Prompt #57 — It’s not always about Flash…

Sometimes we set out to write a piece of flash fiction, but the story demands more. We may grapple with including details, character history, or imagery that the piece can’t handle within the confines of flash.

PROMPT

Take a draft of flash fiction that you may have been working on for some time (this might be something that you’ve sent out to places and that has gotten a few rejections, or something sitting in your draft folder that you could never get to “work”). Gradually expand the piece by balancing the various elements of story telling. Examine what the piece is lacking. Look at the form: if it is primarily dialog, add connecting tissue, flesh out who the characters are or what they are doing when they speak—make their movements deliberate or meaningful. If the piece is entirely prose, add a scene, or add dialog. Give the piece a risk, give it something that is at stake, create a rising action, and then let it fall.