Welcome to the 50-Word Short Story challenge. If you’re new here, welcome! Be sure to read the work of the participants, and if you’re so inclined, try the challenge to write an entire story in just 50 words.
Fifty Worders, please be sure to check out the writing workshop this week, which includes an editing process with @tristancarax, a participant who was willing to be my guinea pig and allow me to make suggestions. If you have an interest in getting some editing help on your story, please let me know. You can see how the process worked on his story.
Note: I’m assuming this won’t be a wildly popular option. I can probably help one or two people per week, given my time constraints.
In this post
In this post you will find:
- A short micro-fiction writing workshop.
- Links to all 50-word stories from the previous week’s challenge.
- A few story highlights of the week.
- A new challenge prompt, along with the rules and some very important rules for proper use of images. Please be sure to read and follow these rules.
Mini writing workshop
This week’s workshop shows the editing process on a piece of fiction. The cool thing about editing a 50-word short story is that it is fairly contained. What you may find interesting is that even a little 50-word short story can be transformed in the editing process.
Here’s how it worked. First, @tristancarax worked on his story on paper, and submitted his second draft.
Draft 2:
A Baby Sold into Slavery Snatched at a young age; then, sold into the chains of slavery.I once drempt of breaking free; that, beaten out of me.
Fear moved in where love once resided. My mother faded into an abyss of broken memories.
I performed laborious tricks for a fee; bringing uninformed people glee.
From the images he included, and the additional backstory he included in his story post, I saw that the story was about a baby elephant. But he had not actually mentioned that in the story. I also made a few additional recommendations to help clarify the perspective and improve the overall quality of the story.
Tristan made some changes based on those comments.
Draft 3:
A Baby Sold into Slavery A baby elephant snatched and sold into the chains of slavery.He marches back-and-forth. The cracking whip’s stinging lashes crushes dreams of breaking free.
Mother fades into an abyss of broken memories. Fear moves in where love once resided.
He performs laborious tricks for a fee; bringing uninformed people glee.
I thought this version showed a lot of improvement. Now we know the story is about a baby elephant sold into slavery. I liked the rich language and the writing was much stronger. I suggested that he needed to improve the first sentence, which was not a complete sentence, and that he might consider not using a rhyming scheme, which seemed kind of “cute” for such a serious topic.
He edited the story once more, and we agreed that with the last edits he had a very nice final draft. Please see the story highlights below for the final version.
For the final story, see the highlights below.
Okay, let’s survey the 50-word stories from last week!
Last week’s story collection
I’d like to welcome our newest contributors, @wems, @jewlzie, bimjer, masyl and @frankie-nero. Thanks for joining the Fifty Worders!
Here is the complete list of stories inspired by last week’s “remember” prompt. I hope you will read them all:
- A Baby Sold into Slavery, by @tristancarax
- Fading Memory, by @blueeyes8960
- Memories of Guilt, by @theironfelix
- Final Moment, by @wems
- Selective Memory, by @hlezama
- A Memory, by @gaby-crb
- Born sleeping, by @ablaze
- Remember, by @deirdyweirdy
- Whose Memory? by @bimjer
- The Memories of SIN2, by @botefarm
- Past Glories, by @felixgarciap
- The Heart Remembers, by @marlyncabrera
- The Fog of Memory, by @manoldonchev
- Memories, by Maggie Juniper
- Nostalgic Tragedy, by @jewlzie
- Memories, by @anixio
- Memory, by @michaias
- Through Memory Lane, by @masyl
- Sapphire, by @frankie-nero
- Memory, by @andersonrivas
- Auschwitz, Seventy Years Later, by @jayna
If I missed yours, please let me know and I will add it! I always try my best to list them all, but I do occasionally miss one.
Highlights of the week
Each week I choose a few well-told stories from the previous week’s entries to share as inspiration. Last week authors explored concepts around the word “remember.”
A Baby Sold into Slavery, by @tristancarax
Roger, a baby elephant, is snatched and shackled down with chains. He marches back-and-forth.
The cracking whip’s stinging lashes crush dreams of breaking free. Mother fades into an abyss of broken memories. Fear moves in where love once resided.
He performs laborious tricks, delighting uninformed people daily for a fee.
Whose Memory? by @bimjer
This author brings us a small lesson in sensitivity.
“Why the hell hasn’t he gotten out?” I thought as I watched through the rain spattered window. “He’s been there forever and hasn’t even unbuckled… is he going to pump his fuel or not?” I sighed with impatience. That’s when I saw him sobbing.
Final Moment, by @wems
The author describes a person slipping away through a lifetime of memories.
He remembered being a kid.
He remembered graduating.He remembered his first salary.
He remembered his first house.He remembered falling in love.
He remembered the beautiful holidays.He remembered his children smile.
He rem…..
