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, July 12, 2010
Story: 215
Words: 70
Title: Desert Sunset
It was hot. Very hot. He took the last few steps to the mine, walked in, and turned around to look at the sizzling desert. Dust devils were forming as the sun ended its travels across the sky and it created red and orange mirages out to the horizon. He sat down and took a long drink of water. He could feel the cool behind him. It invited him in.
Words: 70
Title: Desert Sunset
It was hot. Very hot. He took the last few steps to the mine, walked in, and turned around to look at the sizzling desert. Dust devils were forming as the sun ended its travels across the sky and it created red and orange mirages out to the horizon. He sat down and took a long drink of water. He could feel the cool behind him. It invited him in.
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