As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve written a lot of flash fiction lately. I like the form. It makes me have to compress a whole story–characters, background, setting, conflict, and all the other elements of any story–into whatever limitations (usually word count) the parameters of the prompt dictate.
This one was for a LitReactor contest. There was a picture prompt and the rules were thus: it had to be 25 words or less, the title had to be 10 words or less, and the story had to be two sentences–no more, no less.
Here’s the picture prompt I had to work with. At LitReactor it was attributed to yowayowacamera.com (on a side note: the site apparently features this woman levitating a lot. It’s kinda freaky):
And now don’t you wish I’d keep my explanations to 25 words or less, too? Heh. Here’s my flash fiction:
“Long-Distance Relationships”
“Peter,” Wendy said–not breathing hard, not even angry–as she bobbled above polished linoleum at a bank of payphones, “I’m 25. This must stop.”
UPDATE: I won! Yay! My prize is a print copy of Fight Song by Joshua Mohr. Thanks, LitReactor!
Wow. It’s tough to squeeze a story into 100 words. Doing it in 25 is quite a feat.
Heh. Tell me about it. The edits were killer.