Challenging post a daytoday. I’ve seen on other blogs that some writers rise to the challenge of flash and micro fiction. These are incredibly short stories typically, 1000 words or (far) fewer for flash fiction, 500 characters or fewer for micro fiction. There is no formal set limit, different websites have different ideas about what is flash and what is micro, some don’t make a distinction.
Though I’ve never tried it, I have researched it and it seems quite a challenge. I’d like to give it a go sometime in the future, time permitting.
For today, WordPress has set a challenge to write a whole story in six words. I wanted to see how many I could do, so here are my efforts:
He facepalmed: The butler did it!
The message read: its a boy!
Sobbing, I watched his car leave.
That last punch made me champion.
SETI finally translated: We are coming
The forest echoed a demonic roar
Becoming a vampire prevented my suicide.
That was the most difficult 42 words I’ve ever written and I’m pleased to have included seven major genres in there (crime, romance, chic lit, sport drama, sci fi, horror and young adult fantasy/horror).
I’m going to seek out some flash fiction prompts in the coming months. I’m not sure that I would post one every week as I have my sights set on several goals right now; I’m about to submit The Weight of Reason to the L. Ron Hubbard Award and I’m aiming to enter into the James White Award too. I can see the value of very short fiction, mostly keeping writing tight and punchy. It has been a long time since I’ve written a story as short as 3000 words (which I think is the limit for the James White Award) so perhaps flash fiction might help me keep the words down. Watch this space!
I love the SETI and vampire ones, very telling and very intriguing! I’ve done challenging flash ficiton before, like 100words.com, where every day for a month, you’re challenged to write only 100-word story entry. For a person who overwrites as much as me, it really gets you to find the heart of the matter when writing.
I must confess that the vampire one was thoroughly tongue in cheek. In Waterstones on Saturday I was exasperated that their traditional horror section had been pushed out by young adult horror (the likes of Twilight and True Blood) so I thought I would both get in on the act and parody the genre. Although now I come to think of it, that six word sentence more or less sums up Anne Rice’s Interview with a vampire.
Thanks for the website recommendation, I might give it a go when I’m feeling a little adventurous.
I like them all. Been there done that on the sobbing, watching his car leave.
All of your six-letter stories are cleverly done. Love the blog by the way.
Thanks!