Currently I'm on a quest.
I want to learn how to write flash fiction. Flash fiction by definition is know for it's extreme brevity, (>1,000 words). Call me long winded but I struggle when trying to write something that fits this rule. Struggle to the point where I think I may be more likely to find Betty White naked riding a unicorn on her way to the lost island of Atlantis, than to piece together a collection of a thousand or less words that convey a meaningful message. (Probably because of dreadful sentences like that.) Every time I think I might finally have done it, I find myself wanting to go on, and on, and on, teetering on the edges of my personal word count limit. "How can people put together so many layers in such short work?", I think. Yet they do it. They do it masterfully. Some of the best stories I've ever read have been also some of the shortest, fiction or otherwise.
I know that people here tend to glorify longer posts, because "they provide value". But do longer posts really provide more value than a shorter post? I personally believe that there are so many content creators here, spending countless hours creating, that many users don't have time to read longer works. I hate to even admit it, but more than a couple times I've opened up posts to find verbose novellas and decided to move on without finishing it. (And I live on this site. Seriously, I'm waiting for the day that @dan and @ned knock on my door and say, "hey there fuck boi, rent is due".)
I think people need to embrace shorter posts here, and in the future writing shorter works will become necessity. Time is becoming more valuable and scarce everyday in our fast-paced society. Short posts are not necessarily "shit-posts". Word count doesn't have any direct correlation with the time an author spends on a post. Nor, does a word count decide the impact a piece may have on upon a reader. If you're engaged don't be stingy with that slider bar, just because it's short.
Take this example of a brilliant short work from Israeli author Etgar Keret:
With just over 100 words Etgar has summed up the importance of succinctly telling a story. Call it confirmation bias if you'd like but to me this story helps reinforce my point. I heard a photographer say one time, "what you leave out of the photo is just as important as what is actually in the photo". Looking back I know nothing about photography but this definitely applies to writing. I have a bad habit of not being succinct enough and/or being so descriptive I leave nothing to the magic of my reader's imagination.
In case that last example wasn't powerful enough for you take a look at Amy Hempel's work here (One of my favorite authors):
This is the kind of work I'm shooting for. Maybe it's just me but this is absolutely amazing in my opinion. I do think that my posts will constantly be pushing to the edge of the limits of my word count boundaries, but wow we can all take a seat and learn something from a master like Hempel. (Read her work by the way!!!).
I will be working hard to write more succinctly. I encourage you to do the same. In fact, I believe in you so much I'll pay you to do it.
There is a famed (reportedly false) story where Hemingway was dining with fellow authors and bet them all 10 dollars he could write a great story in just six words. He wrote a line on a napkin, passed it around the table, and collected money with this, "For sale, Baby shoes, never worn". It may seem like nothing but think about the line and how dark that story is. I like to romanticize that Hemingway actually wrote this but according to most he did not. Anyway....
Regardless of whom it was that wrote this wonderfully inspiring line, I CHALLENGE YOU TO WRITE A SIX WORD STORY IN THE COMMENT SECTION OF MY POST! Make sure to add in how long it took to write, in the comment. (Please, be honest about it). I will give 25% of my SBD earned from this post to the 6 word story with the most votes and 10% of the total SBD earned to my favorite!!! Make sure to have fun and to put some effort in on these.
Six words?! I already used two!
This is horrifyingly hard for me.
You have to be really economical! I'm caught in six word sentences. Those were jokes by the way! I have been trying for ten minutes. I could only come up with..
Ejaculating, he cried for love lost.
Two tickets to pound town, please.
7 groups of 6 : 6 x 7 = 42
+1
Missing his penis, he wanted revenge.
It has already got it's revenge.
I know, but at what cost!
Hot dogs, get your hot dogs!
NSFW variety: Her penis was my favourite part.
voted for you,
because this made me laugh,
even though you are competition.
Good Job
Sorry I am late.
Who died?
Grandma, she accidentally ate the cat.
Doctor, can you pull it out?
The radiation cooked your frozen pizza.
See? Nuclear bombs aren't so bad.
Big bombs mean even bigger pizzas!
Whomever started this post, shall burn!
