How to Write Microfiction and How It Improves Your Writing.
Including examples of my work
What is microfiction?
Microfiction is the art of writing a story in as few words as possible. Most short stories are between 1000 and 2000 words. Microfiction tends to be a story with a much smaller word count. Sometimes as low as 50 words. I write microfiction in 280 characters or less to fit in with Twitter.
At cafe sat a timid woman. She kept looking at her watch as if she didn’t quite believe the time. When anyone walked in she looked up. The blow was fleeting on her face. When he came in, she looked up smiled and left.- SamHArnold
The History of Microfiction
Microfiction was originally called flash fiction. Then word counts decreased further and microfiction was created. Recently it has become more popular and established itself in literature.
The Structure of Microfiction
Microfiction is written the same as any fiction, it has a start and middle and an end. Characters need to be attractive to the reader. It is best to keep the characters name as short as possible to save on character count. Authors of microfiction must be strict in their writing. Every single word has to have a purpose. Where possible only one word is used to explore or describe something.
You need to write concise short prose that deal with all the issues in as few words as possible. It isn’t as easy as it seems. I start with a longer piece of writing and then edit the bones out of it.
Jack looked at the winning lottery ticket in his hand. He thought about what this meant. He thought about his girlfriend. The wind ruffled the ticket. He screwed it up and threw it away. No jackpot was worth that much trouble. — SamHArnold
Microfiction can Evolve Stories.
Some months ago I wrote this simple microfiction story. This came to me in a flash whilst I was sitting waiting for my partner to come out of the shop.
From these short sentences, the story grew in my head. It was also helped by many people asking where the story when from here. I later wrote the post into a short story piece.
From the response from this story, I have now decided to extend the novel further into my fourth full novel. From one simple idea, the story has evolved and grown.
Microfiction is a medium that allows this like no other. A seed of an idea can grow into something bigger.
Challenge yourself to write microfiction. Share the links to your stories below so we can all read them. For more examples of my microfiction visit my website.
