Welcome to the State of Flash

What is the state of flash fiction?

At times it seems that flash fiction is a genre that lives on the borders of poetry and fiction. Here at NANO Fiction we acknowledge that the genre is more complex than how the form is presented or what terms define it.

For the editors of NANO Fiction, flash is more like a child that we have the privilege of watching grow and, like a child, we see flash fiction as something that cannot be completely defined because, well, how can you impose a definition on something that is still changing, learning, and growing?

Flash fiction serves as many things to many people. For this new-ish series titled, State of Flash, I asked the NANO Editors and several of our former contributors to write about flash fiction- what the form means to them; what turned them, as writers, on to flash; how the form fails/succeeds; and so on. My request was open ended. I wanted to see essays, charts, humor pieces, or whatever else the writer thought would best communicate what they felt.

The State of Flash features the results of this request and we’ll be posting one response a week until the posts run out (or until we get bored of the series).

Happy Reading,
Kirby Johnson