It was not me. I swear.
I a g r e e
I have my pitchfork. Let's go.
Not tonight, I have a headache.
As always, you have a headache.
Guess where this finger has been.
Really do not want to know.
You sure? He will tell you.
I am sure. No thank you.
Why is this so much fun?
That's easy. It's because it's different.
We ate Johnny in the bunker.
Wow. Did he taste like chicken?
That's easy. It's because it's different.
Is she still mommy... or daddy?
Doctor, that was the wrong patient!
Wait, you are married, to me?
Those balls aren't made for bouncing!
Wife is asleep, get the armadillo!
The baby's coming, push Bob push!
This one is hilarious!
This one is hilarious, you moron!
I just fixed it for you :)
Your mother loved you very much!
I died and came back, again!
Jesus Christ, not with that again.
You want two fingers, or three?
I use to write, pretty good.
Great entry.. Was it an entry? ;o)
He froze as the light approached.
Took me about 10 minutes.
Illuminating the darkest of inner workings.
And then he finally saw it:
It was like he was dreaming.
He could not believe the sight...
Cannot believe this one's not mentioned yet:
Just when it was getting good.
You should have been there too...
There was so much traffic though.
You should have left earlier than!
I can't take this life anymore...
That one took me like 20 minutes. 6 words to tell a whole story is challenging!
Wow, that one is pretty deep.
I thought so.
PSA, These are not my real feelings. haha
Aware, the AI was now free.
Is this how the Matrix started?
I'm not sure if that's a comment, or a six word story all on it's own haha
Very likely to be both, friend.
The following story,
will not arrive.
I love this one!!! Nice job!
Thanks.
You need six words, not one!
One word is of six letters!
Five words are in witness Protection.
The story is in the moment.
"why...?
"The knife slipped?" she smiled.
The knife should be more careful!
Aliens took her again? Thank God!
Knew, she was having an affair.
Aliens may affair her with god.
Not dirty, not sad, yet complete.
Six word stories are great, but unfortunately the most impactful ones tend to be stories of woe, or jokes of a sexual nature. In the prior emotion can be extracted from loss, and a lack of words can convey said loss easily, like one is choked up. The latter benefits from euphemistic language and word substitution, since there are more puns and synonyms for the act of copulation (or it's subsidiaries) than nearly any other act. I tried a different route, and yet it lands with little impact, since it suffers from being neither.
I've done my best to do this very thing as well, with my StoryTrax episodes. They can stand on their own or be combined, but I strive to complete a story in a page, two at most. You learn quickly what to leave to the reader. Description is powerful, but lest you become like Tolkien and spend pages detailing the legend told by a leaf carved on an archway, steer clear of too much description. It helps to think the reader's imagination is as strong as yours, and will fill in details like hair color, action, and dress, unless otherwise needed to tell the story. Best of luck.
EDIT: Post took a couple minutes. For some reason I find extreme restraints in writing easier than more lax ones. 6 words allows you a limit you can envision in your mind, eliminating and recycling failures quickly. A thousand is just beyond rational comprehension of what it would take to tell a tale, and is a much harder project.
Wow, what a great comment man.
I appreciate your story. In life we tend to not celebrate the happier stories. Maybe there's a reason every story ends at, "happily ever after". Now you need to edit your comment and add in a link to your latest story trax. Plug away my friend. People NEED to read it.
I wont edit my prior post, just because I feel that might change the mood presented there, but I will GLADLY take the opportunity to plug in a new comment! XD I appreciate it, the StoryTrax are kinda my favorite blogs, even if they dont get much attention. I consider them my guilty pleasure.
https://steemit.com/writing/@quantumanomaly/storytrax-the-adventures-i-see-in-music-007-the-concave
Wait, what! He touched you where?
Honey, relax. He is a doctor.
Or she is the head nurse.
Move, so I can get it!
5 or 6 minutes
No way Jose! That ones mine.
Zero is one, two is neither.
What, you're telling me, I'm gay?
I am gay that you are.
My darkness screams, "KILL THEM ALL!"
