The Coming Of The Fictoids

Each Christmas the grandkids get me presents that allow me to stretch my creativity, and this year my older grandson got me a book called Write The Story.

Each page is ruled like a notebook, but at the top is a title / story prompt and below it ten words to work into the story.

It’s a fun little book that I keep by my side when watching TV after I shut down the computer for the night, scribbling in first drafts of short-short stories, the type I refer to as “fictoids”.  There’s enough space for about 250-300 handwritten words, though I reserve the right to add / edit / embellish when I transcribe it to the computer.

Sometimes I think about the story prompt for a day or two, sometimes I just start writing.  Once I have an idea where I’ll end up -- the “punchline” for lack of a better word -- the writing comes fairly fast (though I have started a couple with no idea where I was going with them).

Since the market for flash fiction / short-short stories is crowded and pays so little for the effort (that is, the effort of finding the markets and submitting, which is the same amount of effort for longer, better paying works), there’s no reason to keep this to myself so I’m just going to upload them here for everyone to read.

They’ll be popping up every Tuesday for as long as I have blank pages.

© Buzz Dixon