Finding mentor texts for creative writing is hard. Pieces can be too long, too hard or written in a way that isn’t an accessible model for students to learn from. That’s where Flash Fiction comes in. It’s not always ‘easy’ or accessible, but it certainly is short, usually engaging and often provides a model for something students can follow themselves. Take this story ‘Lantern Fish’, for example, from Flash Fiction Magazine website: https://flashfictionmagazine.com/blog/2023/10/22/lantern-fish/. It clocks in at less than 500 words and tells a strange, engaging story about a character that can easily serve as a template for students writing their own character driven story.
The story has a three part structure which students can easily use themselves:
*A memorable character from the narrator’s past is introduced
*A strange/representative anecdote/story of this person is recounted
*The narrator conclude by reflecting on why they still think about the person
If you’re doing a creative writing unit where you’re focusing on a theme, like beauty, resilience or community, the structure of this story can easily be adapted for students to create a story about a character who somehow embodies a key element of the unit’s theme. They can begin by inventing a character (perhaps based on someone they actually know) who did something unusual that has stuck in the mind of the narrator. Writing in first person, students can begin their stories with prompts like:
Most of the people from primary school I’ve forgotten…
I never knew…very well…, but over the years I’ve thought a lot about her/him…
Every time I hear/see/smell…I think of…
