What if it doesn’t take thousands of words to tell the story? What if it takes only a handful? Each story is only as long as a single breath, and yet it shows a moment in time so clearly that the reader can imagine the events that led up to it and what will happen next.
The Art of the Very Short Story
A Guide for Readers and Writers
What if an entire story could be told in the span of a single breath? That’s what a very short story can do. In just a few words it conjures the beginning, middle, and end, and makes the reader’s imagination as important as the author’s.
The very short story is an emerging art form whose possibilities have only begun to be explored. We’ll be seeing a lot more of this kind of writing in the years to come. But like with anything new, it takes practice to write them well and read them with enjoyment.
This book is here to help newcomers read and write very short stories. Charlie looks at eleven different writing techniques in detail using dozens of story examples. By the time you’ve reached the end, you’ll see things in very short stories that you never noticed before, and be able to write them with greater subtlety, punch, and clarity.
Buy this book to learn more about very short story writing, or just to enjoy the stories and commentary. There’s something in it for any thoughtful reader or writer.
Charlie is the author of two volumes of very short stories: “Kites and Weddings, Very Short Stories” and “Rough & Beautiful, Very Short Romance Stories”.
Kites and Weddings
Very short stories
A collection of very short literary fiction stories, in which you’ll find birth and death, growth and decay, love and loss.
The cover of Kites and Weddings was inspired by a real wedding party. See a picture here.
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Rough & Beautiful
Very short romance stories
Every day needs a little romance.
Rough & Beautiful is filled with miniature love stories, each only as long as the moment before a kiss.
There are tales from the olden days, of princes and princesses, the young and alluring, and the cruel and rakish.
And there are contemporary stories, filled with writers and musicians, students and working girls, and husbands and wives grown apart.
The one thing they all have in common is boy meets girl and they find their happily ever after.
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