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Micro Short Stories

For the writers among you, here’s a challenge. Write a story in 55 words or less!

That’s the raison d’etre of a website http://www.55fiction.com.. They must be stories - ie. have characters, a setting, a conflict and a resolution. The ground rules are set out in detail on the site.

Some of the micro stories on the site are brilliant - very inventive in the use of the this tight "haiku" form of prose writing. Take a look for yourself.

I haven’t submitted anything - yet. The Flame Tree ran to 180,000 words. I’ve got a lot of word honing to do to make a story out of 55 words - or less.

If you do submit a micro story to 55fiction, please come back and post a link to it so we can all share in the success!

7 Responses to “Micro Short Stories”

  1. Ian Wood Says:

    May 3rd, 2006 at 10:44 am

    For novelists this idea of writing a well-rounded story in fifty-five words could be a worthwhile technical workout. Shorter is not always better, but saying no more than you need to is. I find getting to that point terribly difficult, and after a while reading the stuff you’ve just written is a waste of effort. Half the battle is putting yourself in the position of the reader, and the writer always knows what’s coming. Developing a naturally pared down style would cut down on those afternoons spent writing frantically and coming away with a hundred fewer words than you started off with. I must say, I find writers with a short, epigrammatic style quite tiring (Ed McBain, anyone?), although not as tiring as Henry James. So I’ll certainly have a go. Yang May - will you have a go too? Let’s both of us write a story featuring a hairdryer …

  2. Cory Says:

    May 3rd, 2006 at 1:57 pm

    Thanks for highlighting 55 Fiction. I hope we’ll see a story from you in the coming weeks.

  3. Maruthi Says:

    May 3rd, 2006 at 5:55 pm

    Thank you for the kind words on 55fiction blog. Do you know of any blog dedicated to haiku?

  4. stuart Leventhal Says:

    July 14th, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    Dear Fusion,
    “55’s easy.”
    “Prove it by Saturday and I’ll fix you up with my beautiful cousin Cheryl” Challenged Royce.
    “On!”
    Three sleepless days and nights finally produced three perfect paragraphs. He counted. “69 words!! No!!!! It’s impossible!!” He stabbed himself.
    He was cute. I would have dated him anyway.
    Sincerely,
    Homicide Detective Cheryl B.
    (Count um up 55 words bitches!)

  5. Yang-May Ooi Says:

    July 14th, 2009 at 7:41 pm

    Very clever Stuart!

  6. Carlos de la Parra Says:

    December 14th, 2009 at 6:56 am

    This odd mania of counting words makes no sense,and placing limits to a format of writing that was Twitter’s predecessor,when any art’s expression should be free,thus devoid of such boundaries.The micro stories are currently a strong literary expression,but not new,you can go back and run into some of them written by Borges,but if you go to prehistoric caves of Altamira,there they are expressed in drawings,you could say they invented the comic book right there,only difference is they were carved and painted in stone.
    Go visit http://www.themicrostories.blogspot.com and read 90 microstories of all sizes.

  7. Yang-May Ooi Says:

    December 14th, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    Thanks, Carlos, I’m a fan of Borges and I didn’t realise he had also written microstories.

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