A great ending can stay with a reader long after they’ve read the last line.
Flash fiction is a type of fiction where stories are told in a small word count, often under 1000 words. These works are intended to be read quickly and so endings can make or break a readers experience.
I’ve been doing Zane Dickens’ 100 story challenge⭐ to write 100 flash fiction stories. After a great first week life intervened and I’m now a few days behind and I’m trying not to beat myself up about it. But that’s a different story.
Back to the point, several comments on my flash fiction have been about the endings and it got me thinking about different ways to end a flash fiction tale.
These examples are from flash fiction written on medium but the ending types can be applied to other works. Links marked with a ⭐ are member-only content.
Unresolved
Unresolved endings leave the character with their goal unfinished, or waiting for something to happen.
I like to imagine a happy ending for the kitten waiting in Lost in the Rain ⭐ by Jonathon Sawyer
He just had to be patient…
