FLASH FICTION: VERY SHORT STORIES

Flash Fiction: Very Short Stories

Read the following six-word stories:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.Ernest Hemingway

Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?Eileen Gunn

Longed for him. Got him. Shit.Margaret Atwood

Wasted day. Wasted life. Dessert, please.Steven Meretzky

Easy. Just touch the match toUrsula K. Le Guin

Epitaph: He shouldn't have fed it.Brian Herbert

I saw, darling, but do lie.Orson Scott Card

SatanJehovahfifteen rounds. A draw.Norman Mailer

Saigon Hotel. Decades later. He weeps.Robert Olen Butler

"Oh, that? It's nothing. Not contagious."Augusten Burroughs

She gave. He took. He forgot.Tobias Wolff

Eyeballed me, killed him. Slight exaggeration.Irvine Welsh

Tasks:1. Explain what the story is for each of the above flash stories.2. Rank them from the one you think is best to the one you like least. Explain your choices.3. Which one's work, which ones don't? Why?4. What are the strengths and what are the weaknesses of flash fiction?5. Is flash fiction more than just a good joke? Why?6. Write some six-word stories of your own. Then get together in small groups, and choose the three best ones.