If you’re a writer, or hoping to become one, then micro-fiction offers a way to practice your craft, find new readers and get ideas down on the page, fast and furious.
I’ve been experimenting with micro-fiction of late – and loving it.
Micro-fiction is a subset of flash fiction – which itself is normally defined as less than 1,000 words. Micro-fiction has no official definition, though it could be anything from 140 characters (for Twitter fiction) up to 100 words – or 250 words, or maybe even 500 words. Though that would really count as a magnum opus, the ‘War and Peace’ of micro-fiction.
Here why you should consider writing and reading micro-fiction:
1. It’s fast and fun
2. There are no rules (other than ‘keep it short’). This is the Wild West of storytelling.
3. It’s a great way to re-use ideas that came to nothing (or half a page of scribbled lines)
4. It’s easy to experiment
5. It hones story-telling
6. It provides ideal content for your author blog or website
7. It’s an easy and quick way for readers to get to know your style and get to like your stuff.
8. You can easily fit it in between other projects, to keep your creative juices flowing.
9. Some of your micro tales may become launchpads for bigger projects.
10. It could help you find your feet, or your writing voice, or your genre, or your passion, or your own style.
11. (Because all good lists go to eleven) There are markets out there – webzine and magazines publishing micro-fiction. You may not earn a fortune, or even get published. But you have nothing to lose except a little time.