88 Random Word Drabble

Challenge 3/28

The challenge? A complete fiction story in 100 words that includes the random word for the day.

New words are posted on Fiction Shorts every morning at 10 AM CST.

Tips

Writing dialogue between two or more people, in 100 words can get tricky. It’s especially challenging for the writer to know if they’ve got it right when they already know who’s speaking.

The easiest way is to limit it to two people. Italicize one, not the other. That way you don’t have to keep saying, ‘Aliza said, or She exclaimed.

We can easily follow the conversation.

Maria Rattray pointed out to me, that the proper punctuation to indicate the person is still speaking in a second paragraph is to not use a closed quote at the end of the first paragraph, but do use another opening quote in the second, and subsequent paragraphs if the same person is speaking. Only when they’re finished speaking do you use a closing quote.

In our micro stories, I find this more difficult to follow than simply using regular and italics, but you do you.

The point is for our readers to be able to easily read our stories, and find the plot, the who, what, when, where, and how.

That’s a lot to pack into 100 words.