Writing Micro-Fiction by Madeleine McDonald

Micro-Fiction from Press 53

I always was a succinct writer. Even at school, my essays came back with the comment: ‘Put more meat on the bones.’

Over the past couple of years I have been experimenting with micro-fiction. Compressing a complete story into 50 or 100 words is a fun challenge. Although there is no space for unnecessary digressions or descriptions, readers still need enough clues to join the dots for themselves. They also need to feel they have read a ‘proper story’, with a satisfying, perhaps unexpected, ending.

Although I know when I start that there is room for only one main character, grappling with one event or idea, I begin by writing down everything I want to say. This produces too many variations on a theme, in too many words.

Then I cut back. It’s a slow job. Something has to go each time, and it may take a dozen versions to get the balance right.

For examples of micro-fiction, see What Dwells Between the Lines, an anthology showcasing various winners of Press 53’s fun, free, monthly competition for stories of 53 words, no more, no less.  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Dwells-between-Lines-Fifty-Three/dp/1950413810