Why I Love the Short Fictional Forms by Allison Symes

Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. I write short stories (1500 to 2000 words usually) and flash fiction. Flash has taught me never to fear editing. When you’re working to a tight word count (1000 words maximum for flash), you don’t fear cutting adjectives, wasted words such as that, very, and actually, or of thinking of better ways of wording things. I like the impact of short fiction. You get the undiluted “punch in the gut” effect quickly (and even more so with flash fiction). Inventing characters is my favourite aspect of storytelling so writing the short form means I must do that all the time. Win-win there, then. I like being able to write a story, edit it, get it out there, move on to the next story, and just keep that going. Writing the short form has challenged me to write and submit work regularly. It has also got me into the habit of writing to deadlines and it is encouraging to see there are plenty of short form competitions. I love reading