How to write a 30 word story

 April is the cruelest  month... and T.S. Eliot is never wrong. 

My annual April challenge is the Writer's Victoria Flash Fiction challenge. You get a prompt every day early in the morning and have until midnight to get your 30 word story up on Twitter. The best stories are recommended the following day by Writer' Victoria. It gets a bit competetive. It's also a great challenge and helps to refine your language and storytelling skills. 

The other thing about the prompts - do you use the word? Or do you describe the word in your story, using it as an idea starter. For most writers, it appears you'll use the word provided, or some conjugation of it. 

Such as today. What do you do with the word segmentation? (Oh, the theme of this month's efforts is Unfold - so far they've given us the words crease, devlop and segmentation.)

The first tip - go with your gut instincts and don't over think it. Your gut is your True North when it comes to flash fiction. You have 30 words, you need to get in there. 

Secondly, get rid of all extraneous words. As a technical writer, I'm pretty good at this, tending to over write, then edit. 

Thirdly, think outside the box. Try not to be cliche. You can go all over the place with words, if you let yourself, and it's amazing where you can go.

Fourthly, paint a picture. Provide a character and let their actions show what is going on  - with the words. 

And lastly, have fun. Don't make this a chore. 

So, where I have landed over the last three days. 

Here you go. I don't think they are very good, but I tried. If you go onto twitter and search on #WVFlashFiction21 you can see some very talented people are out there. 

Crease

"Taking the letter from the envelope, she ran a gentle finger over the paper’s crease. Any more pressure would tear the fold. No amount of wishing would bring him back."

Develop

"She prodded the sopping paper, waiting for the image’s chemical pentimento, to fully develop. Under the red light, her she would gather the proof she didn’t want."

Segmentation

"Fists drawn downwards, her stare concentrated on the segmentations before her. A stone’s throw away from victory, she cast her fate. The hopscotch championship was a pitch and skip away."

FYI - My twitter handle is @TrellawneyThom

Today's song: