Flash fiction generator
Under 500 words, one moment, and a turn you feel a beat after reading it.
- Free, no account
- Editable afterwards
- 20 languages
Write a story
Everything is optional. The defaults already work.
Leave it blank and the generator picks something itself.
Under 500 words, one moment, and a turn you feel a beat after reading it.
Your story appears here as it is written. Set the options on the left and press Generate.
Flash fiction is not a short story with the middle removed. It is its own form, built around a single moment and one turn, and it works because everything unnecessary has already been cut before the reader arrives.
The generator is told to start as late into the situation as it can and to stop one sentence before the reader expects. That second instruction is the one that makes the difference: the last line should land after the reader has finished, not while they are still on it.
What this generator is aiming for
Start late
Open after the setup. If the first paragraph explains how we got here, the story has begun in the wrong place.
Every sentence works twice
At this length a sentence that only carries information is a sentence wasted. It should also carry character, tone or time.
Stop early
The ending is the reader's job. Give them the last thing that happens and let them supply what it means.
Flash fiction questions
How long is flash fiction here?
Under 500 words. Choosing Short as well keeps it tight; the genre instruction is the stronger of the two constraints either way.
Can I use it for a competition?
Use it as a draft to rewrite, not as an entry. Most competitions require the work to be your own, and a generated piece will read like one to an experienced judge.
Can I make it longer afterwards?
Press Continue this one and it will carry on. At that point you have left flash fiction behind, which is a perfectly good way to find a longer story.
Other genres
Same generator, set up for a different kind of story.
Fantasy
Magic with rules, a world that behaves consistently, and people who live in it normally.
Adventure
A journey with something real at stake and a route that keeps closing behind you.
Romance
Two people, a reason they cannot simply say it, and the moment they do.
Horror
Dread built from ordinary things behaving slightly wrong.
Mystery
A question planted on the first page and paid off fairly on the last.
Science fiction
One change to how the world works, followed honestly to where it leads.
Children's story
Simple words, a warm problem, and a child who solves it themselves.
Bedtime story
Calm, kind and slow, written to be read aloud and to end with someone asleep.
Thriller
A clock running down and a character who cannot afford to stop moving.
Comedy
A straight face, an escalating problem, and no jokes announced in advance.
Drama
Ordinary people, an unresolved thing between them, and the day it surfaces.
Fairy tale
The old shape, told plainly: three tries, a bargain, and a cost.
Historical fiction
A real period rendered through what people ate, owed and worried about.
Inspirational
Persistence shown through effort, not through a speech at the end.