These two exercises are the 6-word short story, and the two-sentence tale.
Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!
Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!
For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never Worn
According to popular mythology, the six-word short story was created on a bet by Ernest Hemingway with a bunch of other writers over lunch. He said he could write a full plot in as little as six words, to which he penned For sale, baby shoes, never worn. on a napkin. While this account is much more mythology than fact, according to Open Culture, the exercise is still one that's worth pursuing. Because while it might seem simple on the surface, being able to actually tell a complete story in such a small number of words is extremely hard to do. Once you get used to doing it, though, it can tighten up a lot of your writing, and help you decide what flourishes are a necessity of the story, and which ones are just indulgent accessories that you should probably trim off.
There's a similar exercise for character creation in the World of Darkness tabletop roleplaying game as well. Because while you have a rather expansive sheet that details all the aspects of your character from their name, age, height, and weight, to what physical attributes they possess, to what skills they have, to what magic powers they do or don't wield, but there is a section near the top for a 3-4 word character description. Being able to break your character concept down to something as simple as, "vampire road captain," or, "werewolf computer hacker," may sound like a simple exercise, but it's tougher than people seem to think. However, as I've seen said on different parts of the Internet, if you can't explain something simply and concisely to someone else, then it's possible you don't actually understand it yourself.
In addition to these shorter forms of storytelling, there's one more that I would recommend folks try... the two-sentence tale. While most commonly used to write horror stories, like the ones I've linked in this article so far, you can technically use it to write any genre of story you desire... it just so happens that horror is the genre folks traditionally associate with the format. If you're looking for solid examples of this kind of story, I'd recommend listening to any of the audio dramas I've linked in this post (which can be found on my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary), or checking out the print versions on Vocal:
While you can't make a huge living off of these stories invidually (I've only gotten a modicum of traffic to these examples over the years, and it's barely been enough for some Taco Bell when all is said and done), I still recommend the exercise because it teaches you to really condense your thoughts, and to focus on bringing things across as quickly and concisely as possible!
Support The Literary Mercenary
If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!
- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)
- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)
And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!
Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!
Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!
That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!
And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.
If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!
No comments:
Post a Comment