Facing One's Fears: 100 word flash fiction
Not including title in word count
My lips quivered as I stared at the beast outside the window. Could I outrun it?
The demon leered at me from the other side of the glass. It paced frenetically, blazing blood-red eyes dissecting my body and soul.
I gagged at its horrific stench and recoiled in disgust. It copied my actions!
It was mimicking me! Mocking me!
My fear became panic, then rage. It seethed in response, its putridity refracted and intensified by a crack in the glass.
A crack?
I leant forward to investigate and was overwhelmed by nausea.
This wasn’t a window, it was a mirror.
Facing One’s Fears: 75 word micro fiction
Including title in word count as per the rules of Paragraph Planet - submitted, yet to be notified if accepted
The demon leered at me from the other side of the glass. It paced frenetically, blazing blood-red eyes dissecting my body and soul.
I gagged at its horrific stench and recoiled in disgust. It mimicked me. Mocked me.
My fear became panic, then rage. It seethed in response, its putridity refracted and intensified by a crack in the glass.
A crack?
I was doomed. This wasn’t a window, it was a mirror.
** Original Version **
Facing One’s Fears: 50 word nano fiction
Not including title in word count as per the rules of Fifties by the Fire, a regular challenge hosted by
The demon leered behind the glass. Gagging at its horrific stench, I recoiled in disgust. It mimicked me. Mocked me.
My fear became panic, then rage. It seethed in response. A crack amplified its putridity.
Crack?
Looking closer I realised my life was over. This wasn’t glass, but a mirror.
Facing One’s Fears: 25 word hors d'oeuvre fiction
Not including title in word count (because that would be utterly insane)
The demon leered behind the glass. It copied my stance. I raged. Its hatred intensified by the cracked glass. I looked closer. T'was a mirror.
With my addiction to micro fiction growing, I’m adapting the classical music concept of ‘variations on a theme’ to apply to flash fiction.
The difficulties in writing short stories with any kind of connection to the reader is a huge challenge. One that I hope to get right one day.
Of course, the lower the word count, the higher the difficulties.
It was one of the joys of the original Twitter that you had to get your message across in a paltry 140 characters. I used it as an example of how to hone your headline writing techniques when tutoring journalism students. Making brevity more important: if a web link was included, that took precious characters away from your creative word choices.
For an editor, those days of Twitter could be described in one word: bliss.
So. To this series.
Each entry will begin with the title, word count, flash fiction category, then a short description including if the title is included in the word count or not, where the story originated, and a highlight for the original version.
With these pedantic rules set, and the first group complete, here is the first instalment of Flash Fiction Variations.
(The monster was me)
I hope reading these short stories provide you with much pleasure.
May the reading of these short stories entertain you.
Please enjoy reading these short stories.
Enjoy.
I really enjoyed seeing your process here! What a great idea and thought-provoking exercise. Excellent stories all around - fun to see the different lengths/versions.