Abstract

ABSTRACT Emerging writers often struggle with fictional time, beginning their stories too early, ending them too late, summarising key events, or putting inconsequential moments in scene. The result is frequently the same: there’s no apparent central theme. Usually, the theme is buried within the story, the writer having, sometimes unconsciously, built it into the piece, but it’s lost to readers through the writer’s mishandling of time, which places emphasis on the wrong elements of their piece. Understanding the multifarious functions of fictional time and their effects on readers is paramount to crafting a successful story. In flash fiction this becomes even more critical. By carefully analysing the use of time in pieces of flash fiction, I model an indispensable exercise for writers to help hone their skills.

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