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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Saturday, August 07, 2010
Story: 241
Words: 90
Title: The Haircut
Since he was not a Hasidic Jew, Isaiah went to the local barber to get a haircut. He sat down and removed his yamaka, reminding himself that it symbolized the humbling relationship between man and God.
“Trim it up, I need to look good tonight,” he said.
“Going to the theatre?” the barber asked.
“No, having dinner with the enemy,” he said.
The barber was confused and asked, “The enemy?”
“Yes, he belongs to Hamas,” he said uneasily and then, “He killed my brother.”
The barber was consumed with silence.
Words: 90
Title: The Haircut
Since he was not a Hasidic Jew, Isaiah went to the local barber to get a haircut. He sat down and removed his yamaka, reminding himself that it symbolized the humbling relationship between man and God.
“Trim it up, I need to look good tonight,” he said.
“Going to the theatre?” the barber asked.
“No, having dinner with the enemy,” he said.
The barber was confused and asked, “The enemy?”
“Yes, he belongs to Hamas,” he said uneasily and then, “He killed my brother.”
The barber was consumed with silence.
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