This book helps authors of all experience levels to understand the elements of short stories and flash fiction so that they can effectively write them for the current market.

Look for combinations that amuse and intrigue you. Feel free to make changes, substitutions, and additions. You might find a garbage man in the list - but you'll soon discover that your garbage man is actually a garbage woman, or a trash-picking hobo, or an environmentally sensitive vampire who sleeps in a landfill. Let your characters drive the story.

In this book include:

• Crafting characters
• Using dialogue
• Perspective and structure
• Experimentation
• Reflection
• Editing and rewriting

Flash fiction consists of writing an entire story in a thousand words or less. This constraint imposes significant restrictions on what the writer can do, but written right, flash fiction tales can pack power way out of proportion to their length. The tricks and techniques needed to write effective flash fiction, though, are different from those used for novel-length, or even traditional short stories. Until now, these tricks and techniques had to be learned the hard way...through the path of rejection.