Like all fiction that matters, their success depends not
on their length, but on their depth, their clarity of vision,
their human significance.
—James Thomas
Flash fiction may seem like a relatively new genre, but you may be surprised to learn it’s been around for some time. James Thurber imagined a hung-over Ulysses S. Grant meeting Robert E. Lee at Appomattox and surrendering his sword to the bewildered general from the South. Katherine Anne Porter told a tale of magic about a New Orleans prostitute who rebelled against her abusive madam and left the “house” only to return in a week, meek and mild, after the madam’s cook cast a spell on her.
What do these stories have in common? Each one has a length of approximately 1,500 words, and there are many more such pieces, some even short
