Flash Fiction Stories: 25 Examples of Lighting-Fast Stories
Flash fiction is one of the most fascinating creative mediums in this day and age: incredibly difficult, but also incredibly rewarding. After all, flash fiction requires writers to effectively cramming a whole narrative into 1,500 words or less.
But when writers rise to this challenge, the results can be exquisite. This post is dedicated to those dazzling flash fiction examples. We'll cover works by the masters of the medium, from Franz Kafka to Joyce Carol Oates. Some stories are a few paragraphs long, some a few lines, and others only a few words — but all of them display storytelling ability that's out of this world. Without further ado, here are 25 flash fiction examples worth a (very quick) read!
If you're feeling overwhelmed by the number of great short stories out there, you can also take our 30-second quiz below to narrow it down quickly and get a personalized short story recommendation 😉
1. “Angels and Blueberries” by Tara Campbell
Word count: 744 words
First lines: “Why is the sky blue?” you ask. Well, it all depends on who’s answering.
Campbell’s sweet, wholesome story posits various explanations for the color of the sky, one of which (naturally) involves angels and blueberries. Besides making you crave a fruit smoothie, it’ll open your eyes to the delightful possibilities of imagination when we disregard science for a few minutes.
2. “As the North Wind Howled” by Yu Hua
Word count: 1,371 words
First line: Sunlight had sneaked in through the window and was creeping toward the chair where my pants dangled. I was lying bare-chested in bed, rubbing some gunk from the corner of my eye. It must have collected while I was sleeping, and to just let it stay there seemed inappropriate.
Translated from the original Chinese, this brilliantly bizarre story follows a man who awakens one morning to find a stranger pounding down his door. The stranger insists that he’s come to visit his sick friend — the only trouble is, our narrator has no idea who he’s talking about. The uncanniness escalates from there, culminating in a dark yet comic ending that deftly comments on the oppressive nature of social obligations.
3. “Baby Dolls” by Becky Robison
Word count: 175 words
First line: My mother isn’t always Raggedy Ann, but she was when I was born.
This super-quick vignette from Becky Robison manages to be profoundly moving and disturbing at the same time. It details the circumstances of the narrator’s birth, during which her mother was dressed as Raggedy Ann… or had perhaps morphed into her, depending on how you interpret the poetic prose.
4. “Curriculum” by Sejal Shah
Word count: 490 words
First lines: The map was printed on a handkerchief. It is a map of a place that no longer exists.
One of the most praised pieces of flash fiction examples in recent memory, “Curriculum” is divided into three parts: Area Studies, Women’s Studies, and Visual Studies. As you might expect, however, the details of each are not purely academic, but provide a rich context for the narrator’s life — particularly her relationships to cultural identity, womanhood, and her mother.
5. “Give It Up!” by Franz Kafka
Word count: 128 words
First line: It was very early in the morning, the streets clean and deserted, I was walking to the station.
“The Metamorphosis,” “The Trial,” and “The Castle” are all very good stories, but “Give It Up!” is a perfect summation of the Kafkaesque: disconcerting and ultimately hopeless. Clocking in at just over 100 words, it’s also one of the most impressive feats of flash fiction by an author largely known for his full-length works.
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