It’s time to vote! You’ll find everything you need down at the bottom of this post: the grid, the voting guidelines, etc. A little reminder: if you posted, please take the time to read all the entries and to vote. It’s more than a courtesy to your fellow yeah writers – we believe that this is one of the ways we all become better writers.

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Earlier this week, Natalie gave us a great overview of editing, including tips on cutting excess verbiage to make your writing stronger. I’m going to take that one step further and talk specifically about microfiction.

* Note: I use the term microfiction, but everything here applies to very short non-fiction, or “micro narratives” as well. Poetry too, perhaps, but I’m not addressing poetry here. Sorry, all you poets out there. You write some amazing stuff, but in my book microfiction and poetry are two very different, equally wonderful things.

What exactly is microfiction?

Definitions vary, but generally microfiction is considered to be a very short story that contains the classic story elements, including protagonist, conflict, and resolution. There’s a fine line between microfiction and a vignette, by the way. A vignette is more like a snapshot of a scene rather than a story in and of itself. Just something to keep in mind.

Word limits vary as well. Everybody knows the famous six-word story often attributed to Ernest Hemingway: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Yeah write’s microfiction challenge, the pangalactic gargleblaster, limits you to exactly 42 words. Anything over about 300 words, though, is pushing it.

The thing about microfiction is that, with such limited space, you can’t always spell everything out for your reader. You need to rely on hints, clues and other indirect means to get your point across.

Words: choose them wisely

It sounds simple, but choosing exactly the right words is the most important thing you can do. This is how you whittle a sentence down from eight words to four. With the right word choices you reduce your word count and increase the impact of your tiny piece all at once. A few tips:

• Look for verbs that include an understanding of *how* something is done. This eliminates the need for excess adverbs.
• Consider your verb tenses. Do you really need to use that present participle (-ing)? Are you sure passive voice is the way to go? Here’s what I mean:
  • The fire was sparked while I was dreaming.
  • The fire sparked while I dreamed.
  • The fire sparked; I dreamed.
• Use your thesaurus, but don’t assume that all the listed words are exact synonyms. Make sure the word you choose has exactly the connotation you mean. If you’re not careful, you’re liable to sound like a high school senior prepping for the SATs.

Allusions: get a clue, give a clue

An allusion is a reference to an object or circumstance outside of the piece you are writing that provides a connection to a context. This particular literary device is an efficient way to lead your readers where you want them to go. Take a story about a girl and her wicked stepmother. Drop in a glass slipper, and your reader connects the story to Cinderella. Mention a mirror and you’ve got Snow White. You don’t need to waste words explaining the context; it’s up to the reader to make the connection.

One caveat: if your allusion is too obscure, you may lose your reader. This is especially true with pop culture references. What’s common knowledge where you come from may be completely unheard of in my hometown, and vice versa.

Titles, or why you shouldn’t name your gargleblaster “gargleblaster #174”

In microfiction, titles are often overlooked or thrown together at the last minute. In my opinion, if you don’t use your title well, you’re missing a chance to further influence your reader. I am not suggesting you use your title to sneak in extra words – that’s a sly trick, and a cheap one. I mean using your title to set the stage. Your title can alter the entire tone of the piece, slip in a bit of extra context, or even change the meaning of your piece altogether. Hint: it’s a great place to slip in an allusion.

It’s your turn

Ready to give it a try? Yeah write is always happy to have new earthlings try out the pangalactic gargleblaster, but if the idea of answering a question in 42 words is a little intimidating, try this: take your favorite short story, fairy tale, or personal blog post and cut it down to size. What are the most important elements of the story? Which ones will you focus on? What will you leave for the reader to figure out? Don’t forget to factor in everything Natalie talked about on Tuesday.

Here’s a little of example – 33 words written for the Trifecta Writing Challenge way back when.

Straw and Gold

I have my husband and my babe. The little man gnashed his teeth and fled – I knew his name. Bereft of baubles and ambition, I sit among the mingled straw and gold and spin.

With that, I’ll leave you with a challenge. Post your microfiction or micro narrative over in this week’s moonshine grid (or in the bronze lounge, if you are inclined). Don’t worry about getting it down to 42 right away; you might need to whittle it down to 200, then 100, then 75, etc. Eventually you should end up with a tiny little gem of a piece!

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 The summer supergrid is open for popular voting!

The summer supergrid crowd favorite and top row winners will be determined by popular vote. Be cautioned: yeah write isn’t an Internet clicking contest, and the votes are moderated for fairness. Read each post before voting.

Everybody gets three votes

We use scaled voting each week for the challenge grid. This week, we each get three votes because there are between 21 and 30 entries. Click on the thumbnails to read each post before voting. Click on the nifty heart-shaped voting icon to vote for the post after reading. Do not vote for your own post, please. We’ll delete your vote if you do. We’re not kidding. Trust us, it’ll be OK if you vote for other people. Need some tips on voting? Read this post.

Voting is open until Friday, 6:00 p.m. EDT & Winners announced in Sunday’s kickoff post

Once the voting ends, the challenge grid will sort itself from highest number of votes to the fewest. Ties are broken by number of page views. Until the winners’ post is published, none of the sorting will be official, but you can still get a good idea of where everyone ended up until the votes are validated.

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