I was first introduced to this idea on Jeffrey Callison's Sacramento NPR radio interview show called Insight. He interviewed Jason Sinclair Long about his blog "Flash Fiction 365". You can hear the interview here.
The challenge is to write a micro-story each day. The length of the story is determined by throwing a pair of dice, preferably of different colors. One color represents the tens digit and the other the ones digit. So the story can be from 11 to 66 words. Of course some lengths are left out using this method. You could also use one die and throw it twice. Or use a die with 8 sides. Or you can do what I did and create a random number generator in Excel. This method doesn't miss any of the numbers. Mine will return a random number between 11 and 99. I am happy to share the formula if you email me.
The title is not part of the word count. Most word processors have a word count function that is very useful. You can start with a title or add it later or you can have someone suggest a title. Even though the original idea is to write a story, I plan to include poetry and perhaps essay.
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Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Story: 36
Words: 94
Title: Synthia 3
“Hi, Synthia,” the scientist said, “We have something new today.”
He played some Mozart. Synthia listened carefully but the sounds correlated with nothing she had learned.
“This is music, Synthia.”
As she listened, the complexity of the new neuronal interconnections took her deep inside to a place she had never experienced. She noticed that the colors in the lab had become brighter and that the sounds elicited images. Her synthetic brain was mapping Mozart to memories and modifying her present experience. It was like a new language was forming and a whole new world.
Yes, more Synthia. This is more like an excerpt from a story. This will develop over time.
Words: 94
Title: Synthia 3
“Hi, Synthia,” the scientist said, “We have something new today.”
He played some Mozart. Synthia listened carefully but the sounds correlated with nothing she had learned.
“This is music, Synthia.”
As she listened, the complexity of the new neuronal interconnections took her deep inside to a place she had never experienced. She noticed that the colors in the lab had become brighter and that the sounds elicited images. Her synthetic brain was mapping Mozart to memories and modifying her present experience. It was like a new language was forming and a whole new world.
Yes, more Synthia. This is more like an excerpt from a story. This will develop over time.
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