Flash Fiction as a word is gaining its uniqueness in what it refers to in terms of meaning.
If you check the literature on the flash fiction genre the definition and boundaries of flash fiction vary.
This leads us to ask the question “how long is Flash fiction really?”.
We want to know the legit length for flash fiction.
Whether you need it to help inform you on flash fiction or you want to be clear on the length of the flash fiction you are about to write.
This could be to guide you when submitting to magazines.
Missing the length of the submission requirements leads to automatic rejection. Irrespective of the quality of your story.
In this write-up, I would differentiate the different cases flash fiction is used.
Flash Fiction as a Class
Flash Fiction is used as a class in this case it is used to refer to all forms of stories less than 1,000 words.
What do I mean? Flash Fiction is both a word used to refer to a genre and also to refer to an individual kind of form with words ranging from 300 to 1,000 words.
How long can flash fiction be?
Word Count
Flash can be between 300 words to 1000 words. It can also extend to 1500 words but most magazines will recommend 1000 words.
Pages
In terms of pages flash fiction is between 0.6 pages(300 words) to 2 pages (1000 words) single-spaced.
How long should flash fiction be?
There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing the length of flash fiction.
1.Magazines
If you are writing for a magazine, check their submission guidelines.
Most times the word count is given. If not, read a few stories in the magazine to get a sense of what the magazine wants.
| Magazines | Minimum Words | Maximum Words |
|---|---|---|
| Craft | —- | 1000 |
| Flash Fiction Online | 500 | 1000 |
| Flash Fiction Magazine | 300 | 1000 |
| Everyday Fiction | 50 | 1000 |
| Smokelong | — | 1000 |
| Wigleaf | — | 1000 |
2. Contests
Writing Contests accepting flash fiction will state the word count range. This will guide you when writing for Contests.
3. Idea
Apart from the other reasons mentioned above you should consider the idea for the story.
- Is the idea too big for the word count?
- Is the idea too small for the length?
- Have I done justice to the idea with the length?
Reading Time
How long does it take to Read Flash Fiction
The reading speed of an average reader is 250 words per minute.
For an average reader, it would take 1 minute 12 seconds for a 300 Words piece and 4 minutes for a 1000 Words piece.
Writing Time
There are a lot of stages to the writing process
- Ideation
- Planning
- Research
- Writing
- Editing
Until I get enough data for the other parts of the writing process, I would only talk about the actual writing (typing).
The average typing speed is 40 words per minute which means that flash can 7 minutes 30 seconds to 25 minutes.
Conclusion
Now you know how long flash fiction can be?
Experiment with the different points of the range.
I would love to know your usual word count for your flash fiction.
Let me know in the comments section.