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!
- Posted on
Tue, May 2nd, 2006 - Author
Yang-May Ooi - Category
- 3 responses
- Leave a comment
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 …
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.
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?