The Very Short Story Starter

Think about your writing from a new perspective and learn to tell a story in the most effective way possible with John Gillard’s The Very Short Story Starter, a flash-fiction workbook. Popular with creative writers around the world, flash fiction is an ultra-short story format (usually 1,000 words or less) that distills a narrative into its most economic and impactful form. In this lay-flat paperback workbook, you’ll find 101 flash-fiction writing prompts, each crafted to inspire an incredible variety of very short stories. Some prompts instruct you to focus on setting or developing a specific character. Other prompts ask you to play with story structure, to begin at the end or jump right into the middle of the action. You are also encouraged to bring the journal to different locations (a coffee shop or a museum) and take story cues from your surroundings. With helpful writing tips and just the right amount of space to write, this journal is the perfect tool to jump-start a flash-fiction writing practice.