Microfiction

Here is an article on **Flash Fiction** that appears on Wikipedia.


 * Flash fiction** is [|fiction] characterized by its extreme brevity, as measured by its length in words. While there is no universally accepted exact word limit, generally a [|short story] is considered to constitute flash fiction if it is less than 1,000–2,000 words long, and most flash-fiction pieces are between 250 and 1,000 words long. (By contrast, "traditional" short stories range from 2,000 words to upwards of 20,000, and are mainly between 3,000 and 10,000 words long; they are distinguished from longer forms, such as the [|novel] and [|novella], primarily by the intent that they be read in a single sitting.)

Other names
Other names for flash fiction include **sudden fiction**, **microfiction**, **micro-story**, **postcard fiction**, and **short short story**, though distinctions are sometimes drawn between some of these terms; for example, sometimes 1,000 words is considered the cut-off between "flash fiction" and the slightly longer "sudden fiction". The term "flash fiction" likely originated in James Thomas, Denise Thomas, and Tom Hazuka's 1992 anthology of that name. As the authors of that anthology said in their introduction, their own definition of a "flash fiction" was a story that would fit on two facing pages of a typical digest-sized literary magazine, or about 750 words. 

Flash fiction and vignettes
Flash fiction differs from a [|vignette] in that the flash-fiction work contains the classic story elements: [|protagonist], conflict, obstacles or complications, and resolution. However, unlike the case with a traditional short story, the limited word length often forces some of these elements to remain unwritten, that is, hinted at or implied in the written storyline. This principle, taken to the extreme, is illustrated by [|Ernest Hemingway]'s six-word flash, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." 

History
Flash fiction has roots going back to //[|Aesop's Fables]//, and practitioners have included [|Bolesław Prus], [|Anton Chekhov], [|O. Henry], [|Franz Kafka], [|H.P.Lovecraft] and [|Ray Bradbury]. New life has been brought to flash fiction by the [|Internet], with its demand for short, concise works. A ready market for flash-fiction works is [|ezines]; however, flash fiction is also published by many print magazines. Markets specializing in flash fiction include //[|SmokeLong Quarterly]//, //[|Flashquake]//, and //[|Vestal Review]//. One type of flash fiction is the short story with an exact [|word count]. Examples include [|55 Fiction] or [|Nanofiction], the [|Drabble] and the 69er. Nanofictions are complete stories, with at least one character and a discernible plot, exactly 55 words long. A [|Drabble] is a story of exactly 100 words, excluding titles, and a 69er is a story of exactly 69 words, again excluding the title. The 69er was a regular feature of the Canadian literary magazine //NFG//, which featured a section of such stories in each issue. Short story writer [|Bruce Holland Rogers] has written "369" stories which consist of an overall title, then three thematically related 69ers, each with its own title. 

Articles about flash fiction

 * [|Awww! An Essay on Flash] by Randall Brown
 * [|Flashes on the Meridian] by Pam Casto
 * [|Flash What? A Quick Look at Flash Fiction] by Jason Gurley
 * [|miniTEXTOS.org: Flash fiction and poetry from Latin America] edited by Jose Luis Rodriguez Pitti
 * [|Flash Fiction: A Thumbnail History] by Tom Hazuka
 * [|Flash Fiction] by Miriam N. Kotzin
 * [|World's shortest story] by Eduardo Berti
 * [|The Essentials of Micro-Fiction] by Camille Renshaw
 * [|Writing Flash Fiction] by G.W. Thomas

Here is a recent short fiction I wrote to serve as a model for the 2008 groups.

 Michael D. Brown**
 * LUPITA STANDING STILL

Many years ago, in a little house in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, 21-year-old Lupita Morales was looking at a photograph of her father, who had recently died. She touched the soft surface of the photo where it showed his face. Tears filled her eyes as she imagined that she could feel the flesh of his cheeks. It had been her father’s wish that she remain unmarried until she was twenty at least, and now that he was gone she thought she would be free to marry Homero Sánchez. Because Homero respected Señor Morales’ wishes, he would never come to visit Lupita, but she decided to invite him to her house, for it was //her// house now. She placed the photograph of her father on the little table by the window. Lupita was not crying anymore, but still felt sad when she looked at the photo, though the sight of her father’s smile consoled her a little. She would call Homero, but first she thought about how hungry she was, and went to the kitchen for something to eat. As she was eating some old cheese, she thought of inviting Homero for dinner, but that meant she must go shopping for there was nothing else in the house to eat. Then she felt ashamed to think her father was only dead for a few days and here she sat thinking about eating, and shopping, and dating, and perhaps marrying Homero Sánchez—when, suddenly a crashing sound from the other room drew her attention. She held in her hand the knife with which she she had sliced the cheese, and walked slowly into the other room, only to find the table had fallen over and her father’s picture was on the windowsill—smiling at her, before the wind took it away; then she stood very still and did not know what to do next.