Tales of the Invisible Ben

Short Stories

After turning in my final research paper from fall semester (clocking in at 49 pages) , I felt it worthwhile to post something brief about...well, something brief, courtesy of the fine folks at Wired.

I've long been fascinated with the idea of microfiction, i.e. writing complete and compelling stories of 50 words or less. It forces one to distill the essence of the narrative to its barest essence. As someone with a demonstrated tendency towards prolixity, I feel like well constructed microfiction provides an example towards which to aspire in my writing.

Apparently I'm not alone. According to this article from last November which came to my attention recently, Hemingway once composed an entire story in six words. ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn.") Inspired by their example, the folks at Wired asked some modern scifi, horror, and fantasy writers to submit their own six word stories.

Among my favorites:

WORLD'S END. Sic transit gloria Monday.
- Gregory Benford

Automobile warranty expires. So does engine.
- Stan Lee

Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time
- Alan Moore

The baby’s blood type? Human, mostly.
- Orson Scott Card

I've been working on a few of my own...

Suddenly, mortality wasn't worth dying for...

Snap! Pop! (BOOM!) Only Crackle survived.

Found love under microscope. Small world.

Burning heat...love or leftover chili?

Anorexic marathon story premise running thin.

End the redundancy. Redundancy? The end.

They finally did it. Now what?

Jumbled, my are Help totally thoughts!

All in all, lots of fun. Your mission, should you choose to accept it? Submit your best short story in the comments section below. The only rule is it has to be 6 words or less.

Be creative. Be brilliant. Be brief.