fiction is less than 150 words, though these are guidelines as there's no standard).

The challenge for flash fiction is to focus on having a small number of strong characters in a recognisable setting and create action. It's also key that the story has a recognisable beginning and end, with the important action in between. There must be change instigated between the beginning and end and it is probably best to focus on one event or conflict. This can be a tiny moment under the microscope - Jane Austin does this by describing a female character waiting at a door where the consequences of entry are significant to the story.

The main character should be changed by the challenge she or he faces and that challenge is the main thrust of the story - be it a conflict, the actions of an antagonist or internal strife. It should be something that's difficult for the protagonist to overcome and involve a small number of characters.

There should be a strong sense of place, somewhere a reader can relate to and the character should inform the setting. Make the plot a sequence of cause and effect events with a strong emotional punch or moral as a climax.

Choose the main theme carefully and use metaphor to reinforce a universally felt emotion, one that would engender empathy in the reader. Keep the narrative going with a strong action driven plot and try to include a twist - something unexpected in the outcome.

Flash fiction is hard to do well and every word must count (rather like poetry). Edit strongly and remove superfluous adverbs and adjectives by using the best single word - e.g. dashed instead of walked swiftly (good practice anyway).

We hope to see you at September's Writers' Support Group meeting, flash fiction story to hand. Keep writing.