Have You Heard of 'Hint Fiction'

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'?

P.D. James on Writing

On 22 December 2009 P.D. James was on NPR to talk about her new book, Talking about Detective Fiction (Knopf, 2009).  It was a very good interview and she had some great things to say about writing mysteries.  Many things that she mentioned also have a place in any type of fiction writing.  I've been meaning to share it, so here it is - finally.  Let me know how you like it. Sorry about the delay. 

P.D. James Interview on NPR