Flash Fiction: "The Tension Between What Is Said and Unsaid"

I’m intrigued by flash fiction, tending as I do to write on and on and on, so I was as avid a learner as the students described in this piece by Virgie Townsend that discusses the experience of teaching flash fiction to a group of high school students (oh, and getting an appendectomy halfway through the 2-week session!):

But my explanations [of what flash fiction is] felt incomplete. They didn’t describe what fascinates me about flash: The tension between what is said and unsaid, and the stunning language that emerges from the form’s roots in ancient fables and its kinship to poetry. These are flash’s ineffable qualities that the students must be shown, not told. The first step in that process was creating a reading list with representation from different genres, writers from diverse backgrounds, and various styles.

The article offers great flash fiction reading suggestions, and also gives hope to writers who may worry that they don’t have an MFA…neither does Townsend.

Read the rest:

http://www.smokelong.com/teaching-flash-fiction-to-developing-writers-insights-and-stories-from-three-students-and-their-professor-part-one/