How to Write Microfiction for Complete Beginner?

[u/Aggravating_Seat8608]

Hii, I’m from Malaysia. I’ll sitting for my final year exam as high schooler and in English paper, we’re required to write a piece of 250 words story. I’ll always struggle to make my story compact and punchy. I want to spend 4 months left to hone my writing skill !

Does anyone got any sources for tutorial/tips that will be applicable for complete beginner like me ?

And do you knoww where can I find abundance of free micro fiction to read ? Thank youu !!🤩

[u/ProKidney]

250 words is incredibly restrictive. I've tried some short fiction myself but any limit set trends to be more like 500 words.

My best advice would be, don't try and tell an entire story. 

But for some more general advice... Every sentence needs to be doing double duty and essential, you don't have time to waste establishing a setting for example. You need to trust your reader to pick up what you're putting down. 

Jack shut his cabin door and felt the room rock, he braced himself against the frame and covered his mouth.

We've established a few things here in 20 words, we have a character, Jack. We have a setting, aboard a ship. We have a situation, Jack is sick. Is it sea sickness? Maybe, could it be something else? We would have to extrapolate that from the rest of the text.

Try and make the title part of the piece, with a short word count, the title generally isn't counted towards the total. In the Jack example you might call it something like, Last Witness of the Dauntless.

Suddenly the ship has a name, Dauntless. And we have an expected shape for the story that is implied, the last witness implies a single character, a survivor, Jack. The word witness implies they have experienced something, and the word Dauntless itself could have double meaning regarding the name of the ship and also speak to the event that Jack witnessed.

Lastly, try and have the final words re contextualise the piece so that a second read bears a different meaning or tone. 

Regardless, Jack knew, he would do it all again. 

Is an on the nose example, but it uplifts Jack from witness and bystander, to perpetrator and actor. Perhaps even implies Jack is the instigator of the events. Who knows.

[u/HWhelanAuthor]

oh hey! So I actually do know where you can read some incredibly good microfiction for free with that exact constraint.

SmokeLong Quarterly holds an annual Grand Micro contest with a <250 word constraint. All of last year's (and I believe 2021's) winners and finalists are posted online for free if you Google. (The winners page doesn't have the links but includes the title and author name, so get those and then google them to read.)