Happy National Flash Fiction Day!

Today is National Flash Fiction Day in the UK! The event has become somewhat international, but the organizers are mainly in the UK. If you haven’t heard about it, NFFD is an event to celebrate all that is awesome about flash fiction. The quick surprises, the sudden heartbreak, the mysterious atmospheres . . . some writers are not so excited about flash fiction. Others love it.

In my opinion, flash is a lot like a design charette. Often, it’s spurred by an esoteric prompt or image, and the stories that result can be quite surprising. I enjoy writing and reading it. Writing flash is like doing a few jumping jacks in your brain. If you’d like to read some, there are MANY sites serving up delicious little bites of writing from around the world today, including:

National Flash Fiction Day
Flash Flood
1000 Words
Flash Points

Flash writing doesn’t just happen today–there are many bloggers who run weekly prompts and contests. I’ll leave you with a bit of flash I recently wrote for Rebecca Clare Smith’s SatSunTails, which happens every weekend.

The estate room at Ludwig & Sons was deep, and dark, and full of strangers. Fabrizio shuffled down the aisle, cane in hand. White flowers lined the walk. It might have been a wedding, but Eliana had married someone else, long ago.
He chose a seat on the right, near the back, out of the way.
The executor stepped to the front. He read her will slowly, the words careful, the tone loving. Murmurs rippled among the crowd at each bequest. The Milan estate went to her niece, the paintings to her nephews. The gifts were generous. The strangers smiled and cried.
At last his name was called. “To Mons. Fabrizio Castelli, I leave my fondest memory.”
He accepted the vial. He inhaled the scent.
It took him there, to the wall, to the warmth of the sun. His lips pressed her cheek. She laughed. They were together. And he was happy.
–152 words
May 16th, 2012 | Category: flashfiction, On Writing

5 comments to Happy National Flash Fiction Day!

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