Microfiction
Perhaps the most famous microfiction piece was written by Ernest Hemingway. He created all the character development, emotions, and plot that people expect from high-quality storytelling within just six words.
For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.
Characters: 1) the person writing the ad. 2) the baby.
Emotions: Desperation to sell the shoes because they 1) need the money, 2) they don’t want to be reminded that the baby was gone or grew too fast to get a chance to wear the shoes. Sadness that the baby never got to wear them.
Plot: There was a pregnancy; someone bought shoes for the baby, but the baby never got to wear them because of something that happened.
Six words can’t tell the whole story with words, but it’s enough to create pictures and spark your imagination and curiosity. Through this way of storytelling, your readers can experience the plot through their unique lenses. Thoughts and human understanding will fill in the missing pieces. You can picture the adult who placed the ad, how he/she did it (online, pencil and paper, filling in a form at the local newspaper office), and the baby shoes that are either still in a box or tied together by their laces or sitting by an empty crib. All these images that your mind conjures are perfect and help to create Hemingway’s story.
You can do this, too. Microfiction doesn’t stop at only six words. Your microfiction story has up to 300 words to tell one story, with a clear beginning, middle, and end, and still be considered micro. The folks at NYC Midnight say about microfiction: “When a reader finishes a satisfying piece of microfiction, they’ll feel like they’ve glimpsed something finished, not needing any more context or backstory than what was given.” The most well-known microfiction story challenge is at NYC Midnight. Sign up for their challenges, and you can know what it feels like to create short fiction using the most limited words. (https://www.nycmidnight.com/)
A few tips from nycmidnight.com and Amy Webber dba: Her Wordship LLC:
1. Write Fewer Characters: You don’t have much room to develop character, so the fewer characters, the better
2. Show, Don’t Tell: Don’t tell your audience that Johnny is lonely. Show what loneliness looks like for Johnny.
3. Use the five senses within your writing: The characters interact in their worlds with their five senses, just like we do.
4. Specificity in the scene: If your character walks down a cobblestone street, say so. Don’t just write, “he went along the street.” Your readers want to picture the scene.
5. Specificity of word choice: use fewer adjectives and adverbs in microfiction. When you have a limited word count, letting your nouns and verbs take over what your adjectives and adverbs do makes sense. For instance: “calmly sit” could be “recline” or “lounge,” such as: “He calmly sat in the sun.” Can be: “He lounged in the sun.” I’m not saying to take out adjectives and adverbs altogether; I’m just saying that if you’re at 306 words and want to get your piece down to less than 300, check your adjectives and adverbs. And try to choose the best, most succinct words. As Mark Twain said, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
6. Rich characters: Even short stories need characters the reader can identify with. Are they funny, serious, sarcastic, or angry all the time? Put those types of traits within dialogue or how they stand, sit, walk, or conduct themselves. Get to know your characters and discover what makes them tick, how they speak, and what kinds of unique, quirky things they do.
7. Movement: Since you don’t have many words to set the motive and the scene, bring your character into those through their action. How the character interacts with what’s happening shows the character’s personality, what motivates them, and their true nature. At the same time, it’s showing all these instead of just saying them. Your reader will engage in the story more effectively through this movement that’s like a choreographed dance.
8. Edit, trim, and use one highly effective word instead of two words when you can. And understand that sometimes less is more. Think again about Hemingway’s microfiction piece. Six words told a story. You can do it in 300 words or less!
9. Always, always, always write in active voice. Make your Grammarly check for passive voice in anything you write and edit it right out. Example of passive voice: The business Her Wordship LLC was started by Amy Webber. ACTIVATE IT! Amy Webber started the business Her Wordship LLC. When you make a passive sentence active, you reduce it by about two words. “Was started by” is changed to “started.” Who or what performs the action goes first, and then what they do.
10. And let someone you trust read your work. Ask them about their impressions and how you can make it better. Then edit it to the point that you’re happy with it and set it aside for a week. Take it out. Read it out loud to yourself. Make any adjustments, and then find a website that will publish it. Everyone should be able to read it! Enjoy and have fun!
Here are a few writing prompts to help you on your way to writing a 300-word (or less) story:
1. Your character is hang-gliding, and she lands on top of her favorite movie star. What does she say? What goes wrong? What goes right?
2. Your character suddenly finds herself crying. Someone who shouldn’t see her vulnerable walks up. What does he say? What does he do? What does she say? What does she do?
3. Your character is taking a leisurely walk, and a random stranger goes by on a bike, promptly running into the side of a building. Straight on. What does your protagonist do? What does she say? What happens to the bike rider? What happens next?
Have fun with these!
And enjoy writing a short story that’s 300 words or less!
