Recently, a class at UVic has had me writing a lot of flash fiction stories. What I’ve discovered, is that I’m far more potent when writing postcard stories over a three to six thousand word story.

While the word count seems to vary from place to place, postcard stories generally fit on one or two pages. It makes for a hefty limitation. Trying to explore a character’s mindset without being explicit can take pages of work, and even a spare description could eat up one’s entire word limit. Such a limitation demands concision, density of language, and a plot that leaves a large space for the reader to ponder.