The "show, don't tell" mantra might apply better on larger pieces of fiction, but quite frankly I feel good flash fiction tends to take a minimalistic approach to the showing part. As you don't have a full page to "set the mood", showing must be compact and minimal, or how a brilliant author friend of mine refers to it : "scetch, don't paint". After I first heard that alternative mantra for flash fiction, I've noticed it's pretty much correct. All the best flash fiction seems to fit this alternative mantra while that flash fiction that follows the mantra that works so well for a novel often ends up feeling like the first page of that novel that no-one bothered to write.
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