This section is directly connected to the both the story title and plot twists in very crucial way. As an author you may not have much say in the illustration to your work, but if you have any input or you’re an editor or publisher, please give the headline illustrations the consideration they deserve.
An illustration can help in many of the same ways as a good title in flash fiction, for example in misdirecting the reader from the twist, giving context to the story or at the very least, not giving anything of the twist away (if there is one).
Example 1
An example of a good headline illustration, which works very well can be seen in my story published in Thedrabble.wordpress.com in October 2022:
The Creator
God had commanded an order to life: Love, marriage, consummation.
Raised correctly, Fiona had matured into a confident, slim, faultless young lady. She would undoubtedly attract the attention of the perfect man.
Watching her pure daughter dressed appropriately in white, drift down the aisle, Fiona’s mother felt nothing but pride. Pride in Fiona, but equally pride in her own parenting and beliefs.
With the approval of god’s representative and witnesses, Fiona stood at the altar and reached for the hand of the man she hoped to learn to love one day. With her other hand she caressed her flattish stomach.
The illustration immediately puts religion at the forefront, which is relevant but also hiding the twist that the main character hasn’t been so virtuous after all. A poor illustration may have shown a pregnant bride.
Example 2
Fortunately in the following story published by Fiveminutelit.com in 2021, the editor asked my opinion before publication.
Better Half
I sat opposite my wife but it wasn’t the date I had planned, this had become hostile, confrontational. Marriage was never supposed to be like this but I had read somewhere that at least one in four marriages go this way.
Her latest words to me were angry and irritated. My retorts seemed small and insignificant. I would probably think of better ones once this was all over, when it would be too late.
I searched for a response to her latest comeback. Out of nowhere I saw it. DIVORCE on a triple word score. Forty two points. I won.
The publisher asked me to agree to the use of scrabble tiles to spell the title. The whole reveal / twist in this story was that it was a scrabble game rather than a broken relationship. A well-crafted story could have been totally let down by a reveal in the headline illustration.
Example 3
The following was published online and in print in 2022/23 by Blackharepress.com
Voyage of Their Lives
He had been blessed whilst his wife perished. Six days marooned, he knew the opposite to be true. He had been cursed with life.
His yacht gone, his wife dead. Starvation threatened, and soon any meat would be inedible. He told himself it would taste like pork, apparently humans do.
Saying a silent prayer for his wife, he sliced into the flesh with a shard of glass. The leg opened easily, exposing a layer of yellowy fat. He cut again, the pain hitting soon after exposing the red strands of his muscle.
If only his wife’s body had washed up.
Although I respect the publisher greatly and still submit work to them, this example was very frustrating. The twist as you will have realised is that the main character, a male, cuts into his own leg rather than cutting into his dead wife. The illustration that headlines the story clearly shows a hairy leg (lost likely a man) with a cut on it!
As flash fiction authors we are often under paid, with the maximum reimbursement being around 0.5 pence per word, which means for the hours of creating a 100 word masterpiece one would earn a shiny 50 pence piece, maybe a free copy of the publication and rarely maybe more if winning a competition. We don’t do it for monetary reward, but for the craft itself, the glory, seeing your creation in print, and maybe like me – seeing your office walls fill with your published work.
It is therefore a real draw for me to enter my work into publishers who create bespoke artwork to go alongside my written words, it’s as good as a payment. The following two bespoke pieces were produced for a flash non-fiction travel anthology by Navigator Paper in 2016 and 2017 respectively. The first picture is me in front of the Rock of Gibraltar, after cycling 1,701 miles from the UK (Lucozade and Petroleum Jelly). The second being me kayaking past an oil tanker whilst travelling the River Thames, from its source to the North Sea (Up Ship Creek with a Paddle).
To conclude, if you have an input into the artwork to be used, especially if you are a publisher or self-publishing, please give the illustrations the same attention as the title, and maybe, even help other struggling artists by employing or promoting them using their bespoke illustrations.
You can also check my choice of illustration on our ‘Winning Stories’ page.
Fusilli Writing 