From the editors: Of the many forms of fiction, pure flash fiction is one of the most difficult to write well. What is “pure” flash fiction, you ask? It is a story in a small package. A complete story, with character development, setting, plot, conflict, and a satisfying resolution. It requires careful management of each […]
From the editors: Over the past ten and a half years with Flash Fiction Online, we’ve seen hundreds of great stories. But for every editor, there are those few that keep coming back, that are never forgotten, whose titles pop up every time someone asks for your favorites. Stefanie Freele’s “James Brown Is Alive and […]
From the editors: When I’m approached by writers new to the craft or readers looking for an example of well-written flash fiction, time and again, “Beholder” by Sarah Grey is the story I recommend. There are no world-ending catastrophes or serial killers lurking beneath the stairs. But some stories don’t need to jump up and […]
This column begins its fourth year of existence this September. A column I didn’t mean to create, yet that kept growing. A column that has made me a few enemies, a handful of fans, and even a book of the same name. What goals I had were general: challenge conventional wisdom about careers in writing, […]
From the editors: My favourite story since beginning my time at Flash Fiction Online, the one that I recall most often, is “Portrait of my Wife as a Boat,” by Samantha Murray. Time and again I return to the image of the coracle sitting on the tides edge with the sun sinking into the horizon. […]
WELCOME TO OUR FIRST SEMI-WHENEVER-WE-FEEL-LIKE-IT FFO CLASSICS ISSUE! After some serious reminiscing, we decided we’d like to share with you some of our staff favorites from past issues, along with a bit of our actual reminiscences on why we love these stories. The hard part, you should know, was narrowing it down to these few, […]
From the editors: I’m not generally a fan of stories from a child’s POVs. I find a lot of stories with young narrators take the tack of making the prose almost overly simplistic (short sentences, and simple words), in order perhaps to make it clear this is a child speaking. For me, the best stories […]