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Flash fiction is known by many names: short-short story, postcard fiction, sudden fiction, micro fiction, furious fiction, sudden fiction, and even smoke-long fiction (being short enough to read while smoking a cigarette).

There is some disagreement on what the length of flash fiction is. The average word count runs anywhere from 100 words to 1000 words. Sometimes less, sometimes more.

Flash fiction stories require the same elements of short fiction and they must have not only a beginning, middle, and ending, but they must also have character, setting, situation, and theme. The difference in flash fiction is that the pacing is swifter. The story must begin immediately and move swiftly to the end. You must cut every non-essential word. The goal of any flash fiction is to present a single effect derived from a single cause. No subplots. No long passages of description. The character or situation must change radically. The outcome is swift. There are two different outcomes that are characteristic of flash fiction:
an unresolved (open) or sad ending
a surprise or unexpected twist (or irony)

According to Stephen Minot (Sudden Fiction: American Short-short Stories) flash fiction has its origins in five different traditions:
true experience a significant, hard-hitting and sometimes shocking life experience
anecdote short, interesting or humorous account of a fictitious event.
Speculation an analytical story that explores "why?" or "what if?"
Dream story A story that relies on mood
Poetic story metaphorical language, alliteration, repetition, and imagery are used.

Flash fiction stories can also be written in the form of a letter, flashbacks, interior monologues, and fables.

Philip F. O'Connor (Sudden Fiction: American Short-Short Stories) said flash fiction stories "are about individuals struggling to maintain dignity in a culture which does not threaten so much with guns as with reasonableness. There are few dramatic resolutions because the antagonists, which are often conditions, not people, engage the character stealthily, like cancer, not tornadoes."

When you write flash fiction, expect to do a lot of editing. Select your details carefully. As in short stories, include only the details that are relevant to your story. Eliminate redundancies, vague words, and unessential modifiers like very. Actions should be meaningful and should advance your story. Use concrete nouns and verbs, soul-stirring words and recurring images. Know when to end the story. Don't overwrite. Implication is a common ingredient in flash fiction.

Learn more about this author, R. M. Ziegler.
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