The idea behind fiftyfiction is not new. There’s a ton of short short stories/micro-stories/flash-fiction et al. on the web and in print. Problem: a lot of it is bad. And by bad I mean real, real rubbish. If there’s a way to stop little stories being earnest or drab, then I’m on the hunt for it. Trial and error. Still, amongst the dark hopelessness, there are a few bright lights…
A few years ago, Dave Eggers did a run of short short stories in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, which you can see online here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/shortshortstories
Then there’s Dan Rhodes, whose debut book contained stories of about 12o words a-piece — http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anthropology-Hundred-Stories-Dan-Rhodes/dp/1841151947
There are numerous websites devoted to the art of short short/smudge/nano/micro fiction, and this is one of the better ones: http://blink-ink.com/
And of course there’s the almighty famous Hemingway one-liner: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
If you know of any other awe-inspiring little stories, do let us know—info@fiftyfiction.org
