Welcome back to Flash Week! Today is Day 3. So far we have picked out our story ideas and fleshed out some thoughts on what we might want to include. If you missed the first two days, I recommend you go back and start from Day 1. We’ll be here when you get back.

Well, friends, today is the day we commit.

For this month’s flash story, we’re going to use a classic four-act structure. Yes, yes, flash fiction is a different beast than longer stories, and if you already have an idea that will require a different structure, as always you can do whateeeeever you want to do. But the no-homework, guarantee-getting-The-End structure for this month is four acts, and your outline will be four sentences.

Here’s today’s exercise:

Write one or more possible outlines for your story in four sentences for the four acts: Setup, Struggle, Pursuit, Conclusion. Once you complete a four-sentence outline, you may start another option (or add in details if you prefer). If you are struggling, literally copy/paste this structure above and fill in the blanks:

Act 1: Once upon a time there was a [character] who wanted [want]

Act 2: [Character] did [action] and got [want] BUT

Act 3: Getting [want] forced [character] to [action] in order to [need]

Act 4: Finally, [character] [did/did not] get [need]

Got it? Great! Save it for tomorrow, when we’ll start to write the prose. Specifically, we’ll write Act 1.  See you then!