What is Sudden Fiction?

That's a great question, Jo_. And since no-one has asked it before, I've separated it out into a thread of its own.

In the Suddenly Forum, we define fiction no longer than 1,000 words as sudden fiction (also known as Flash Fiction). But that's a very generalized answer.

There are sub-sets and specific types of sudden fiction too. Drabble, for example, is exactly 100 words long.

And I'm going to shut up now because I want to hear other folks' interpretations of Sudden Fiction. Have at it, guys.

From what I understand, the term "Sudden Fiction" comes from the book of the same name published in 1986 (highly recommended reading, btw.) That book, subtitled "American Short-Short Stories," defined the works as being "one to five pages long."

Duotrope splits sudden fiction into a bunch of subcategories.
Drabble 100 words
Flash < 500 words
Short Short 500-1000 words

I'm not sure if those are industry standard or not... most of the journals that publish short shorts don't seem to make those distinctions. I've also heard the term "microfiction" and that seems to indicate pieces even shorter than drabble.

I've seen it broken as:

micro: 50 or under
Drabble: 100 exactly
Flash: under 500
Short-short: 500-1000

Those all fit into the Suddenly Fiction label and some publications have their own categories.