We’ve all done it. We start reading a book that is so good we can’t put it down. Next thing we know it’s morning, the dishes are still in the sink, we can barely see, and all day we stifle yawns to keep our friends, families, and co-workers from knowing we stayed up all night. Then, at the first chance we get, we scour Borders’ bookshelves looking for the author’s next book.

Writing a cliffhanger is not easy. One of the greatest challenges with my work-in-progress (WIP) is keeping the chapters from trailing off into boring. Figuring out the right combination of scenes to make the reader want to turn the page rather than grab a bookmark and go to bed is a talent that takes practice.

I may have discovered a secret to helping develop that talent in the serial blog posts of Simon C. Larter at Constant Revision and Mercedes M. Yardley at A Broken Laptop. Stilettos & Shirley Temples has kept me eager for new episodes for five weeks so far. I wrote a post on the importance of accountability based on their collaboration here. I’ve been updating it each week with links to the new installments. After reading today’s installment, I had to address what makes this my favorite one so far: it left me groaning that I have to wait a week to find out what Mercedes is about to reveal to Simon. It is the ideal example of what makes a good cliffhanger ending.

Simon tells us on his blog that he is a flash fiction specialist. Wikipedia defines flash fiction like this:

Flash fiction differs from a vignette in that the flash-fiction might contain the classic story elements: protagonist, conflict, obstacles or complications, and resolution. However, unlike the case with a traditional short story, the limited word length often forces some of these elements to remain unwritten, that is, hinted at or implied in the written storyline. This principle, taken to the extreme, is illustrated in a possibly apocryphal story about a six-word flash reportedly penned by Ernest Hemingway: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

Writing a novel, no matter the genre, requires putting together a collection of scenes that show the story. Each of these scenes must resolve, while leading into the set up of the next scene. The basic elements of fiction are defined as:

1) Protagonist: Each scene must be important to our protagonist (or heroine/hero aka main character), even if that protagonist doesn’t have dialog in that scene.

2) Conflict: Conflict is the vehicle through which our protagonist gains experience or insight to get to resolution.

3) Obstacles: Each scene must present an obstacle that our protagonist must overcome. Because of these obstacles, our protagonist must make a decision that will determine the direction of the story.

4) Resolution: At the end of the story, our readers must feel that the story is resolved. With a thriller, the protagonist must survive to fight another day. With a romance, there must be a happily ever after or a happily for now. Some contemporary literature doesn’t resolve as satisfactorily as we might like (ala, Nicholas Sparks), but the protagonist grows through the story, and thus it is resolved.

Flash fiction is a study in judicious editing. There is no room for extraneous facts. The story must be complete in under 1000 words. While a fiction story may contain chapters with more than 1000 words, the story line may begin to drag if the individual scenes exceed 1000 words by very much. With flash fiction, some of the main story may only be hinted at, but the main idea of the story is completely revealed.

Look at the Hemingway example again: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” What is the story implied by these cryptic words? It could be a pregnancy unrealized, either through miscarriage or infertility. Personally, I think it likely was not a for sale ad placed by the mother, because I myself would be unable to part with whatever little I had left of the hopes of a child. Someone else might disagree, thinking this step enabled the woman to move on with her life. Regardless, the story of loss is plain while never explicitly written.

Flash fiction is concise with only the most important details spelled out. The skill of writing short, rich stories is evident in Simon’s and Mercedes’ collaboration. Each week, we want to “turn the page” and see what comes next. This is a skill I really want to learn to make my writing more appealing. What about you?

Writing Challenge: Pick a topic and try to write a complete story using the elements of flash fiction, staying strictly within the limits of 55 to 1000 words. Share your story on your blog and post a link in the comments or just put your whole story here if you like. I will write another post listing all the links, promoting your writing here, on Facebook, and on Twitter.