Flash fiction is an ideal vehicle for fairytales. Why? Because the best fairytales set up their world quickly, have a definite conclusion, and often pack a powerful punch. Flash fiction does this too so to my mind flash and fairytales are a match made in writing heaven.
Flash fiction has to be character led due to its limited word count but you can set that character wherever and whenever you wish. A few telling details can set up a magical world quickly. For example from my George Changes His Mind (in From Light to Dark and Back Again), I set up a magical world with the opening line "He refused to kill the dragon." The telling detail there is in one word - dragon! The story goes on to show what happens and that is the important bit of the story after all. I don't need to use thousands of words setting up the magical world in which this is set. This is not crucial to this story. What matters is it IS in a magical world and what George goes on to do or not do.
A lot of my stories are either reflections of a fairytale world or set in it and they are great fun to write but I always focus on what the lead character is like. That is the crucial point of any story I think but in flash where every word must work hard to earn its place to stay there, it is even more so.
Flash fiction has to be character led due to its limited word count but you can set that character wherever and whenever you wish. A few telling details can set up a magical world quickly. For example from my George Changes His Mind (in From Light to Dark and Back Again), I set up a magical world with the opening line "He refused to kill the dragon." The telling detail there is in one word - dragon! The story goes on to show what happens and that is the important bit of the story after all. I don't need to use thousands of words setting up the magical world in which this is set. This is not crucial to this story. What matters is it IS in a magical world and what George goes on to do or not do.
A lot of my stories are either reflections of a fairytale world or set in it and they are great fun to write but I always focus on what the lead character is like. That is the crucial point of any story I think but in flash where every word must work hard to earn its place to stay there, it is even more so.
RSS Feed
