The Lowe-Down

Thanks to a word-loving friend, I recently stumbled into the world of microfiction — and let’s just say, I was hooked fast.

My first attempt came through a microfiction competition, where I discovered just how much story you can pack into so few words.

Here’s how NYCMidnight describes it:

“Microfiction is defined as a story of 300 words or less.

Think one double-spaced page or less — although dialogue-heavy stories may extend past a single page.

Shorter microfiction — 50- to 100-word stories — are much shorter than a page and are closer to a paragraph long.

Microfiction may be short, but like all fiction, it stands on its own with a clear beginning, middle, and end.

It’s not an excerpt of a longer piece, but its own complete story.”

That challenge — to craft something complete in just 100 words — was oddly addictive.

The stories below are my practice attempts for the competition along with competition pieces that have already been judged.

My first entry, ‘Reverberation’, is now live.

I can’t post any subsequent round entries until after judging (rules are rules),

but my Round 2 entry will be up soon.

All of these stories are written using the same structure:

Big thanks to a few generous and slightly unhinged friends for supplying some wild prompts.