Robert Swartwood has compiled a book full of extra short stories or 'Hint Fiction'. His book, Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer, was the subject of an article/radio interview on NPR's website last weekend.
They share a few very good stories from the anthology and bring out how hard it is to write a really good story in such a short form. I have to say, I agree. Every time I've tried to write the 6-word stories I sit for a very long time throwing ideas in the mix and dumping them out again.
It's good practice, but definitely not an easy task.
The stories they pulled out of the book were so engaging and telling that I found the words blossoming in my mind. The resulting story was much longer than the words on the page would lead you to believe.
Talk about trusting your readers. I loved it!
It's more fun to leave a little to the imagination so the role of the reader in the story creation process is that much greater and the story becomes that much more personalized.
It made me think about all the excess that I sometimes pile into my full-length novels when it's not really necessary to spell out everything. A few well chosen words can do the job - and often do it better too. I also liked what Swartwood said about shorter forms helping writers with their longer forms.
Take a look at some of the stories they shared on NPR and let me know what you think? Do you like 'Hint Fiction'?
4 comments:
Okay, so I'm not sure about how I feel about one thing. Maybe a story is better in less words, but if there are characters or stories that I absolutely love, I want more!!! I'm one that tends to be wordy, so I know what I need to work on! I'm glad you are my writing partner!
You're only wordy sometimes, but aren't we all?
Still didn't you find the stories kind of fun - even if you didn't get to know the characters very well?
I'm glad we're writing partners too. We work really well together.
Hi, Elizabeth! Are you referring to the logline of a novel?
Let's practice that at our group!!!! I would LOVE that. What say you?? ;)
Maybe we could have a discussion over how Robert Swartwood did it and stuff. ;)
Hi Elizabeth!
It isn't really a logline, because in hint fiction the entire story is in 25 words or less. The few chosen words are so telling, they can stand alone without elaborating on any other elements of the story any further. The reader's own imagination does the rest.
While it isn't really a summary, it could easily be expanded to be an entire novel, in which case, I suppose, you could use it the original words as a sort of logline or pitch. Several different authors are included in the book that Swartwood put together. I've actually placed it on order for the library, if you want to take a look for yourself. I thought it would be a fun addition the collection.
It would be really fun to create some hint fiction or 6-word stories at the writing group. Or to practice coming up with loglines and pitches too. Maybe we'll put something like on the schedule for next year.
Thanks for stopping by!
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