Our friend Vero over at Building Character has had a couple recent posts about a very interesting, very challenging medium called "Microfiction".
Basically microfiction is all about writing super short stories. Vero explains it better than I do.
I like the idea of trying to pack all the necessary story elements into a few words. It's one hell of a challenge.
Without further ado, here is my first attempt at microfiction.
Hospital hallway prayers unanswered, she lost her mom and her
faith in the same last breath.
Well, what do you think?
You definitely managed to pack a lot into one single sentence. This has everything that a complete story needs. Of course, it raises lots of questions for me, but that's probably a good thing.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Questions are good. :)
DeleteWow, Adam. Man. Look at you bring in the emotion. Gosh, really great with telling so much story, giving us a sense of setting, emotion, and an aftermath that's bound to have huge repercussions... Bravo, my friend.
ReplyDelete(And I am laaaaaughing SO HARD at your comment on my blog today. Soooooo funny...)
Thanks, Morgan.
DeleteI have to admit, I was pretty bummed about not winning one of those query critiques. She's actually an agent I've queried and I would love to hear what she thought about it.
I'm glad you got it though!
That's pretty neat, Adam! I like it. Microfiction feels somewhat strange at first, but it's damn addictive. I don't see any reason one shouldn't try it, or do it regularly to train the storytelling mind to cut out the crap and stick to the important core.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention! ;)
Did you see Jen's comment (below)? You should check that site out.
DeleteThat's really good, I think it manages to say quite a lot, even though it's only a tiny amount of words. Also, it gives the reader a chance to imagine the circumstances that led to that situation. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Laura. I think that's one of the interesting things about a story this short. It gives the reader a lot to play with.
DeleteImpressive, you managed to tell a pretty good story in so few words. I think my shortest was around 100 words.
ReplyDeleteI like it! I too am addicted to microficton. I might change 'the same last breath' to 'one last breath' - it takes away another word.
ReplyDeleteIn case you've never heard of it, there's a great site called 'One Forty Fiction' http://www.onefortyfiction.com/ It basically limits you to a tweet-sized story. There's some great stuff on there, and I think yours could be a real contender. I've got a couple on there and the most interesting part to me is using the title creatively (because it doesn't count in the 140 characters) to either set or add to the story.
Sweet! I will take a look at that site ASAP. Thanks for the recommendation. :)
DeleteGood writing. I'm impressed.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI like it. CNF has a tweet contest. You should enter that on twitter.
ReplyDeleteWhat's CNF? Oh, and I don't have a twitter account.
DeleteCreative Nonfiction
DeleteWhat?
Although I really don't like Tweeting, it's a necessary evil for building a platform.
I do to much platform building and not enough writing as it is.
DeleteI'll check out CNF. Thanks!
Wow, it has the most important aspect of storytelling, emotion. Nicely done. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you MaryAnn.
Delete