Very Short Stories

I just finished the basics for what I consider my first proper short story. Sure, I’ve written a lot before including over 1000 posts here, but this is a real short story with words and not gifs, punctuation with proper use of apostrophes & parentheses, gerunds & infinitives, fictional characters that are not Donald Trump (we would be so lucky if Trump was a fictional character), a plot and not my usual rambling screed (which is where I sense this blog post is headed), and some meaning and message rather than the usual head-scratching jokey post.

So now what? I could publish it here and watch as one of my blog readers takes it and sells it to Hollywood as a major motion picture screenplay starring Chris Pratt and Scarlett Johannson. You greedy bastards. You would cut me out, wouldn’t you? Just for that, I have decided to do this instead …

I will submit it to highbrow literary magazines in the hope it will be published in one of those magazines where nobody will ever read it. But don’t worry about the limited circulation, there is money involved. Yes, some of these hoity-toity publications charge a submission fee. This is starting to sound as expensive as selling songs in the music industry.

I did some Googling and found all sorts of publications and websites that will reject my story. Even though this first story of mine exceeds 3000 words, I stumbled upon a genre of fiction called Flash Fiction that may be more my style. Take a look at the Twenty20 magazine below …

I think some of my blog post titles have even had more than twenty words in them. I like the idea of Flash Fiction because I have a lot of literary ideas that burn rubber before quickly careening wildly into a brick wall. But twenty words? I checked out the Twenty20 website and found that the domain name is available. I guess there wasn’t a strong market demand for Flash Fiction that can be read and finished while brushing one’s teeth.

With any new musical collaborations on hold until July (the music industry rejoiceth), I will move forward with getting my first short story edited by a professional editor – my cousin. She was Editor for a prestigious travel magazine for many years, and still does freelance editing while retired. I will be holding my breath if and when I do submit it to her. Gee, I hope she can read fast.

I’m going to pursue accumulating some rejections from publications and website I have never heard of before sharing this story with you, and perhaps even more stories. I just had an idea for another one today. It’s a great concept. Really funny and insightful stuff. Hey, is that a brick wall ahead of me?