The 100 word story form of Microfiction is growing particularly with the increasing audience for this form of writing.
With or without time as a writer you still get to create a story absolute in its entirety and bold in brevity.
Whether you choose to call it drabble or one hundred word story I got you.
For you to avoid struggling with an idea when you decide to write a 100 word story(drabble) here is a list of prompts for you to get started writing the stories.
Let’s get inspired
1. Write a story about the first five minutes of your character’s life, you can draw inspiration from your life.
2. Cups are always there in the background. Beginning and ending our day. Write a story about cups that could be symbolic or commonplace in your story.
3. Write a story about memories. Maybe a character’s childhood memory.
4. Pick a moment in time and capture it in 100 words.
5. Write a story picking inspiration from your dreams.
6. Oftentimes souvenirs and objects help us like portals into a particular memory in time without it we might never be able to enter into that memory.
Write a story where a character goes into time from an object, sound ( music), smell, etc.
7. Write a story where your character kills a creature. It could be anything from a cockroach to a sci-fi alien.
8. Write a story where your character regrets an action.
9. Write a story where a character’s progress is interrupted by someone calling them to something getting in their way.
10. Write a story where two characters make a bet on something or someone.
11. Write a story that begins with “He doesn’t smile”.
12. Write a story that begins with “My Dad and I”
13. Write a story where a Character gives a gift to another character.
14. Write a story that begins with “Later that Evening”
15. Write a story that ends with ” I just wanted a drink”
16. Write a story that begins with “She searched the kitchen until…”
17. Your story is based on the fulfillment of a character’s wish. It could be that of the parents etc.
18. Create a story where your character spends time with a sick child and see what happens.
19. Write a story that starts with your character making a phone call.
20. Write a story that begins right after something(twist) changes the status quo of a character’s life.
21. Write a story that starts with your character waking up to an Alarm.
22. Write a story about a character that is trying to be committed to something.
23. Write a story that is set in a restaurant.
24. Write a story where your character is eating soup.
25. Write a story with a character drinking tea.
26. Write a story about a character trying to fix an Air conditioner.
27. Write a story where your character is shivering.
28. Write a story where your character is trying not to eat meat.
29. Write a story with a Character solving math.
30. Write a story featuring a character eating Hot Dog.
31. Write a story where an Emoji gets your character in trouble.
32. Write a story where the moon is very important to a character.
33. Write a story where an Aunt is talking to her niece.
34. Write a story featuring a character drinking coffee.
35. Write a story where a character meets a person who later becomes their best friend for the first time.
36. Write a story that starts with a character reading aloud.
37. Write a story with a character dealing with cancer.
38. Write a story with your character waving to their neighbor.
39. Write a story where your character’s internet is blocked.
40. Write a story with a character that has a toothache.
41. Write a story where your character is hiding from the rain.
42. Write a story with a character drinking milk.
43. Write a story with a character that is stranded.
44. Write a story with a character tuning a radio.
45. Write a story where your character gives something to someone.
46. Write a story that is set on the road.
47. Write a story that starts with “It all makes sense…”
48. Write a story that ends with ” but infinite”.
49. Write a story that ends with ” in due turn”.
50. Write a story that begins with “I am calling a feast”.
Read these 100 word story magazines to get inspired.
Conclusion
Some writers are blocked because they haven’t found the right idea. And you spend time trying to come up with one on the spot.
Instead of worrying about what to write, you can focus on writing your first draft.
This prompt list is a work in progress. As I come up with new ideas for your drabbles(100 word story) I would add them to this list.
Bookmark the post to come back to it later.
Which one of the prompts are you going to use? Tell me the number in the comments section.
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So how did you get on yesterday?
Did you write? Did you leave a comment on the blog post, or do your Victory Dance?
Whatever you managed yesterday, congratulations and I’m glad you’re back for more!
Continuing the theme of ‘assuming you have more than one idea of a time’ this week, I’m giving you another length-based writing assignment.
The Prompt
Write A Drabble (A Story Of Exactly 100 Words)
Tips
- Just because you’re limited to 100 words, don’t think this is going to be any less a creative exercise than any other story you write this month.
- Allow as much time for this as you would for a longer story.
- Don’t be surprised if you find yourself writing more and then paring the story back.
- It’s very common to cut out lots of words from the start of short stories. Sometimes we have to write a lot to figure out where the story really starts. Don’t be afraid to ‘start late’.
- You can’t explain much in a 100 word story. Allow the reader to fill in some blanks. Stories of this length are very much a collaboration between reader and writer.
Go!