Took me about five minutes to come up with that. Drew upon previous life experiences for inspiration :D
Isn't that the mad king from Game of Thrones? :)
Here's my GoT themed one..."She opened the box with trepidation."
Someone just got out of bootcamp.
Hehe.
Can we write more than one?
Too early to ask this question!
I thought I told you already!
That was ganzo, I am gonzo!
I always get y'all mixed up.
Gazing into his eye, she died.
She always was so very selfish.
I came. I saw. I conquered.
(Not orginal)
Veni. Vidi. Vici. That was Caesar.
That's the three word version
I am replying in six words ;)
Change. Enter. Exit. Dry. Change. Hang.
Actually...I have a better one I think...
Hunting and cleaning experience considered assets.
Took be about 15minutes given I had posted my previous one in like 5.
My hen, Dot, hatched 18 chicks!
Can I come over for dinner?
Lmao! There you have it, 6 words...Ok, fine, I'll try to think of a better one.
Took me 36.82 seconds.
Betty White is a total babe.
Hahaha You're killing me, man!
Thank you for encouraging shorter posts.
(Well, it is not a story... but?)
No problem, I thought of you.
Mined full, Two Bee, All Won
+/-666 seconds
Whoa, did you just summon Satan?
I think his name is Lucifer.
"Sleep now," whispered his mother, crying.
That one only took a couple of minutes. I posted a second one cause @kryptik said I could, but that's the last one. Unless I get hit by some incredible inspiration, it's just the two from me.
Putting her hands around his neck.
I swear it was an accident!
This is exremely hard - even harder if English is not your mother tongue. My brain hurts a lot now. (oooh, second entry found^^)
That's what you said last time!
What have you two done now!?
Breathing through the ass was fatal.
Never go ass to mouth. Never.
Please erase these two ass replies.
Oh amy hempel, we meet again.
I still remember that first sentence..
"he year I began to say vahz instead of vase, a man I barely knew nearly accidentally killed me." But seriously, it's unfair to compare to her :)
I also remember a good one
"The last man on earth stood on the couch. He heard a knock. " something like that, a horror story :)
An entry:
Is don't know shit double negation? took me 10 seconds :D
Thanks for stopping by! Surprisingly I know many people that aren't familiar with Hempel. It's nice to hear someone with some love for her.
Don't know shit is extra insurance.
I'd buy that for a dollar.
Shit insurance pays back a penny!
He LIED to me, that bastard!
He LIED to me, that motherfucker!
(Samuel L. Jackson Edition)
I have 2:
I can't fit on a bumpersticker!
I once was, now I'm not.
lol
Duh! You need a bigger car.
I don't care: you are the oldest.
Took about 10 mins
But mom, that's just not fair.
Lmao.
Thought I was an only child!
Drunk I am, home not I. [quoting Master Yoda]
Well, the first step is admitting.
Your home might not be drunk.
What about the fucking golf shoes?!
Seriously man, the fucking golf shoes!
The Aftermath of Math was Science.
Nice. Never heard that one before.
I love this, I really do. The Hemingway story is, as you say, apocryphal, but it's also a great example of how you can tell a story in just a few words. It also exemplifies Hemingway's writing style, which has been likened to an iceberg - only around one-eighth of an iceberg is above the water. That's what you see on the printed page.
Oh, I guess I should submit my own six-word sentence too, right?
"Taste this. Can you milk fish?"
I love the absurdity of it.
George wanted to live, death prevailed.
10 seconds.
Nice. I like it a lot.
Hardfork? Votes lost! Hoard or squander?
PS it took a couple of minutes in the shower (best place for inspiration). You guys are all hilarious!
Take it easy. They backed out.
Delayed for a week, I understand?
The witness will re-vote for steem.
He finished recording, submitting while dying.
10 minutes!
Last time, was the first time.
` Rumi
We're going to need a bigger boat.
Seven words fried my hard drive!
Mathematics genius loses his ability to count!
When darkness comes my soul burns.
Memories of when I last died.
Here is my own true story in 6 words: I WAS BORN A CRIPPLED BOY.
Help? How? Guide me. God bless
What were we talking about again?
The hearse drove, unfollowed by anyone.
The man inside had no face.