Defining Flash Fiction: Mission Impossible

Many of the pieces I find in the slush pile are rejected because they fail to stand-alone as flash fiction. And even though I work with an editorial team that offers brief rejection comments, I suspect many authors still don't grasp why their story was rejected.

Here is one of the rejection notes I wrote last week . . . although the first person narrative structure displays a keen sense of observation, the story is anecdotal and lacks dramatic tension.

What I really wanted to write was . . . this isn't flash fiction.

So what is?

Well, it isn't as easy as saying what is and what isn't flash fiction and for good reason . . . as stated in Pamelyn Castco's article:

Flashes On The Meridian: Dazzled by Flash Fiction:
http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/casto.shtml

. . . defining or stating exactly what flash fiction is would be comparable to defining or stating exactly what a poem or novel is. It just cannot be done to anyone's satisfaction.

For my taste/satisfaction, pieces that read as if they have been extracted from a larger work, or stories that have a great deal of static, prologue-style exposition and or an anecdotal, journal/memoir tone, fail to make the cut unless they can effectively convey a complete story in a nutshell--with a beginning, middle and end.

That is not to say many of the well-written, memoir-like pieces I have rejected are not publishable. Indeed they are, but only if submitted to the right markets.

I too, accept that fact that I will never be able to define what flash fiction is to everyone's satisfaction. However, I am more than willing to direct writers to markets that are a good match for their well-written flash memoir pieces.

I welcome any flash memoir market leads, and I will be publishing them here early next year.

Coming soon . . .
Big news about my editorial promotion :-)