This question popped up on a writer’s forum and the concern was that smaller pieces such as short stories and micro fiction seem to pose much more difficulty for a writer due to their condensed nature. As a writer, what is your process for micro fiction? Do you keep an eye on the word count while drafting, or do you plod ahead with an idea and cut back later? When you’re trimming the piece, how do you know what to chop and what to retain? Isn’t it a struggle to make those decisions?
Well, here’s the thing: micro fiction does require the writer to deliver a message in a more compact way. But shouldn’t the writer’s primary focus be to convey meaning using concise language anyway? This is what narrative techniques, literary devices, and word choice are all about. Remember that the finished product is a long way off from the initial idea. Sometimes the entire concept ends up changing once the writer spends time sitting with a draft. This is all part of the process.
When I begin a new project, particularly a short story, it takes an entire page of writing before I get to the story part of things. So, I don’t look at the word count until I’ve reached a moment where I know the plot is apparent and I’ve got at least one scene hammered out. Then, it’s all about economy of language. I need to identify the single item that encapsulates the story as a whole. This is usually something a character says or a gesture that reflects the character’s decision—also known as the turning point. Then, it’s all about keeping that one detail in focus while shedding the rest.
When I’m entering a write-prompt competition, I take a glance at the prompt(s), make some quick jots and then sleep on it. For a short fiction entry with a limit of 500 words, I can expect my initial draft to be nearly three times that length. Then I’ll take a break before distilling that down to half. At that point, I’ll take another full night’s rest, and use the last leg leading up to the submission deadline to whittle my manuscript down to the allowable maximum of 500 words.
How do I decide what to keep? Well, it’s all about that singular focus. This is where the writing process becomes an art. The final product needs to give the reader just enough details about setting, action, and character to get into the scene. The use of language in this case is very much like poetry, and I think this is true for any length of writing, not just micro fiction. Where a single word can pull the weight of an entire array of sentences, use that one word. Where a character can communicate a lifetime of suppressed emotions in a distinct gesture, choose it. Where the narrator can leave a detail to the reader’s imagination without taking away from the central plot, do it. Doing this can most certainly be a struggle and become a little frustrating. Well, that’s the real act of writing. It is work.
What’s your writing process? Start the discussion by sharing your comments below. Stay tuned for my next blog post. Wanna get it in your email inbox? Subscribe to stay informed of my newest articles, story reviews, updates, and more.
Cover Image: Photo by Ivan Samkov on Pexels.com
Pauline Shen 