Would You Continue To Write Microfiction if Vocal Allowed it?
Writing Microfiction Challenges You To Write Less, But Be More Creative
Writing is one of my favorite things to do.
Writing:
- Makes you think.
- Puts your thoughts in order.
- Makes your mind work better.
- Takes you to other worlds, times, and places.
- Allows your imagination to run wild.
- Challenges your creativity.
I have been having a lot of fun writing for the Microfiction challenge.
I recently started writing short form on Medium for a publication called The Shortform
The word limit in this publication is 150 words; no less and no more!
However Vocal's challenge is only 100 words long which proved to be more challenging!
I have really enjoyed this challenge, so thankyou to Vocal for that.
Writing in small bursts can be a great way to test your creativity.
I thought that I wouldn't be able to do it, until I tried it.
I learned that I think more imaginatively when I create short pieces, and that I could come up with some great stories in just a few sentences, and in so little time.
I would love Vocal to add a section where creators could create microfiction.
Microfiction are short and simple stories. They are not the usual word length for Vocal, but many creators would benefit from it.
Being able to write microfiction on Vocal would:
- Help creators learn to create stories from just a few key lines. Keylines can help to trigger a whole story.
- Enable creators to beat writer's block by enabling them to activate their imagination and get their creative juices flowing.
- Allow writers who have no time to write to be able to enjoy writing shorter stories.
- Teach writers to be more descriptive in their writing by writing less and creating more.
I have written quite a few stories in the challenge. I have been able to do so, because the shorter form of writing triggered me into using my imagination more, and in less time.
Great descriptive stories can be created from very few words and more descriptions.
Writing short pieces taught me to cut out words that I really didn't need, and use shorter descriptive words instead.
One of my challenge stories was created in this way. You can read it here:
I think that Vocal should really consider microfiction as a permanent source of writing for creators. It would really help those creators who have days when they don't have time to write much, and it would give creators some freedom and practice with short descriptive pieces.
I usually write in long form, but writing in short form has triggered me into wanting to go back over my longer pieces, especially some of my complicated long fiction series, and switch some words for more descriptive ones.
I never knew that I could get so much joy from creating in shorter bursts, and it has been a great challenge for my brain because it has given me the freedom to play with words in shorter sentences.
I would like to know if creators on oVcal would continue to write microfiction if Vocal allowed it
I know that I would because it gives me a chance to rack my brain and come up with new things.
Here is a hint:
I plan to write some longer stories based on some of the stories that I have entered into the challenge.
I think that would be fun, because as I was writing those short stories; my brain was engaging and my creativity was flowing so much, that I was mentally creating more paragraphs in my mind as I was writing them.
So; what do you think?
Are you up for more microfiction? Would you write them if Vocal considered it?
Let me know in the comments.
About the Creator
Carol Townend
Fiction, Horror, Sex, Love, Mental Health, Children's fiction and more. You'll find many stories in my profile. I don't believe in sticking with one Niche! I write, but I also read a lot too.
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Comments (28)
I tried to enter the 200 word challenge but I found it so hard to get an idea completed in 200 words.
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Congrats on your Top Story.
Not only is it a fantastic challenge but it has also helped me read so many more entries :)
100% would continue. Some of us hobbyists can only dedicate a small amount of time to writing and lowering the threshold allows us to craft and deliver stories we would otherwise not be able to.
Congrats on your Top Story. I've just noticed that microfiction is a subtab it Vocal's fiction so it looks like it will be continuing. I am only likely to do it as a challenge, like all short-form writing, I'm not sure if this is the end of the 600-word limit in fiction. I wonder what would happen if you wrote 200,300 or 400 words.
definitely up for shorter stories! 100 words is challenging, but it gave me the space i needed to write about a character from one of the contests i entered. microfiction is an art!🎨
Well done on your Top Story!
Great work, and I would really like to write microfiction here.
Great question. I’d enjoy it as an occasional challenge.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the Microfiction challenge. I had reached a block in my fiction and was only really finding it easy to write poetry and non-fiction pieces. Even though fiction is where my heart lies. Then the Microfiction challenge happened and it gave me the push I needed. I would definitely hope that Vocal makes a space for it in the future, even outside of challenges and I agree with what you have said in your post. I think in many ways microfiction and haiku writing are similar because there is such a high price on each word, you need to choose them wisely. I am more inclined to write longer and maybe fluffier, as some would see it, sentences and paragraphs, so doing haikus and microfiction has helped me realise sometimes it's good to just get to the point. Congrats on a well-deserved Top Story!
Great piece. And I agree, microfiction is definitely a great challenge for writing because it makes you write stories in condensed forms which is a great way to improve your writing. I saw another creater write a microfiction story based on a short story they previously wrote and I thought that was really good. I did the same and it was a really nice and challenging thing, because you've already built this story, and now you're trying to condense it to its essence, without losing the story within. I tried it on another story I wrote but I couldn't do it. That story was too reliant on world building and it couldn't be done without it. While microfiction is a great way to write stories, I prefer a s lightly longer story (even if around 500 words) giving some leeway for world building, which I think is an important part of writing a story (particularly sci-fi or fantasy). I'm not sure if vocal should have a microfiction section (or allow microfiction size stories) forever. Mainly because I like being engrossed in a story, and 100 words don't really allow that. But I do like having this challenge for a short period
Fabulous!!! Loved this!!! Congratulations on T S too!!!💖💖💕
Whether they make it an ongoing thing or not doesn't matter to me. I see the challenges as that, a challenge. I have not been keen on poetry until I entered a couple of challenges. Not Haiku or limerick, I couldn't get my head around them. I see the microfiction like the setup of a joke, then a punchline, or like the blurb on the cover of a novel. Just enough information to get you in.
I probably won’t continue writing in micro fiction, but it was certainly a fun challenge and I’ve been really enjoying it! I think it even drew out one of my better pieces :)
Wohh! I love it❤️ I like small writes too.Sometimes long articles seem boring.
Absolutely! Sometimes writing a long article can seem so daunting, but microfiction can be fast and fun! Sometimes it even leads to further inspiration.
Microfiction is a good discipline,, teaching us to avoid long, wordy sentences. I have a low tolerance to them. And yet, I still use them sometimes. I'm on team micro fiction.
Definitely! As you perfectly said - it’s a great way of training people to write content that packs more of a punch, in addition to giving people with less spare time a chance to contribute. I would love to see a “micro fiction” community or even a micro fiction “tag” to help keep them separate from the longer word count stories, but I do I hope they stick around
Absolutely!!
I prefer writing flash fiction over micro fiction, but I enjoy reading micro fiction.
I enjoy reading and writing microfiction. Sometimes, it's fun to get to the point...cut to the chase. It's also challenging. Great idea!
I would absolutely love to to write more micro fiction on Vocal. The challenge is one of the reasons I started logging in again and posting here. Otherwise I might have just ignored the platform as usual. That email about the challenge got me wanting to clear my three year block! I’ve now decided to keep the habit going and write some micro fiction every morning before breakfast.
As someone named as one of the reasons for the recent contest, I agree wholeheartedly with your argument. I salute the idea, and congratulate you on your very Top Story!
I would love to see a new section dedicated to just microfiction, both as a writer and as a reader. I’m normally a verbose writer, but I’ve had fun trying to write these very short pieces. Reading them has been equally as fun. Sometimes, I just don’t have time to write or read even short stories; having these little snack-size stories to tide me over while I can’t would be great. As L.C. Schäfer said, I’ll keep writing them either way, but it’d be nice to have a place to share them and read other people’s.