‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn’ – Ernest Hemingway
At first, just a sentence. At closer inspection, deeply sad. Think on it more, and you can create an entire story around those words. All from one sentence; just six words. This phenomenon is known as ‘flash’ or ‘micro’ fiction.
Traditionally stories composed of less than 300 words, flash fiction has become even more compact for Twitter, with many writers challenging themselves to compose stories within the 140 character count.
Sometimes the greatest horror is that left unseen, so we wondered if that left unsaid could send chills up the spine. With some research we were pleased to see that the internet already had this covered! Ghoulish stories of two sentences are being written across the world – see some of the best here.
As you can see from these examples, and from Hemingway’s tragic sentence above, the best micro-stories work by letting the reader fill in the gaps. And so, with Halloween Tales on the horizon, we wondered if you could freak us all out a bit with your own efforts by composing your very own micro-horror-story and sharing it with us on Twitter and Facebook – we’ll share and retweet the best efforts!
And in the spirit of participation, I’m willing to embarrass myself with my own poor effort:
She noticed his reflection in the mirror behind her and smiled. Then she came to her senses and remembered why he couldn’t be there.
We’re all looking forward to reading your efforts!
Siobhan – PPM Manager
Blackshaw Theatre 