This week: Flashes of fear Edited by: Arakun the Twisted Raccoon  
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Quote for the week:
"Her cold wind calls, and so I follow.
No time to rest my weary bones.
I hear her voice, and my heart grows hollow.
Best not walk these woods alone.
Best keep to the roads and out of the shadows.
Best get on home.
Best to leave them ghosts alone."
~From "The Land Unknown" by Landon Blood. |
Flash fiction is a very short story, usually under 1500 words in length. It has all the elements of a regular story, but usually focuses on a single moment or idea. It has a story arc with a beginning, middle, and end. When you write flash fiction, you still need to develop your plot, characters, and setting as you would in a regular story.
IN horror flash fiction, you also need to create the same sense of fear as you would in a full length horror story or novel, but you have very few words to do it. The relationship between two characters might develop over several chapters in a horror novel while it would need to be shown almost instantly in flash fiction.
Flash fiction stories often begin and end "in the middle of things." Flash fiction writers learn to be masters of "show, don't tell," often suggesting a complicated situation with a few lines of dialogue or short, vivid description.
A flash fiction story should have at least one character, but the large cast of characters that often populate novels or longer stories is usually not possible. Your characters can refer to characters who are not actually present if they are important, but try to spend most of the story in the moment, focusing on who and what are present right now. For example, a character might say, "Mother wouldn't like this" in different situations. That would give the reader a good picture of the mother without her actually being present for any of the action.
While flash stories should have some form of conclusion or resolution, it is often implied rather than spelled out. They often end with things still up in the air, but with the general implication of how they are about to go. The story might end with a character taking an action that is likely to affect their future without specifically saying what that future might be. For example, a woman might cut her hair after years of keeping it long because her controlling spouse liked it that way.
Something to try: Write a horror story of 300 words or less.
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| | The Bush (13+)
Roots run deep in the bush. But you'll have to run faster.
#2333682 by Jeromée  |
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Horror/Scary: December 31, 2025 Issue [#13520]
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