I’m new to fiction writing, and I’m finding myself writing flash fiction - the ideas I’ve had so far (or my skill as a writer) haven’t been able to sustain a “full-length” 5000-word story yet.
I’m happy with my work, but it’s tempting to view flash fiction solely as that stepping stone to “real” stories. Thanks for the reminder to enjoy it right now, for the individual art it is.
Short stories and flash fiction truly help authors learn their craft. When you grow comfortable with the shorter forms of storytelling, fleshing out ideas into novellas and novels starts to happen organically. The interesting thing is that you are still drawn to shorter fiction after that because some ideas will always naturally fit better as a short story or flash fiction than a novel.
I’m new to fiction writing, and I’m finding myself writing flash fiction - the ideas I’ve had so far (or my skill as a writer) haven’t been able to sustain a “full-length” 5000-word story yet.
I’m happy with my work, but it’s tempting to view flash fiction solely as that stepping stone to “real” stories. Thanks for the reminder to enjoy it right now, for the individual art it is.
Short stories and flash fiction truly help authors learn their craft. When you grow comfortable with the shorter forms of storytelling, fleshing out ideas into novellas and novels starts to happen organically. The interesting thing is that you are still drawn to shorter fiction after that because some ideas will always naturally fit better as a short story or flash fiction than a novel.
I'd add six-word stories and genre haiku. It's all great stuff!
Indeed. Microfiction and flash fiction in all forms are excellent tools for building yourself as a writer.