Flash fiction is a style of fiction of extreme brevity. Shorter than actual short stories, they fall somewhere between 300-1,000 words per story.

Unlike a vignette, flash-fiction often contains the classic story elements: protagonist, conflict, obstacles or complications, and resolution. The limited word length often forces some of these elements to remain unwritten – that is, hinted at or implied in the written storyline.

You might think flash fiction is just a recent internet phenomenon, but it turns out I’m in august company: practitioners have included Saadi of Shiraz , Bolesław Prus, Anton Chekhov, O. Henry, Franz Kafka, H.P. Lovecraft, Yasunari Kawabata, Ernest Hemingway, Julio Cortázar, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., and Fredric Brown.

There is no underlying theme to these stories, they were written based on my mood and inspiration. For flash fiction on a theme (Indian mythology), read The Vyathaka Puranas.

Some of these stories were presented on All India Radio, as part of their ‘Yuuvaani’ programme. I’ll be adding more of my flash fiction in time.

All fiction here is ©SS Kuruganti. Feel free to share or link, though!

Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. As are comments, compliments, general squee, and linkage.

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