I Can't Possibly Be Wrong All the Time

Hey! Every month I post all the MicroStories I’d tweeted during the previous month, but this post isn’t about that so much. Some of my blogging friends suggested that I host a MicroStory contest, asking people to submit their own flash fiction entries. To be judged! (But not by me.)

This is entirely based on one of the suggester’s own weekly contest: Nicola Auckland hosts six word story contests over on her blog, Sometimes Stellar Storyteller. She has regular contests where people submit a six word story, based on a theme she provides. I won’t be that restrictive in word count (but, knock yourself out if you want to harness your inner Hemingway.)

Here are the rules:

• In the comments section below: post a story that could be tweeted out via Twitter. (I will verify the length.)
• Your story must include the hashtag #MicroStory (so, your story really can’t be longer than 129 characters.)
• I may change this, but I’m asking for only one submission: multiple submissions from the same person will not be counted. (If you post something and then don’t like it, just leave a comment asking it not to be considered.)
• If we get enough submissions, I’ll announce first, second, and third place winners. The criteria for winning will entirely be the number of likes an individual microstory gets. (I want to remain neutral, so I will not be voting.)
• Ties will allow multiple winners, so there might be more than one second place winner, for example.
• To be eligible, in addition to having your story be tweet-sized, the author must also vote for at least one other eligible microstory. I won’t count votes where an author votes for themselves.

It’s a contest? What’s the prize?

Uh, realistically nothing. This is being done for fun. Nicola, for her contest, has lovely 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place graphics that the six-word-story winners are encouraged to post in their blogs or whatever. There’s a chance I’ll try to put something like that together, but don’t hold me to it.

This is really just for everyone’s amusement. Hopefully everyone who participates will be entertained.

I consider the stories posted on this page to be the property of the respective author; I won’t be using the stories in any way whatsoever. Feel free to also post your own submissions on your blogs, tweet them out, etc.

Will there be a theme to write about?

Not really, or at least I won’t require one this time. This month is October, so if you want to write a spooky Halloween-ish story, that might be cool (and get you more votes) but I won’t require it.

Wait? What’s a Story?

MicroStories are interesting animals, and I’m making no other requirements other than it fit into the size of a tweet with the #MicroStory hashtag. If you want examples or what I consider a MicroStory, you can check out three years worth of stories of mine for inspiration. Or you can check out my inspirational muse, the MicroSFF twitter account, that spurred me to write and tweet out little story snippets all the time.

I make use of abbreviations, ampersands, using numbers instead of spelling them out, etc. when I write my MicroStories to have them fit into a tweet. I personally wouldn’t hold it against you for doing the same.

So, if we’re clear on the rules: post a MicroStory/haiku/joke/whatever in the comments section of this post. Come back and vote for someone else’s if you want to be eligible yourself, but please vote for as many stories as you like. At the beginning of next month, I’ll announce the winners.

To start you off, this is a spooky-themed MicroStory from my monthly collection from two months ago, just as an example (there’s no need to vote for it or whatever, this is just an example…)

Once, a witch settled in our woods. Once.
Once, a vampire came in the night. Once.
Once, a swarm of plague rats came to town.

#MicroStory

Good luck everyone!

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© Patrick Sponaugle 2016 Some Rights Reserved