When I saw this morning that was resurrecting the 50-word short story, I about squealed. I tend to be a terribly over-wordy writer. I put my pieces through workshopping mostly expecting to get a lot of "Unnecessary" and "You could lose this" sorts of comments.
The best thing I've ever found to help me improve my word economy are these 50 word exercises. They are not easy. It's so hard to tell a whole story in so few words, but of course you only need to tell a whole part of a story. Yes, it needs to actually convey something complete to the reader, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be much, much more going on.
So I was doubly excited when I saw that had used
's post as a springboard to carry on some aspect of the story she saw in his wonderful piece, End of the Line?. She flawlessly moved the narrative along with her own piece, Their Beach, and I simply cannot resist snaring the baton.
So with many thanks to these fantastic authors, I give you my own contribution:
Regret
Gulls swoop, their castigating shrieks slicing the air. Insistent clarity cuts heart-deep; she can never forget.
That day words left her tongue, lashed at her beloved, and lodged in her mind.
Two hearts. One breath. No stopping to think.
Now five syllables: drifting corpses in the ocean of memory.
I know, it's weird, but that's because you haven't read Tiger and Author's first. Go do that now, then come back. I'll wait...
Well thanks for checking them out anyway, and I hope this entertained at least a little bit. May you have much joy and little regret in your life, and may you find my next piece less...weird. As for this one, if you feel it's merited, please upvote. If you think others might enjoy this, kindly resteem. And if you want to know just how weird I can get, you definitely want to follow, or at least check out my most recent fiction pieces.
Hair o' the Dog
Annie's Surprise
Toothache
Image courtesy of Nagageni44 on Pixabay