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Microfiction is very short fiction, usually around 300 words long. Although extremely short, it should tell a complete story, with characters, setting, conflict, and resolution. The presence of all the elements of story differentiates microfiction from the vignette.
Microfiction requires a very dense, punchy style, sometimes compared to a poem in prose. Every single word must be essential to the story. There is no room in microfiction for flowery language or digression.
Synonyms for "microfiction" include "short short story" and "flash fiction." The latter term is particularly common in the genres of science fiction and fantasy, in which there are several sub-genres of extremely short stories. Some science-fiction short-short subgenres, such as the Feghoot, require the story to also function as a joke.
Taken to its minimalist extreme, the micro-story turns into the nano-story, whose length is measured in a few words rather than in a few hundred words.
Some micro-stories
- Bolesław Prus, "Mold of the Earth" (1884)
- Bolesław Prus, "Shades" (1885)
See also
External links
- Dancing On Fly Ash: One Hundred Word Stories
- Anatomy of a MicroFiction
- Indeterminacy: One minute short stories paired with found photos
- rumble: The Micro Fiction e-zine
- Shortshortshort.com – Short-short stories, flash fiction and microfictions by Bruce Holland Rogers.
- The Micro Fiction mini site
- Blogging As Cubism
"Microfiction"