55 Fiction

You have heard of short stories no doubt, but I was introduced to a type that goes a little more to the extreme. The local newspaper ran an annual contest for submissions to what they called 55 Fiction. Turns out it is quite popular and surprisingly it was the same paper that started the writing contest in 1987. The main idea is to create an entire story in 55 words or less.

That may sound rather simple until you see the criteria. The story must be 55 words or less, have a setting, one or more characters, a conflict, and then a resolution. The paper receives thousands of entries every year and publishes the ones they think are the best in their weekly paper a week or two after the submission deadline.

I submitted two, and unfortunately, neither was chosen to be published in the paper, but it was truly a blast to create something so short. Every word has to be considered, can one word be used in place of two? I admit I am in no means a master of this style, but I encourage you to try it out. Try writing a story in 55 words or less and see how it goes.

Here are the first two I wrote. I have some others that I learned to be more word conservative with, but as first tries they were fun. I think the first two originally were a little too vague and left a reader with a possibility of not understanding the plot, but I will let you decide that for yourself. Passage is 53 words and The Duel is 49. Enjoy.

Passage

They go in. They don’t come out.
Watching from the hall two went in. None came out.
Menacing doors swallowed them all.
An emptying hall, all go through the gaping hole.
I couldn’t help myself. I had to see, slipping through the closing doors.
Fellow prey stood to my side, “Level two please.”

The Duel

Stoic statues faced each other in a dusty street.
Windows boarded up for a storm under blue skies.
A thundering roar heralds a pinnacle’s crumble to dry earth.
It was over, and the other moved away.
A glint of light from a forsaken sheriff’s badge discarded in the dirt.


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