What you leave out of a piece of flash fiction is more important than what you put in; but what you put in must imply what you leave out. Only in this way will a 400 to 1,500 word short story resonate with things the reader will not understand but will sense beyond the actual words on the page/screen.
The easiest way to try to get this resonance is to over write your first draft. If your first draft is 3,000 to 4,000 words cut it down to an essential 800 to 1,200 words.
I should be writing but... I'm enjoying your articles. I think shorter the piece the tighter the language should be. I see novels at one end of the continuum and poetry at the other. The range in between varies. Still it's imperative to cut and hone.
Many times I don't care to read maybe a very good flash fiction because the story are buried inside an entangled spaghetti of inane details which distracted me from the main theme.
Great advice, hold it short so the reader can't put down the pages keeping on reading.
Georg
As deafness, illness, and demonic forces close in around him, Ludwig van Beethoven must summon his faith and genius to complete the Missa Solemnis—a sacred masterpiece he believes could bring divine light into a darkening world.
A teenage boy struggling with the coming-of-age issues of sexuality, religion, and peer approval is overwhelmed, but soldiers on. After several years, he comes to understand the family forces that have left him so deeply troubled, and the process of
Determined to confront the hazy memories of his troubled youth, Oliver Matthews, a retired detective and confirmed bachelor, returns to the picturesque town of Henley-on-Thames for the first time in years.
Great advice, hold it short so the reader can't put down the pages keeping on reading.
Georg