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I posted recently about #AtticNotebook, a writing exercise I’ve been trying out. Prompts aren’t necessary but I personally like using them because it gives me a basic direction to go in. I’ve compiled a list of 100 single word prompts and I figured I would share them here in case anyone would like to use them! I personally like to use this list with a random number generator so that I don’t have to agonize over picking one for myself.
These can be prompts for just about anything, creative writing, photography, art, etc. If you do end up using them for anything, let me know as I’d love to check out your work. Please Enjoy!
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The prompt: A sentence with 100 words. Begin with a simple sentence, then add details, descriptions and modifiers to create a complex, detailed sentence.
The purpose of the prompt was an exercise in exploring sentence patterns and sentence lengths, based upon a presentation at Be Writing Conference in Eugene, Oregon, recently.
We often write consistent patterns. All short sentences. All long sentences. All noun, verb, object, noun, verb, object. Break the pattern by learning to write different types of sentences and sentence structures.
Exploring the Cumulative Sentence
A cumulative sentence begins with a base clause, a subject and verb and an object or just a subject and verb.
The woman sat down to write.
The woman fainted.
The man drove his car.
The child ran down the street.
The bird flew into the window.
She played the piano.
Uncle Edward leaned back in his recliner.
Her grandchild slipped on the ice.
A cumulative sentence adds the description of the action.
Here is an example by Muriel Spark in Memento Mori.
He went to speak to Mrs. Bean, tiny among the pillows, her small toothless mouth ppen like an “O,” her skin stretched thin and white over her bones, her huge eye-sockets and eyes in a fixed infant-like stare, and her sparse white hair short and straggling over her brow.
Add description of things that modify the subject. They clarify the character and move us into an emotional situation. We need the modifiers to describe the person, and their relationship. How does the character see the other person, the scene, the situation. What they see tells us more about the character as they interpret the scene.
Here is another example from William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning”
His father struck him with the flat of his hand on the side of the head, hard but without heat, exactly as he had struck the two mules at the store, exactly as he would strike either of them with any stick in order to kill a horse fly, his voice still without heat or anger.
We see the action of the hand striking the head, and we could assume many different emotions, justifications, and reactions, but the modification of the action implies the emotionless nature of the action, and reveals much about the character of the father, that he treats his animals and children equally.
In the following example in Dan Delillo’s “The Names” (Russian to English translation), he describes the wind as a character itself, and how essential the wind is to the story, mood of the story, and the life of the people in the story.
Some nights the wind never stops, beginning in a clean shrill pitch that broadens and deepens to a careless and suspenseful force, rattling shutters, knocking things off the balconies, creating a pause in one’s mind, a waiting-for-the-full-force-to-hit. Inside the apartment, closet doors swing open, creak shut.
Consider how the sentence travels? Does it incorporate backstory, create emotion, rhythm, pace. Sometimes the force of a sentence’s pattern and rhythm takes you to an intense place or state of emotion. This is very useful to moving the story forward and pulling the reader along, consuming each word, eager for the next, feeling what the character is feeling.
Use a cumulative sentence pattern as you wish, or not, in your writing, but learn how to recognize them and work with them. They can break up your short sentence pattern, add more to the story, and describe a moment to bring the reader there with you and the character.
This prompt is meant to explore the boundaries of how we normally write.
The Prompt
The prompt assignment:
Write a modifying cumulative sentence. Start with a noun, verb, and object, then modify it to a minimum 75 to 100 words [pick one].
An alternative for those handwriting and not willing to count, write at least 10 lines handwritten on typical school notebook paper.
This typically takes about 10-15 minutes – most of us write 400 to 600 words in our prompts, some more.
One of my favorite writing exercises is to write a flash fiction story in exactly 100 words. It requires disciple, carefully chosen details and close attention to sentence structure and word choice. Below is the first 100 word story I ever wrote. Feel free to judge my high school level talent, haha.
I’m challenging you to discipline yourself and write a story that is exactly 100 words long. The only flexibility you have is to include the title in your word count or not. See how much emotion, action, characterization, humor, ect. you can get into 100 words. As always, please share the exercise if you complete it; these are so fun to read!
Losing Brilliant
A young girl walks through a field, yelling out in all directions. She has lost her best friend and yells out over and over again, “Brilliant!” She thought about that first day at the petstore when she was wagging her tail and staring up at her with those brilliant brown eyes. A tear fell down her cheek as she thought she may never see those eyes again. “Brilliant,” she chokes out as more tears run down her cheeks, “please come back.” She hears a ruffling behind her, jumps around and sees those brilliant eyes staring up at her.