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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Monday, February 08, 2010
Story: 62
Words: 80
Title: The Book of Love
They had recently separated and were reconciling.
“What is the Book of Love?” she asked.
“You mean like in the song?”
“Yeah, but the real Book of Love.”
He thought for a moment and said, “The Book of Love is in our heart and when it opens up it lets us in.”
“And we can learn to fly again,” she said.
He turned to her and said, “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she replied, enjoying his warm touch.
Comment: I have always loved the song Broken Wings by Mr. Mister (1985) so this is my very short take on how the lyrics can come alive. The lyrics that relate to this story follow.
“Take these broken wings
And learn to fly again, learn to live free.
When we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up and let us in.”
Words: 80
Title: The Book of Love
They had recently separated and were reconciling.
“What is the Book of Love?” she asked.
“You mean like in the song?”
“Yeah, but the real Book of Love.”
He thought for a moment and said, “The Book of Love is in our heart and when it opens up it lets us in.”
“And we can learn to fly again,” she said.
He turned to her and said, “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she replied, enjoying his warm touch.
Comment: I have always loved the song Broken Wings by Mr. Mister (1985) so this is my very short take on how the lyrics can come alive. The lyrics that relate to this story follow.
“Take these broken wings
And learn to fly again, learn to live free.
When we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up and let us in.”
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