by Lindsey Brackett @lindsbrac

Someone once asked me, “Don’t all flash fiction stories have a surprise ending?” Of course not. Flash is defined by the brevity of word count, not by a writer’s ability to craft a twist.

But then I analyzed some of the best flash pieces I’ve ever read. And yes, most of them actually did surprise me with the end, but when I went back and reread, I realized I wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t tricked. I’d had my expectation twisted—in an excellent way.

“A good twist takes what the reader already knows and shifts their view of it. A trick, on the other hand, withholds evidence the reader should rightly have.” Kristen Stieffel, a freelance editor and award-winning author, taught me this. Basically—you want to give your reader what they don’t know they want.

The reason flash fiction employs the twist technique so well is simple. There’s less time to give it away.

The first flash piece I ever wrote set up a grieving young woman going through the preparation for a ceremony, and the reader’s assumption is she’s going to her husband’s funeral. Instead, she’s getting married again. I knew I wanted to juxtapose two life-changing moments, highlighting their similarities. But, I didn’t want to have to justify throughout the story why my character isn’t overjoyed. Instead, I showed this through the slow, careful preparations and the bittersweet tang accompanying a life unexpected. In the end, there was hope, not mere sorrow.

This would never have worked in a longer piece. By the end, it would have been deception, which is exactly what you want to avoid.

A good twist begins with the end in mind.

You, the writer, must know what’s coming, but you have to craft your story in such a way that your reader doesn’t expect the end. However, when looking back, you want the reader to say, “Aha! I missed it.” You are playing to their expectations, but you aren’t resorting to the trickery of withholding important information.

Instead, you are twisting what they know to be true into what is the actual, inevitable truth of the story.

How do flash fiction endings surprise you? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Lindsey P. Brackett writes southern fiction and cooks big family meals, but she complains about the dishes. Her debut novel, Still Waters, released in 2017 and was named the 2018 Selah Book of the Year. Someday she hopes to balance motherhood and writing full-time. Until then, she’s just very grateful for her public school system.

Connect with Lindsey and get her free newsletter at lindseypbrackett.com or on Instagram @lindseypbrackett.