The Perks of Writing Micro Fiction

You may be familiar with flash fiction from such contests as the WOW! Flash Fiction Writing Contest, but have you ever heard of micro fiction?

Micro fiction is a subgenre of flash fiction. Flash fiction generally describes stories under 1,000 words – between 250 and 750 for the aforementioned contest. So micro fiction are stories much shorter than that, clocking in at 300 words to as few as 6 words. With the advent of Twitter, 140-character stories – which could range in word count depending on the number of letters per word – also fall into the micro-fiction category.

Why Write Micro Fiction?

One of the most challenging aspects of writing for my students – and, if we’re being honest, for me – is keeping the prose detailed yet concise. I enjoy challenging my students – and myself – to write micro fiction or micro nonfiction to practice writing concise yet high-quality prose.

With only 300, 100, or only 6 words to create an entire world, plot, and character, there’s no room to spare for fluff. You have to jump right into the heart of the story. And that’s great advice, no matter what kind of writing you’re attempting.

Micro Fiction Writing Tips

This column by Gayle Towell, editor of Micro Fiction Monday Magazine, has already summed up these tips more concisely than I can – remember, I’m still working on writing more concisely.

Ms. Towell says this within her column, but I would like to emphasize that just because I story is super short, doesn’t give it the right to be super sloppy. Even micro stories deserve to be well-crafted.

Publish Micro Fiction

Flash Fiction Chronicles provides this very thorough list of journals and websites that publish flash fiction – which includes flash fiction’s micro fiction subgenre.

Micro Fiction markets I’d like to add are:

• 140 Miniature Stories, founded by a creative team at my alma mater, University of East Anglia in Norwich, England
• Micro Fiction Monday Magazine

If you know of other Micro Fiction Markets, have micro fiction writing tips, or want to share your own piece of micro fiction, please share with us in the comments section!


Written by Anne Greenawalt: follow me on Twitter for a fusion of creative writing and competitive sports with a twist of feminist intent.