There are a number of formats for short and ultra-short fiction online. A while back I decided to experiment with ‘my own’ format – fifty-word fiction. I quickly discovered this is not a new format at all (big surprise) and has been around for quite a while.

I wrote these as exercises, curious to see what could be achieved in so few words. Some might potentially blossom into fully-fledged short stories. It was certainly a challenging and quite enjoyable exercise, less daunting than delivering several thousands of words strung together with some vague degree of coherence.

Do you have any shorts in your writing closet?

Paranoid Android*

“You ass hole DX!”

“Don’t be so touchy K8!”

“You don’t look at me that way”

“Jeez, calm down. I didn’t mean to… Look… it’s a new model, sleek lines. I just glanced, that’s all.

“Yeah, well you can polish your own charging pin tonight”

*With apologies to Radiohead

Dangerous

So he takes his seat, and I sense some of us are thinking: Bearded man, rucksack. Looks hot and anxious.. Terrorist!

He mops his brow and opens the bag. It’s… a big teddy bear. I grin sheepishly.

“Birthday gift?”

“Yeah” he says smiling, “Cost me a bomb..”

Home sweet home

Peggy thought about Buzz; probably sound asleep on the sofa. And pistachio ice cream. Two more months, then she’d be home.

“Mission Control” crackled in her headset. “Awaiting systems update”

She gazed at the beautiful blue Earth far below, where a fat cat named Buzz stirred slightly in his sleep.

Immigrant

Mahmoud took a seat near the back of the bus.

“Muslim scum!”.

He turned seeking the source of the insult – a shaven-headed youth.

Mahmoud smiled.

“Hello Jonathan! How’s the appendix scar healing?” The lad, suddenly scarlet, looked aghast.

Mahmoud’s hospital pager vibrated. No rest for the wicked, he thought.
 
Copyright J.Lennick 2015 All rights reserved.
 
Image: polyvore.com