Writing extremely short fiction seems simple at first brush. Unlike a novel—which is more like trapping an octopus in a suitcase—good flash fiction distills a story down to only the essential moments. It’s daunting to paint a world on a grain of sand, but there are five places I recommend to check out if you want to learn how:

• flashquake and SmokeLong Quarterly (Two excellent online flash fiction journals)

• Micro Fiction—Edited by Jerome Stern (An anthology of the best fiction under 250 words)

• Making Shapely Fiction—By Jerome Stern and “Who Cares?”: The Nuts & Bolts of Making Narrative Matter—Randall Brown (Two very good how-to resources)

Brown’s blog is especially  important to creative writers of every stripe. Pretty language, pithy dialogue, and evocative descriptions are expected. No matter how skilled your writing, stories won’t matter until you give the reader (and the character) something to care about.