Short stories have been in circulation for as long as people have been able to spin a tale. There are many places to find amazing works that won’t take a week to finish. If you are a fan of immediate gratification short stories are for you. It seems as if fiction is heading towards the pinnacle of brevity.
The new craze is flash fiction, or sudden fiction. These short stories are really short. You can absorb a well crafted work in a matter of minutes. I am a big fan of this format simply because I love to read but I really don’t have a lot of time to commit to the hobby. I like completing tasks so the short, short stories are ideal for me.
So how succinct can a story get. It may come as a surprise but there are some short stories out there that are so concise that they will leave your head spinning. Talented writers carefully choose words to convey an experience in fewer words than most of us use to ask for a cup of java at the local coffee shop.
In some cases, you could have ingested a couple great short stories in less time than it takes to get that cup of coffee on the go. Flash fiction has taken an interesting turn. Most stories in this realm span about 200 words. However, some Websites take submissions for works no longer than 100 words.
Now those are short stories. But they get shorter. I came across a writing site that accepts fiction that is fifty words in length. They do not accept poems, just very brief fiction pieces. I have to admit that the fifty word short stories are my favorite. I’m amazed by how much impact a mere fifty words can have on me.
Just when you thought that the short stories couldn’t get any shorter, they can. And they do. Ernest Hemingway once wrote a story in six words. “For sale: Baby shoes, never used.” This chilling six-word story is so packed that I felt as if I ran into a brick wall when I initially read it. The little piece still has a profound effect on me.
I haven’t found any fiction more concise than the six word short stories but I’m sure that there is a writer out there looking for the right combination of words to make a big impact with a little sentence.
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