What do you think flash fiction means? Lightning fiction maybe, short, over in a flash… Flash fiction is another form of storytelling, an intense burst of story over in 150 words. This form of story unlike any other, because the story starts in the middle, the end occurs in the middle and then there is the afterwards to help the reader process. This process is challenging, but fun and wildly creative. They are usually inspired by curious photos. Flash fiction pieces are meant to be so intense that you can only read a couple at a time. Here is an example of one of my own flash fiction pieces:
[The photo: two kids jumping off a rock; you can’t see the ground beneath them; they swathed in their silhouettes. ]
The Flight
She was flying. Frozen screams languished, but she only heard freedom. The concern of death was inconsequential.
The boy had jumped too, he was going to die, but it was his fault for not understanding her longing for flight, the yearning for wind in her ears. They didn’t understand, she was free now.
Then death swallowed her, life and death spun together into a collage that always ended in darkness. She always knew death would follow, but she didn’t care: she had flown.
Her caretakers in the institution would miss her, well grieve her at least, given her constant babble of flight. The boy had been her brother: soft spoken, protective, but he didn’t try to climb out windows like her and jump into the city streets to visit with the voices that encouraged her to jump. The specialists kept saying words like suicide, but she just wanted to fly. [150]
Panther Prints would love for you to submit your own flash fiction piece. If you want to submit a piece, please email Ms. Miller at nmiller@mvschools.org