Hey Friend đ âșïž
Howâs it going, howâve you been?
Loaded questions, I know.
So, I found this website last weekâ50-Word Storiesâand it's exactly what it sounds like: complete stories told in exactly fifty words. Not about fifty, not roughly fifty, but precisely fifty.
As with any other form of fiction, a 50-word story should have a beginning and an end, a plot and character development (even if they are only implied), and a theme, meaning, or purpose of some sort. Many 50-word stories are built around twists or climactic moments.
âTim Sevenhuysen, 50-Word Stories
There's something deliciously obsessive about that kind of precision, like building one of those tiny ships in a bottle, but with words.
I'm going to try writing fifty of these in fifty days. Each Thursday, I'll share my current favorites. Here's the first batch. Tell me what you think.
Genie
I had three wishes.
I wished for Love. I found her. Perfect.
I wished for Happiness. So happy. So effortless.
Third, I wished she wasnât married, that her children adored me, that her husband would disappear, and that she wouldnât get sick.
What I wouldnât give for one more wish.
On the house
The first few take the edge off. Then a couple more to relax. After two hours, youâre the life of the partyâa regular comedian. After sunset, you love everyone. The fireworks set you off. Then, you create some of your own. Tempers flare. Punches thrown.
Come on, Dad. Let's go.
Lost my appetite
We had this thing. You cashed my paychecksâbut left me lunch money every day: a ten, two fives, maybe a handful of singles.
This morning at 5:00 am, no cash. Just your purse, sitting open on the counter, with a receipt from The Airport Hilton dated last night.
Thatâs deep
âI ainât cheatin,â she said. âI love being loved. Just not by you.â
We were laying sewer pipe when Wayne showed upâsaved her like a goddam angel.
If it werenât for Wayne, Sheila would be 6 feet under.
Well, twenty-four foot six inches at a 1% slope, to be exact.
Whoa đ€Ż
Those got dark, didnât they? Yikes!
Writing these is like trying to fold an origami crane while wearing mittens. It's frustrating, impossible, and completely addictive.
What Iâm most surprised at is how quickly the ideas come. What also surprises me though, is how dark those ideas have been.
But honestly, the best part is the feeling I get from starting and finishing a complete story every day. That, to me, is simply magical.
If youâd like to try it yourself, this word counter tool is a great way to check your work as you write.
Talk to you soon.
I love you guys â€ïžâđ„
-Paul
These are so good! And Iâm going to give it a try myself!
Boy did they get dark, fast! (can't go slow with only 50 words after all.)
From the start, 'Genie' took an immediate twist no one could've expected from the setup.
'Lost my appetite' was wild.
You leave the reader with all this in just 50 words???
This is a fascinating practice. I can see what you like about it but also see how it gets you to 'say more with less.'
Can't wait for the next round, I love these.