This is a revised article I published a couple of years ago on a different blog.  Read the original post here.

A few years ago, while going over some of my flash fiction stories in a writing group, one woman said that she didn’t “get” the stories.  She didn’t see things like plot or character development and wondered if they could be called stories.  I wasn’t offended – over the years in all of my writing groups I’ve read a lot of things I didn’t get – and different people like different things, but something about what she said kept nagging at me.

Some years earlier, I was dating a woman who wanted to get into writing.  One day at a bookstore I was browsing through the magazine section and I saw one that looked interesting.  I had never submitted anything to them because I write mostly science fiction and they only took literary fiction, but they looked like they took her style of writing.  So I bought a copy and gave it to her.  A couple of days later she called to tell me that she had read every story in it and loved them all and couldn’t wait to submit a story.  The next time I visited, I borrowed the magazine and read it.  I hated every “story” in it.  I say “story” because they were just words.  I detected no plot, no character development, no meaning.  I wanted to shake the “authors” and yell at them, “A lovely flow of words does not a story make.”

That’s what was nagging me.  Were no plot stories wrong, except when I did it?  It took some thought, but I finally managed to justify myself out of this dilemma.

Over the years I’ve read a lot of short science fiction stories in magazines and anthologies.  A lot of them I haven’t liked.  For example, while I was thinking about this situation, I read a novella that really bothered me.  Basically, this not so nice guy manages to go on a journey.  Something unexpected happens and he is put in a situation where he learns things about the world and himself.  Oh, and he gets the girl too.  Part of why I didn’t like this story was because some of the elements were just too far-fetched for my taste.  To be fair, I’m sure some like those elements, but I’m not one of those people.  But the main reason I didn’t like it was – as far as I could tell – there wasn’t a point to it.  The only meanings I could gather from it were “Don’t lie” and “Live each day as if it’s your last.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying every story has to be life altering, but if you’re reading thousands upon thousands of words there needs to be something to make it worth it.  A fascinating character, an interesting twist, a life altering insight.  I got none of those from that story. 

Now, what does that have to do with my flash fiction? I don’t waste your time.  I guess my flash fiction is more an expanded thought than a traditional story.  I come up with ideas I find very interesting, but instead of writing a tome exploring the minutiae, I prefer just putting that idea out there.  It’s like I tell my readers, “This is something you’ve probably not thought of before, what do you think?” What rights should clones have?  (“Our Brothers and Sisters”)  If we find evidence of alien life, how will that affect science fiction writers?  (“The Price to Pay”)  How terrible is it to have the time but not having anything to write about?  (“Blank”)  Of course given my mischievous nature, a lot of my stories could better be called extended punch lines.  (“A Liter of Puppies,” “Of Course,” “Agent 202,” etc.)

So that’s the point of my flash fiction.  I’m not taking you on a journey of discovery and adventure, I’m just giving you something to think about or a laugh.  Sometimes both.