For those of you who are unfamiliar with flash fiction, let’s clear a few things up. Firstly, it is not fan fiction dedicated to Flash Gordon, the music of Queen, or any of the associated characters and contributors to the Flash Gordon series. Similarly, it does not correspond to Flash the popular brand of cleaning product, Flash the Adobe program or hip-hop icon Grandmaster Flash. By definition, flash fiction is literature of ‘extreme brevity’, comprised of 1,000 words or fewer. We’d love to explain more, but we’re trying to be brief.

With that in mind, let’s get right down to it: on Sat 27 Jun, National Flash Fiction Day will be upon us – an event which aims ‘to celebrate all that is exciting and bold and, above all, brief in the world of flash fiction.’ We decided to be extra bold, and asked our readers to send us extremely brief works of fiction – 100 characters max (and by characters we mean words, spaces and punctuation marks – we don’t want a Game of Thrones-esque cast of thousands).

The results came in on Twitter, and you can see for yourself using the hashtag #ListFF. Here are a selection of our favourites.

@thelistmagazine The mockingbird copied the boy's whistle for Ann to climb down to him. Then it mimicked the siren. #ListFF

— Lynn Mundell (@lynnfmundell) June 19, 2015

@thelistmagazine ‘I swear I didn’t know she was married,’ Tim begged. Eric smiled. Tim cried. Eric fired. Tim died. #ListFF

— Keith Gillison (@keithgillison) June 17, 2015

@thelistmagazine #ListFF She'd long dreamed of this day; now it just seemed a devilish pact sealed with two simple words: "I do..."

— Laurence Sullivan (@LozzySullivan) June 16, 2015

@thelistmagazine No power to draw your cup to my lips, no siren I; just the ravenous call of a lost gull under forbidding skies. #ListFF

— TU (@TraceyUpchurch) June 16, 2015

@thelistmagazine A poem on a page can bring a butterfly to life. But you, Sir, in those great boots, are no poet. #ListFF

— Tim Stevenson (@tallfiction) June 13, 2015

@thelistmagazine The moonlight in slices through the fence. Embarassing is what it was, to be lupine in stripes. #ListFF

— Tim Stevenson (@tallfiction) June 13, 2015

@thelistmagazine "A life in hair colour" Brunette Grey Blonde Bald Brunette #ListFF

— Tim Love (@TimLoveWriter) June 13, 2015

@thelistmagazine 2019 AD: Artificial Intelligence is invented. 2091 AD: Sandra puts the bins out of their misery #ListFF

— Andrew Blair (@freelance_liar) June 12, 2015

Prophetically, he said, 'We're going to get tarred and feathered if we fuck up again' #ListFF #amwriting https://t.co/lwkZAVX46h

— Giovanni Cicogno (@Bunnethustler) June 8, 2015

National Flash Fiction Day is on Sat 27 Jun.