750 word stories

[Helgamite]

How in the world do you ladies and gents make 750 word stories for the competition or just for fun? 750 is just an intro for mine. Or am I overthinking things?

 

[AlinaX]

It's not really enough for a story. It's a scene, a moment, a memory, a joke, a conversation. Once you have an idea that fits, you have to trim away anything that isn't necessary.

One of the jokes in my metacafe series of 750s is that I waste words on counting words and on coffee and other irrelevances instead of actually doing anything interesting with the plot.

 

[Helgamite]

It's not really enough for a story. It's a scene, a moment, a memory, a joke, a conversation. Once you have an idea that fits, you have to trim away anything that isn't necessary.

One of the jokes in my metacafe series of 750s is that I waste words on counting words and on coffee and other irrelevances instead of actually doing anything interesting with the plot.

this is what I have difficulty doing is finding a way to actually weed words down to that amount. for me, 750 is just a couple paragraphs or the intro into a story. finding a way to get something to 750 that would be interesting, I'm not sure i can. those who can and do, have my respect heavily.

idk, maybe i'm not thinking the right way. maybe find a spot in a story already written and trim it down?

 

[AlinaX]

Certainly easier to trim down than up. And don't try to say too much; a lot can be left implied.

 

[AlexBailey]

750 words is the shortest submission lit will publish. It was discussed in a forum thread several years ago and the 750 word challenge was born.

It’s a great writing exercise and can probably considered an art form of its own, sort of a long version of haiku. I think it classifies as ‘flash fiction.’

 

[ElectricBlue]

How in the world do you ladies and gents make 750 word stories for the competition or just for fun? 750 is just an intro for mine. Or am I overthinking things?

They're a good writer's exercise, to see how efficient and precise you can get with your writing. It's a different mind set, compared to longer story writing. You have to think in terms of vignette, not story.

Here are some examples:

A Girl on the Bus (this one went on into a longer story as a writer's experiment: how far will readers follow a story made up of short chapters before a longer pay off. Answer - quite a way)

Brooke Works in the Hardware Store (this also went on into a total of 4 x 750 word parts).

Valentines for Suzie (this one actually includes a much shorter vignette, about 400 words).

 

[AlinaX]

One interesting exercise is to take one of your characters and get them to write a letter to someone, and try to balance the light formality of tone with a desire to explain in unsubtle detail some profoundly erotic event.

Dear S.

Forgive me for writing to you like this, but what I have witnessed I must share with someone or else I think I will go quite mad. Do you recall C-? We met her in Sardinia last year and you insisted her tits must be fake. Well, you weren't wrong...

 

[Helgamite]

One interesting exercise is to take one of your characters and get them to write a letter to someone, and try to balance the light formality of tone with a desire to explain in unsubtle detail some profoundly erotic event.

I do have a letter written in one of my stories that the protagonist finds that I could add to. its only 150 words long. It basically is a forgiveness letter written to him by the sister of his dead fiance. telling him she never blamed him even tho her parents did. I could try to add some to it and try

 

[TarnishedPenny]

As noted, it is a format unto itself, like haiku or sonnets. Not that I’m claiming any grand literary merit; the challenge is that of working within set structural limitations.

As to the How of it, I’d go back to that old sculptor’s line about the best way of carving an elephant - all you need to do is chip away everything that doesn’t look Pachyderm. A good thesaurus helps.

 

[Ssbbw4u1974]

Most of my stories are less than 1k words...
Most are 750...I get great feedback, so maybe I'm doing something ok?

 

[Wonderer67]

I like the 750 word challenges, and I’ve done a few.

It’s the punk rock of writing: fast, loud and in your face (or maybe cleverly crafted) to fit in the shortest allowable format.

Because of the short length, as another posted, pointed out, it’s a scene, an act, a quick burst of written energy.

I like it. It’s hard to whittle down to exactly 750.

My preference actually is for slightly longer stories to really get at what people are feeling without saying so (implied meanings and other subtleties)

But it’s a fun format!