Centina Pentina Writing Tips
Three quick writing tips for 50 and 100-word stories
Here are three tips to help you write your story for Centina Pentina. Be sure to read our other articles about writing for Centina Pentina, too.
Avoid fillers
Your story’s stuck at forty-nine words. So to round the story to exactly fifty words you change “he said” to “he said abruptly” Or because you need two more words you turn “he said” into “he blinked and said.” These fillers weaken your story. When you’re fiddling with a few words and can’t figure out what to do, it’s probably time to rewrite entire sentences.
Keep needed dialogue tags
Don’t cut necessary dialogue tags. While you don’t need to identify who’s speaking after each sentence, as in “Janice said,” if you eliminate dialogue tags for the sake of hitting the fifty or 100-word mark, your story may be difficult to follow.
Give your characters a reason to exist
Don’t show us generic, bland characters. Even in fifty and 100-word stories, characters need emotion and motivation — or you need to make the reader feel emotional toward the character. Why are your characters doing what they’re doing? Why are your characters special? What feelings do their actions evoke in readers?
