To effectively distill _Of Mice and Men_ down to 990 words, I had to condense everything.

My first draft was a whopping 2100 words. I agonized for weeks trimming it to 990 words.  

“An Airtight Dream” was published in Splickety Lightning Blog's, March 20, 2017 post. 

Descriptions of things were reduced to one phrase or sentence. Maybe two. Characters were reduced to having one conflict, one goal, one or two direct characterizations. Dialogue was so spare, you’d think they were rationing air.

I had to get to the point, which is necessary for all flash fiction but made all the more important in effectively converting a novel to flash fiction.

Indirect characterization was the key. The spare descriptions of Curley illustrate his disposition:

Small, elbows out, moon-face scowling. He wore a black jumpsuit and a powered glove on his left hand.

Try it. Reduce a novel you love to flash fiction. Give yourself only 900 words for every 50,000 words (200pages).  You’ll be forced to see the book in its purest form. Or you’ll go crazy trying. Or both.

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