Monthly SimLit Short Story Challenge

"Ashubii;c-17026049" wrote:

"CathyTea;c-17024111" wrote:

"lisabee2;c-17023352" wrote:


Today I read a fab poem by @CathyTea (not an entry to this challenge - but an example of using few words to tell a big story) .. in just over 70 words she introduced me to a man and his quest .. showed me the depth of his pain and brought another sufferer alongside him to share life together (and we assume to be a support to one another) and in the end we are left with the vision of 2 wounded men together facing a dark world of agony and loss BUT SOMEHOW she leaves us with HOPE! AND she did it in the form of poetry (still told a short story) I am in awe!

I am submitting my story tomorrow ... (I should be in working on it now) My protagonist is caught in folly and the world around her sees her as a fool. Maybe after you read it you will agree with the world BUT maybe not too :) and doing it in 226 words (at the moment) and in the form of a first-person narrative.

Aw, thanks for the call-out to my poem, @lisabee2 ! Along with @Shadami and @Ashubii , I'm taking part in GloPoWriMo this month -- oh, man! It's so fun! And it's not too late to join at all! I def don't think of myself as a poet at all (fiction is my native tongue), but in a lot of ways, that opens me up to be able to experiment and experience something brand new! My poems this year are not SimLit (they're based in Elder Scrolls Online. A friend and I are co-writing an Elder Scrolls novel, and it's taking me a long time to internalize the game and game-lore, so I thought writing ESO-based poems would help! And it seems to be!), but last year, I did use Sims to illustrate most of the poems I wrote. @Shadami 's poems are Sims-based. I'm in love with them. You can really get to know a character (or Sim) intimately when they share themselves through poetry.

As for the 600 word limit: When I was in grad school, one of our profs challenged us with weekly papers which could be NO MORE than two pages, 12 pt. Times font. That's around 600 words. His rationale was this: Beginning writers need to be prompted to write more. Advanced writers need experience writing less.

So it is actually an advanced exercise for experienced writers to write a full story in 600 words.

Wrote mine yesterday. Had to trim so much and leave so much unsaid! But heck. Who needs articles and adjectives?

I LOVE the GloPWriMo! I never knew it was a thing, but I'm having fun with it too! It's been a long time since I've really focused on poetry :)
Also, a 600 word story :O That sounds like a really fun challenge I might have to try sometime. Every week I have to write a 700 word (minimum) essay for one of my college classes, so writing a fictional story would be sooooo much more fun (and challenging!)