Try it, You Might Like it: 5 Reasons to Write Micro Fiction

A micro fiction challenge might be the most fun you can have while improving your writing

If you’d told me a few years ago that a micro fiction challenge would change my mind about writing super short stories, I probably would have scoffed. Because writing short is hard (and writing short and well is even harder), and I didn’t believe I could do it.

Then I stumbled across the NYC Flash Fiction challenges and decided to try their flash fiction challenge. The assignment was to write a 1,000-word story in 48 hours using a genre and a few other guardrails that they’d give me. A thousand words seemed doable, so I tried it.

Time to freak out

Honestly, I don’t remember what I got for an assignment, but it was some genre I didn’t usually write, and I spent about 24 of my 48 hours freaking out and asking myself why in blue blazes I’d done this to myself, that it was a stupid idea, and that I hated all my ideas. Then I pulled myself together, got the story written and submitted on time.

And I was so proud of myself. The story wasn’t perfect. But I’d done it. I’d accomplished something I wasn’t certain I could do, and when I thought about it, it was actually (gasp) FUN.

Let’s just make things harder

Then I figured, why not try their micro fiction challenges. Those were 250-words and 100-words, and you only had 24 hours to write your story. I ended up loving them too, even a little more than the flash fiction. I’ve now written over 30 micro and flash fiction stories. They still stress me out when I do a competition, but even with that, they’re fun and I enjoy finding out if I can rise to the challenge.

Try it, you might like it

1. It works your brain: The whole purpose of these short forms of fiction is to give your writer’s brain a workout. Keep it limber. You need to think about micro fiction differently than you do long form writing, and any time you approach something differently, it builds your skills. (And that’s why you shouldn’t let AI do it for you. Do the work yourself, build the muscles. You’ll be a better writer because of it.)

2. It sharpens your editing skills: When you’re writing something as short as 100 words, every single word counts. When you start, it is okay to let the story flow. Get the idea out. Then comes the hard part—trimming it down to the required word count. You need to give every sentence and every word a critical review. If it doesn’t contribute to the story, if it is just a nice to have, cut it. If it isn’t essential, let it go. And that can be so hard. Trust me, I’ve had to cut out parts I loved out of micro fiction stories. It hurts. Do it anyway.

3. It helps you embrace strong nouns and verbs: In micro fiction there’s no room for lazy adverbs. Action verbs and active voice are your friends. They can convey powerful images in a single word. If your nouns and verbs are strong, your writing will be concise, more engaging. It is a way to show rather than tell (which is advice writers hear frequently—in fact, I got the “show don’t tell” feedback just today on a micro fiction story).

Here’s a basic example: The cat quickly ran after the mouse. Or the cat raced after the mouse. True, you only saved one word, but raced paints a stronger picture and it saved you a word – like I said before, when you only have 100 to work with, every word counts.

4. It helps you spread your wings: With some micro fiction competitions, you’ll get an assigned genre. And eventually the writing gods will hand you one that terrifies you, whether it is thriller or mystery, fantasy or historical fiction. When that finally happens, take a deep breath—you’ve got this. Just jump into the deep end and go for it.

Once I was assigned political satire, and I was horrified. I’ll confess there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth and my result was probably more lukewarm political comedy versus satire. But the point was, I did it. Maybe not perfectly, but I would have never even thought to try political satire had it not been served up to me on a silver platter.

5. It’s kinda fun (really): The first time you do a micro fiction competition, it can be daunting. You get into the assignment and think, I have no idea what I’m doing. But in the end, I bet you’ll find it fun. I talked a friend of mine into trying it once and I told her that halfway through, she was going to be super mad that I talked her into it, but when it was done, she’ll realize it was fun. Sure enough, part way through the competition she texted me and said something like “I hate you.” Now she does the challenges almost every time they come around.

Bonus reason—it will fortify your idea file: If you do enough micro fiction work, whether it is through official challenges or just your own ideas, eventually you’ll have a whole pool of ideas to draw on when you’re ready to write something longer. I’ve turned two stories that started as micro or flash fiction and turned them into short stories for anthologies. One’s been published and the other is under consideration. Having a collection of story ideas is a great thing to have—you never know when inspiration or opportunity will strike.

Interested but don’t know where to start? Jump in, the water’s fine…

Personally, I really like the NYC Midnight Challenges. They’re fun, well run, and you get feedback from three judges during every round. In full transparency, there is an entry fee, but I totally think it’s worth it. They also offer a variety of challenges—flash, micro, poetry, even screenwriting—so you can try different things. (Bonus, they have a great section with tips on how to write micro and flash fiction).

A simple Internet search can also give you some great resources. The Reedsy blog has a while list of different kinds of challenges, and every February, Writer’s Digest runs a month-long challenge where you get a prompt each day. But if you don’t want to wait, you can just use the prompts on your own.

What are you waiting for? Start flexing those micro muscles today!

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Susan K. Hamilton is an award-winning, multi-genre author whose books include Shadow King, The Devil Inside, Stone Heart, and Darkstar Rising. She’s also had the good fortune to have several short stories included in anthologies.

Horse-crazy since she was a little girl, she pretty much adores every furry creature on the planet (except spiders). She also loves comfy jeans, pizza, and great stand-up comedy. 

Susan lives near Boston with her husband and is currently working on a new novel and she recently submitted a short story for potential inclusion in an upcoming anthology.

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Category: How To and Tips