Fast Flash Fiction

I don’t know how flash fiction started, and I’m not sure if “flash” was originally in reference to the time needed to write the piece, it’s length, or the time to read it. Yesterday I published a 600-word piece of flash fiction entitled “Green Grass” under the section ‘Dark Fiction’. It only took me 15 minutes to write the draft, my fastest story writing session ever. The next day I revised the piece and that only took me about a half hour.

The reason why I managed to write this creepypasta story so quickly is because half the idea came to mind while I was cutting the grass. I actually didn’t have Rachel in my head, just the beginning scene with Austin, Ben, the reference to fertilizer and the neighbourhood disappearances. As I wrote I knew it was incomplete and that’s when Rachel flashed in my mind. At first, I thought her character would be aligned with Austin, but as I typed, she became Ben’s maniacal partner. It’s crazy how free-flow writing interweaves itself within pre-conceived ideas in a matter of seconds.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to beat that speed or even match it, but it was thrilling to have written a complete story so quickly. My rigid flash fiction writing rules did technically allow me more time to work on the revision, but I still believe that putting practice over perfection is key for me to improve. Once the piece is done, it’s done. Publish it or throw it away.

On to the next one!