bosleyDramatic structure in flash fiction is an interesting beast, isn’t it? On one hand, the most satisfying flash stories are going to be basically be very, very short stories. On the other hand, it’s such a teeny, tiny amount of room.

Take for example this complete story, A Little Fable by Franz Kafka. It weighs in at a hefty 92 words counting the title and byline:

A Little Fable
by Franz Kafka

“Alas,” said the mouse, “the whole world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into.”

“You only need to change your direction,” said the cat, and ate it up.

Okay, as an author my interest is piqued. This story has two characters, two lines of dialog, and a good bit of philosophy. Dramatic irony, and a twist ending, all wrapped up in a neat little package of less than 95 words.

Roll up your sleeves, put on your latex gloves and hand me a scalpel right out of my little black bag. We’re going to do some exploratory surgery . . . what? You can’t find the scalpels, only the Three Act Structure and The Hero’s Journey? Those will have to do. I guess we can make a big a mess out of this patient with those as we can with knives …

“But Bosley,” I can hear you saying, “The three act structure is for plays, and movies. Not my beautiful whimsical flash.”

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit applying structure in this way is more an exercise in creative thinking than it is true analyses. But heck, I’ve never let the facts get in the way.

What is the three act structure?

Act 1: Introduce the protagonist, the premise and a get the conflict rolling

Act II: The protagonist should try to fix the problem, and make things even worse in the process (or at least things should get worse). Change will most likely be instigated by an outside force.

Act III: Things are resolved with a climax, the premise is addressed in a meaningful way. Loose ends are tied up.

Okay, so let’s apply it . . .

“Alas,” said the mouse,

Main Character: We are introduced to the mouse, and we see immediately he is bemoaning his situation.

“the whole world is growing smaller every day.

Dramatic Premise: He explains that his world is changing there is an implicit question here: How will he handle this change?

At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when I saw walls far away to the right and left,

Dramatic situation/Obstacles/rising action: this answers the implicit question, how does the mouse try to deal with it? Running. Well what can stop him? Will he succeed in his escape? There is even a bit of irony worked in there … he previously feared the largeness of his world.

but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already,

First Culmination: No, he can’t run away and solve the problem, in fact it’s made things much worse.

and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into.”

Midpoint: Can’t do this alone, at the very least . . . maybe that cat will have some advice.

“You only need to change your direction,”

Climax: Ah, it is all so clear now, the answer is so very simple.

said the cat, and ate it up.

Denouement: and how is this new information used? As it turns out this is a bit of a tragedy, the mouse is far worse off than he was at the beginning Also, a bit of a trick ending.

“I guess that makes sense,” I can hear you saying, “If one is to squint just right, and play very loosely with definitions . . . but what is this hero’s journey thing about?”

The short answer is that the hero’s journey is a 12 part structure that defines what a Hero Archetype must go through to complete his goal. Take a peek here, I’ll wait.

Okay, so here’s my attempt to put A Little Fable in this structure:

Mouse’s Journey

The mouse describes his ORDINARY WORLD by saying it is ‘growing smaller’ there is an IMPLICIT CALL TO ADVENTURE in this, if his world is changing what will he d? He REFUSES THE CALL by ‘running and running’, he then CROSSES THE THRESHOLD by declaring he is in the ‘last chamber’. Here is the TEST, the trap, what will he do as he approaches the INNERMOST CAVE and suddenly he is face to face with the cat who appears to be a MENTOR but is really a SHAPE SHIFTER, the cat gives some advice about the ROAD BACK …

… okay so it’s lacking RESURRECTION I think, but the ELIXIR is ultimately given to us as the reader in the advice that ‘You only need to change direction,’ and while it is too late for the mouse, we have his wisdom.

So that was a little more tricky, I think. And as you can see not all the steps are really met. That’s often the case, even with works meant to fit into the structure, as this one surely was not consciously meant to.

As you can see, with some mental acrobatics  and pretentious assumptions even the shortest bit of finely crafted fiction can be brutally bludgeoned with these crude tools. Now the really interesting post would be on what this story actually means . . . any volunteers?

Bosley Gravel writes  all manner of nonsense.  Check out his two latest traditional length stories “The Courtship of Lady Boo-Boo” and “Paid in Full“, both containing a full three acts of heros, journeys, whimsy.   His first novel, “The Movie” is scheduled for released late 2009.