Tiny Stories: On Writing Short, Short Pieces

It's been quiet here on the blogging front the last few days because I was finishing an assignment for Lavender Magazine, a local GLBT publication here in the Twin Cities. Every year they run their Fab 50 to let the world know what the most fabulous places and things are, and who are the most fabulous people. It hasn't been published yet, but I'll update the blog with the link when it is.

I have to say I enjoyed the type of writing that this required. Short, pithy blurbs of about 150 words each. You might think that limiting yourself to 150 words really stifles creatively, but, if anything, it really inspires the writer to go beyond his or her comfort zone, to examine each and every word. If it doesn't fit, it gets cut.

How do you develop the themes of each piece, include some practical information about each business, television show, or person and still manage to persuade the reader to check out whatever it is your writing about? Well, I can't say that I managed all of those things at once, but my strategy was often to evoke the emotions of the reader through sensory details in order to drawn in and intrigue the audience. Especially if I was writing about a place rather than, say, a TV show.

Ultimately, I guess the rules for good writing still apply, even at the subatomic level. The force of sensory details attracts the fickle reader.