Flash Gimmicks

"You Gotta Get a Gimmick" is a song from the 1959 musical comedy Gypsy. In the song three experienced burlesque performers explain to a newcomer that, in order to be successful, it's important to have a "gimmick," some special attention-getting device that stands out from what everyone else is doing.

I think of that song sometimes when I'm exploring the venues for flash fiction. Many of them have very specific requirements for the pieces they publish, rules that might be seen as "gimmicks," that present writers with special challenges.

Often the challenge is one of length: a precise word count, or a number of sentences.

For example, Six Sentences asks for pieces of exactly six sentences. Since 2006, the editor has posted these pieces with varying frequency, sometimes daily, sometimes several per day, sometimes less than daily. There are writers who manage to tell surprisingly complex stories, while others offer terse comments. Overall, these are great examples of what can be done by applying a little imagination to sentence structure and punctuation.

Paragraph Planet publishes a 75-word paragraph every day. This has been going on since 2008.

Complete Sentence publishes single-sentence prose. There is no minimum or maximum length, but it seems as though most of the authors are trying to set a record. There are some very entertaining pieces here, and it wouldn't be much of a surprise to find that someone has managed to compose an entire single-sentence novel.

The First Line publishes stories between 300 and 5,000 words, but length is not the focus. Every story starts with the same first line, chosen by the editors months in advance. While this might sound repetitive, every writer takes that first line in a completely different direction.

Another publication with prescribed content is 3Elements. The editors provide three "elements" - words or short phrases - that must be included in every short (under 3500 words) prose piece.

101 Words began in 2005, posting flash stories of exactly 101 words. They publish seven stories per week.

The Dribble Drabble Review publishes "dribbles" (50 words) and "drabbles" (100 words). Once again, it is fascinating to see the creativity of writers who are able to convey entire plots and memorable characters within those limits.

Any publication featuring flash prose and poetry will have a word limit, since it is brevity that defines the flash genre. There is no universal agreement on how long or short a piece must be to be considered flash. Some say it can be up to 5000 words, but most go lower. A maximum of 1000-1500 words seems typical. Oddly, some require a minimum, often as high as 500 words. Most flash publications do not impose strict limits. The "gimmick" publishers challenge their authors to apply extra discipline to the craft.