Final answer:
The short fiction described is likely flash fiction, a genre featuring extremely brief and impactful narratives. While similar in narrative style, a short story typically has a structured plot and character development in a prose form. Creative nonfiction also tells true stories artistically, using literary devices, but differs by its factual content.
Step-by-step explanation:
The form of short fiction described in your question likely refers to a genre known as flash fiction. This term denotes extremely brief works of fiction, typically ranging from 50 to 1,000 words. Flash fiction is associated with delivering pithy narratives about strange events, grotesque creatures, hauntings, or bizarre personas and phenomena. Its compact storytelling often incorporates a punchy and resonating impact in a limited word count, distinguishing it from longer forms like a short story or novel.
Defining the "short story" as a literary form can present challenges. Apart from length, theorists have suggested that short stories also have characteristic subject matter or structure. Many short stories share features like a constrained time span, fewer characters compared to novels, a structured plot with a climax, and often a twist ending that leaves an impression on the reader. This form of writing typically contains literary devices, a plot, and characters, and is a prose narrative shorter than a novel but distinct from non-fiction works. Additionally, creative nonfiction is a related, yet different, genre which portrays true stories using literary styles and devices. It can include personal narratives, essays, and memoirs. While it shares the narrative style of fiction, the events and experiences described are factual. Works of creative nonfiction are often written in the first person and make use of literary techniques to engage readers emotionally, just as flash fiction and short stories do.