Flash Fiction

[usable001]

What do authors here do with stories which are under the 750 word minimum?

 

[oggbashan]

I write 50-word stories. I submit them in sets of 15 = 750 words.

 

[KeithD]

I don't write any under that length unless I'm writing to that requirement. One of our members, Ogg, strings 50-word stories together into one work to make the needed wordage to post here.

 

[oggbashan]

Shorter works can be posted as 'Poetry'.

 

[RejectReality]

I could probably get away with posting my micro "Anew As One" as poetry, since it ended up wanting to rhyme, but I'd imagine the poetry people would rip it a new one. Some serious gatekeeping going on there, from what I've seen.

As to the OP, yep, the only real way to get shorter work posted is to combine it into a minimum 750 word submission. You can cheat it a little with opening/closing notes, because Laurel doesn't seem to care if that's part of the 750, from what I've seen.

Expect it not to do much. Shorter stuff tends to not do well here, even when presented as anthologies. There are a few exceptions, but it's generally a low return investment.

 

[usable001]

Is there another site better suited to flash format?

 

[JaxRhapsody]

Is there another site better suited to flash format?

Possibly, but you'd hafta look for yourself. Most of us aren't trying to write a story out of a paragraph. 750 word stories are challenging enough, been working on a series of those since the 750 word challenge.

 

[GuyandDoll]

What an interesting question. I love flash fiction and it had never occurred to me that there wasn't an easy way to post it. Of course, most flash fiction is godawful bad, but that's true of most longer fiction--it's just over faster. Some people like their stories and their exploits to be quickies, and why not?

I haven't looked at the rules in a long time. Are there other standards about form (as opposed to content)? No sestinas, no Faulknerian sentences, no poems-that-sound-an-awful-lot-like-rap-lyrics? What formal requirements are there, other than a 750-word minimum?

 

[NotWise]

I haven't looked at the rules in a long time. Are there other standards about form (as opposed to content)? No sestinas, no Faulknerian sentences, no poems-that-sound-an-awful-lot-like-rap-lyrics? What formal requirements are there, other than a 750-word minimum?

Check the Submission Guidelines page. The site has its limits.

 

[oggbashan]

...

I haven't looked at the rules in a long time. Are there other standards about form (as opposed to content)? No sestinas, no Faulknerian sentences, no poems-that-sound-an-awful-lot-like-rap-lyrics? What formal requirements are there, other than a 750-word minimum?

If you call it Poetry - it is poetry, and there is no minimum number of words.

For example these of mine are very short:

https://www.literotica.com/beta/p/attila

https://www.literotica.com/beta/p/caesars-wife-1

 

[GuyandDoll]

Check the Submission Guidelines page. The site has its limits.

Actually, I'm seeing formatting and content limits but few limits about the formal or structural elements of a piece. Nothing less than 750 words and no long paragraphs. That's about it. Unless I'm misreading it, the rest is about technicalities or sexual content. So flash fiction may be the only genre that needs to be re-classified, as poetry perhaps (although it's only poetry in the sense that anything is poetry; Lydia Davis, Amy Hempel, George Saunders et al are not writing poetry when they write micro fiction). I do get it, though: calling it poetry is a fine way to publish flash fiction!

 

[KeithD]

Is there another site better suited to flash format?

I haven't found one, no.

 

[Lascivity]

I actually really enjoy flash fiction - shame there's not more of it. Would encourage you to bundle together a few short shorts on the same theme and publish them as one. Would definitely get my read.

 

[PennameWombat]

What do authors here do with stories which are under the 750 word minimum?

Toasted Cheese Literary Journal welcomes flash fiction, have a category dedicated to it. Not sure about posting link to a not-really-a-competitor site? Put that in a search engine you’ll find it.

They don’t welcome erotica. They sometimes might take the equivalent of the US movie rating ‘R’ but prefer PG-13. Submissions are judged and moderated, their editors choose what to post.

If I think in flash fiction it’s not in erotic terms, both the rules here and the, uh, reception super short stuff gets here don’t inspire me

 

[KeithD]

I think flash fiction is appropriate to a high-heat sex scene, and I've written them. To get it published, though, I've hit the 750-word limit. It's just what has to be done. There are flash fiction contests out there from time to time. I haven't seen any that accepted erotica, though. That doesn't mean I don't think erotica can be well delivered at the shorter wordage levels. Sex can go from warm to superhot and back to warm in a short span of time. There's no reason why a work couldn't be short to capture that.

 

[usable001]

Toasted Cheese Literary Journal welcomes flash fiction, have a category dedicated to it. Not sure about posting link to a not-really-a-competitor site? Put that in a search engine you’ll find it.

They don’t welcome erotica.

I found what I was looking for. storiesonline.net allows both flash fiction and erotica.