What are the major differences, to you, in writing flash or longer fiction?
Arnzen: Well, people assume flash is for short attention spans, but I don’t think so at all. It’s more like haiku. Longer fiction spends more time with characters and settings. Flash fiction is just as interested in these things, but the plot is moving too fast for the writing to focus on them for very long. Or if it does, the details ARE the plot. There’s very little difference, really, except with flash the emotions are condensed onto that “single desired effect” that Poe once spoke of as the goal of all short fiction. Sometimes flash fails because it lacks the character depth. But a skilled writer can imply a lifetime in a character’s gesture. Of course, the reader is sometimes required to do more work. Just because flash fiction >looks So is writing flash harder or easier for you than writing longer fiction? Arnzen: I think I write both equally well, but I find it easier to edit flash. One can get lost tracking down loose threads in a novel-length piece; if it’s all on one page, it
