aka Flash Fiction Structure and Design with only

aka Flash Fiction

Structure and Design: with only a few pages of working room, writers cannot digress. Every piece of the story must interact effectively with the others. 100 - 2000 words Characters: should show both good and bad sides and should be capable of changing, even if they don’t ultimately rise to the challenges that face them.

Dialogue: what characters say to one another. The best dialogue reveals who the characters are and moves the story along. Setting: where and when the story takes place. Detail and description illuminates characters and propels a scene forward

Point of view: keeps us in the characters’ minds; dictates how much we learn of their internal, unspoken thinking Tone: the speaker’s attitude toward his listener Style: how writers say what they have to say

Readers must be left in a different place than when they started. Short-shorts are more intense and surprising. We’ll be looking at three short-shorts to analyze and review the elements of fiction: “Crossing the River Zbrucz “The Baby” “Marzipan”

Plot: a series of events in a story Protagonist: the main character on whom our attention is centered Antagonist: the person in opposition to the protagonist Flashback: a return to a previous point in time Flash forward: cutting to the future Suspense: anxiety about the outcome of an invent in a story

In medias res: in the middle of things Exposition: the history leading up to the present moment in the story (in a short, this should be condensed) Rising action: the escalation and complication of the central conflict Climax: the point of maximum dramatic attention and the turning point of the story Denouement (falling action/resolution): the working out of the remaining complications