Happy Friday, readers and writers! Today we have a two-for-one: a writing prompt which doubles as a publishing opportunity. In particular, I’m going to prompt your to write “postcard fiction” and then provide you with a website where you may be able to publish it.
For my portfolio I experimented with a couple flash fiction stories. (The success of those experiments is questionable and the feedback on the portfolio seemed rather mixed.) To be honest, I’m still trying to wrap my mind around “successful” flash fiction and learning what actually makes such fiction good or bad.
Nevertheless, trying to write complete, successful fiction in such a short format is a good way to understand how to utilize all the elements of a good story without wasting a single word. That’s why I continue to grapple with flash fiction and modifying the flash I wrote for my portfolio.
In my attempt to understand this genre, I came across a website called Postcard Shorts. This website, as the name suggests, publishes flash fiction which can fit on a postcard, thus “postcard fiction.” These pieces are complete stories written in 1500 characters (not words but characters) or less.
As always, today’s writing prompt is deceptively simple:
Write a full story with a plot, narrative arc, character development, etc. which could be published on Postcard Shorts. In other words, try and write an entire story using no more than 1500 characters.
Remember, shorter does not mean easier. In fact, I’ve learned that it is much, much harder to write complete and effective stories in shorter formats. It’s probably why my flash fiction has turned out to be no good so far, but you know what they say: practice makes perfect.
Your postcard fiction can be about anything that you feel you can successfully write in under 1500 characters. Once you’re done and feel confident that you have written a good story, I suggest submitting it to Postcard Shorts. The site doesn’t pay but it’s a great way to get your fiction out there if you’re accepted and good practice at receiving rejection if you aren’t.
Well, have fun writing, my friends, and have a great weekend.
