I am on the second of the Strathclyde University short creative writing courses at the moment.
The format is simple – 10 weeks of online discussion and writing activities, designed to to kickstart and encourage my writing habit.
It’s been a nice relaxed course* with a different focus each week. It’s even getting me used to sharing my work – you have to post a 300-word response to a weekly task in an online forum. There, your fellow students get to make comments and ask questions.
(*apart from assignment weeks. These have felt like a race from start to finish. The most recent was writing a 1,500 word story in a week. I have to admit that I struggled with the time frame recently. I had a start to my story, and an end, but by Wednesday, no real middle and a Friday deadline looming! Spoiler, I did manage to file on time.)
Flash fiction
The latest weekly challenge was to write a 50 word story based on the Scottish Book Trust’s monthly competition. This is called flash fiction but at such a short length might be termed micro-fiction, maybe even nano-fiction.
I’ve looked at the SBT’s prompts before and event had a go in idle moments. It is an intriguing idea. fifty words is nothing yet – three or four fair-sized sentences at most. Yet you can pack a lot in. The classic example of a tiny story is Ernest Hemingway‘s ‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn.’ As a reader you are left with so many questions.
Keep it brief
When I was a journalist, writing a short story was essential. My newspaper had an ‘In Brief’ column on several pages. These were very short snippets of news – we called them ‘nibs’.
Sometimes, they gave details of events. Sometimes it was a basic court story. For example:
A man was fined £300 at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday after admitting drink driving in the city.
John Doe, 29, of 75 Vodka Lane, Dingwall, was three times the legal limit while driving on Mixer Avenue on Friday October 14 last year.
Doe also had six points added to his licence.
In reality, there would have been much more said in court but this 51-word story tells you all the essentials: the details of the accused, the charge and circumstances, the plea and the punishment.
Sometimes, you ended up cutting your 300-word masterpiece back to something this length if there was bigger news breaking late on. Highly depressing…
Hare
The Scottish Book Trust prompt for this month is ‘Hare’. I started with a wee mindmap of ideas and went onto try and write something.
There was a lot of counting words and crossing out – trimming is essential to make the limit for these challenges. I wrote two stories because it was quite fun. And I struggled with the ending on the second. Doesn’t that sound a bit mad – only 50 words and still having difficulties with finishing!
Here are my two stories:
Hare’s blood soup was an odd choice for a wedding breakfast, I thought. He insisted, saying it was his family tradition.
They ate it eagerly, throwing admiring glances to our table.
My spoon, full of dark liquid, hovered at my mouth, a droplet pooling on the underside.
Walking alone, I saw a hare’s wedding across the field.
They all stood in a circle until two stepped forward. They touched noses and the circle opened to release them.
The newlyweds looked so happy, running over the grass.
I left them to their lives and turned for home.
Did you enjoy them? I’d love to hear your thoughts on writing such compact tales!
Jane Candlish 