【明報專訊】In this busy modern city, many no longer read habitually. Few can afford the time to sit quietly and flip through a fiction. That is why there are now flash fictions- micro-fictions that each have fewer than 2,500 words. In them, as in ordinary fictions, emphasis is given to plots, settings, character images, personalities and the tempo of narration. It is therefore a challenge to write flash fictions.
Flash fictions originated in the West. They are stories in fewer than 1,000 English words each. The genre has aroused controversy on the mainland. Many doubt they count as real works of literature. There is also dispute about their length. Some say a flash fiction must contain no more than 2,500 words to be different from a short story, which should has no more than 3,000 words. The Chinese Miniature Stories Society has come into being on the mainland. Aiming at promoting flash fiction, it will publish such works on the mainland.
■Keywords
mass culture……普及文化
cultural innovation……文化創新
■Questions
1.What is a flash fiction?
2.Why have people written flash fictions?
3.Do flash fictions count as works of literature? Explain.
■Further readings
1.China Writer (中國作家網):http://www.chinawriter.com.cn
2.Flash Fiction Online:http://www.flashfictiononline.com
