Flash Fiction, my bread and butter, my maybe this should be a short story, my what if I turned this into a novel, my well actually, this might take more than one book.
In my blog post, The MICE Quotient and Writers Block, I talk about what the MICE Quotient is, so if you’re not familiar, check that out first. Otherwise, come along.
The feedback that I talk about in my blog post, I Competed In A Writing Contest and… Was very helpful, I was able to review the feedback several times and understand, one of the main things that has held me back with my flash fiction is the number of MICE threads I end up weaving into the story. The problem was, it was all unconsciously done.
Being creative sometimes means looking at unrelated concepts and throwing things together that don’t seem like they should be together and that’s amazing… until you have a limit on word count.
The formula length equals characters, plus five, times seven-hundred and fifty, times MICE threads divided by one and a half, gives a general rule of thumb. Now, I don’t use this part of the Quotient for writing my full length fiction, but when I’m looking at my word count limit and drafting flash fiction or writing for a challenge, I can tell from the beginning if I will be writing myself into a corner or not.
On the other hand, if you are looking at a flash fiction, and you’re wanting to turn it into a novella or a novel, you can look at the threads you’re thinking about adding to the story and decide if there is enough to take it in the direction you would like to go.
While there is no quick fix for overwriting and over engineering in flash fiction, it is nice to know that when a story is taking up more word count than you have, there’s a simple way to find the cause. And if it’s impossible for you to write short fiction given these parameters, take comfort in the fact that when Brandon Sanderson was asked to write a two hundred and fifty word story, he ended up with six hundred and fifty words.
For more writing tips, prompts, and challenges, don’t forget to subscribe to my blog, newsletter, and follow me on social media.
Chandra Arthur 
Leave a comment