Last week I found out about a Flash Fiction contest organized by QSF. As I read the rules, I was surprized to find out that the length would have to be 300 words or less. As I read further, I asked myself what kind of story one can write in such a short piece. What about the fact that it had to be Science Fiction and at least one character would have to identify with the LGBT community?
I was intrigued by this. Obviously, there couldn’t be too many scenes to such a piece, nor too many characters. But how do you spend your 300 words without wasting too many words on descriptions, settings, character backgrounds, etc., and still manage to tell a complete story, with a beginning, a middle and an end?
I didn’t think I could truly pull it off, but decided to write a short piece, for practice.
Although the SF in QSF stands for Science Fiction, it turns out they accept any ‘spec’ genre (think Fantasy, SciFi, Vampires, etc.). I decided to stick to SciFi, since that’s one of my favourite genres and one I am well acquainted with. I also decided to be a minimalist and use a setting that everyone is familiar with and which requires little to no description: a cargo ship in the middle of nowhere, in space. For characters, I decided to have a single character: the pilot.
So how do I make my character a member of the LGBT community? That’s where plotting comes in… I wrote a story about a cargo ship pilot who is a widower… his partner passed away in an accident back on Earth. It’s a story about what happens when he suddenly gets a radio transmission from the deceased partner… how the pilot handles this.
In case you’re wondering how much 300 words is, the preceding five paragraphs add up to a total of 300 words. My story clocked in at 288 words.
I was impressed with the outcome and where the story took the reader. I was also impressed with how the end works… it makes the reader think about what has occurred and what happens next. I had some friends read and critique the story, and I think it works.
I submitted the story earlier today and it’s back to the waiting game for me. Perhaps this will be the one?
H. J. Chacon