He stopped …
Stopped remembering.Beep Beep Beep Beep
flat line………
Born sleeping, by @ablaze
This story deals with one of the most difficult imaginable losses.
The pain is still raw, like sandpaper on my heart. The memory of her lifeless body abounds.
I see her in girls her age.
What would she look like?
How soft would her voice be?
It pains me to remember, but how could I forget?
My baby girl, my angel.
Remember, by @deirdyweirdy
This story shocked me with the turn it took. It was even more startling to learn that this is loosely based on a true story from the author’s life.
Jim no longer had any memory of his children or his beloved wife of 30 years; the disease had taken it all. But somehow he remembered the location of the gun cabinet, how to load the bullets and how to put the gun against his head and pull the trigger.
The Fog of Memory, by @manoldonchev
This poetic tale describes the essence of memory.
Like people going in and out of the blue. Like buildings. Like trees.
Like scenes from my hometown, like childhood it seems to be lost. But at times it will clear the way fogs disperse. To reveal something vivid. Something that was. And it still means happiness. Or it hurts.
Memories, by Maggie Juniper
This author found my blog off of Steemit, where I initially publish my blog posts. They are then posted to Steemit via the steempress.io plugin. It never occurred to me that people would submit stories to my blog. I really like this story and wanted to include it. I’ve given it a title, as she did not include one.
Her lips imbibed on the chipped old mug she found with a deadly concoction. Her eyes told the story of hopeless love, blinked away. In her laced stupor, she plummeted to the floor. It welcomed her harshly. She begged the cosmos up above to make inamorato a less conscious memory.
Great work, everyone!
This week’s 50-word story prompt
The prompt for this week is “feast.” Deadline for this week: Saturday, November 24th, with a grace period until the new prompt is published.
I look forward to reading your stories, Fifty Worders!
Challenge rules
Please review and follow the guidelines for the challenge and the rules for use of images.
- Write a story in 50 words. (Try to hit 50 words exactly.)
- Use the #fiftywords tag, and post the link in the comments of this post.
- Be sure to read and upvote the work of the other participants. It’s all about community!
- Use only artwork that you have the right to use, and attribute it properly. See the following guidelines.
Image Rules
Please follow these important rules for use of images:
- The image is public domain, or under creative commons licensing rules.
- It is your own image.
- If it is not one of the above, you must have actual permission.
Be sure to properly attribute the image’s source or mention that the image is yours. And if it’s not public domain, under creative commons license, or your own image, be sure to state that you have permission.
Here are some creative commons and public domain image resources:
The 50-word story clan
I’m mentioning you here if have participated in the #fiftywords short story challenge in the past. Please let me know if you would like your tag removed in this or future posts. (Note that I do trim the list. Those who have not participated for a long time or are not active on Steemit will eventually drop from the mentions.)
@ablaze, @agmoore, @ahmadmanga, @akdx, @aksounder, @aleli, @alheath, @amelin, @andersonrivas, @anikekirsten, @anixio, @anutu, @aresbon
@bex-dk, @bimjer, @blueteddy, @botefarm
@caleblailmusik, @calluna, @carn, @cheekah, @cizzo, @clacrax, @creatr
@damianjayclay, @dbzfan4awhile, @deigoam, @deirdyweirdy, @diebitch, @dirge
@eaglespirit, @elbrujo, @elementm, @emergehealthier, @erh.germany, @esttyb
@felixgarciap, @felt.buzz, @four20, @foxyspirit, @frankie-nero, @fromage, @frizzy
@gaby-crb, @girlbeforemirror, @gmatthe2, @goastrighter
@hamg96, @hebrewhousewife, @henry-gant, @hlezama
@iamthegray, @intothewild, @isa93
@jadams2k18, @jasminearch, @jayna, @jewlzie, @jonknight,
@kaelci, @khadija14, @kimberlylane
@lahvista, @lightoj, @lucylin, @luiskrupaz
@manoldonchev, @marciabon, @marie-jay, @masyl @michaias, @mineopoly, @mizdais, @momzillanc, @mydivathings
@negativer, @niallon11
@paintingangels, @papacrusher, @pizzachain, @poetrybyjeremy, @preparedwombat, @prydefoltz, @purpledaisy57, @pyrowngs
@ravencorinn, @rensoul17, @riottales, @roxy-cat, @rvag5
@steemgiant, @steemitdiversify, @sue-stevenson, @swizzyl
@tanglebranch, @thatlovechild, @theironfelix, @therosepatch, @thinknzombie, @tristancarax, @tuwore, @tygertyger
@vaitelavicius, @vdux, @wems, @yeceniacarolina, @zen-art
bimjer, masyl and @frankie-nero
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you try the Fifty-Word Challenge. It’s so fun to see what can unfold in a mere 50 words!
