Flash Fiction Formats by Allison Symes

Every form of writing poses different challenges from repetition and wandering off topic in novels to rhythm or rhyme in poetry or the word count of flash fiction. Flash fiction has always been a mystery to me and that is why I am so pleased to have an expert of the genre on the blog today to discuss the different formats available to proponents of this style of writing. A warm welcome to my friend and fellow author, Allison Symes.

Thank you for your time today, Allison because I know you are particularly busy with the launch of your new book, Seeing the Other Side. I'm happy to be here. Thank you for having me on your blog today, Val. It is always fun to talk about writing with another author and today I wave the flag for the shorter fiction forms, especially flash.

I’m delighted to say my third flash fiction collection, Seeing The Other Side, is due out on 16th July (Chapeltown Books) though the ebook is available for pre-order now. This book is my biggest collection to date with over 200 stories but I’ve also taken the opportunity to have fun with various flash formats.

Flash fiction formats, Allison? Surely, it’s just the word count?

Yes and no, Val. Flash has an upper limit of 1000 words but you can write at any length up to and including that. I’ve done this again for my third collection as I had with my previous two, From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping The Flash Fantastic. Where Seeing The Other Side differs is I’ve written more acrostic flash and even linked flash for this volume.

Acrostic flash is where the opening letter of a sentence/paragraph when read down the page spells out another word. One of these in my new book is Spring where a character springs a surprise on another. You’ll have to read the story to discover what happens but this kind of flash is great fun.

Linked flash is where a character and/or setting appears in more than one story. These stories follow on. The character doesn’t have to be the “star” in each of the linked flashes though they can be. Each tale stands alone but as you read the others, you will see another story arc developing.

I have a series of flashes in the new book based on the theme of Red, especially focused on a red coat. The coat and colour have even more meaning as the tales go on.

The theme of Seeing The Other Side is perspective. My blurb is Perspective can be wonderful but will you still feel the same if your view from the fence changes? As with my other books, the theme developed the more stories I wrote and helped inspire the title.

It is lovely to have another book out. My last came out in 2020, the year we all prefer to forget. So much has changed since.

What hasn’t changed is my abiding love of flash fiction. I see it as a way of encouraging reading, especially for those reluctant to try the longer fiction forms. Start softly, build up gradually is my motto. I think flash fiction can do that.

The Author

Allison Symes writes non-fiction articles for Chandler's Ford Today, an online community magazine. She focuses on reviewing local theatre productions, writing items of interest to the writers' community, and articles such as Creativity is Good For You, How to Spot a Real Writing Competition and so on.

She also writes for monthly writing magazine, Writers' Narrative, which is written by writers for writers and is a copy editor for them.

Allison's fiction has been published online and in print by Cafelit, Bridge House Publishing, and Chapeltown Books. She has also been published online by Alfie Dog Fiction.

Allison lives in the south of England with her husband and their son. Her new book, Seeing the Other Side is available to preorder on Amazon now.