Can You Write a Story in 50 Words?

Stories come in all shapes and sizes. They can be as short as a Haiku, or as long as Gone with The Wind. Writing is a challenge no matter how long or short the story. As an aspiring author, I have answered the call of attempting to write 50,000 words for National Novel Writing Month, every November for the last five years (I have yet to actually make it to 50,000, but I know one day I will!), I regularly write Haiku's with my students...I even have this blog! But nothing...NOTHING could have prepared me for the 50-Word Story Challenge. I didn't even know this was a thing! It quickly became my "Everest" as I sat staring at the paper waiting for inspiration that still has yet to come.

This idea of a 50-word short story dates all the way back to 2009. When a guy, named Tim Sevenhuysen, decided it would be cool to share one new, original 50-word story a day for a year! (This idea of doing things for a year seems to be the trend for 2018...more on that later!) So, from February 2009-February 2010 he shared one story a day. The majority of the stories were his, but he definitely got a little help from his friends. The next year brought more stories and an ever evolving presence in the writing community. Currently, two stories are selected and published each weekday and a monthly prize of $10.00 is awarded to the best story of the month.

So how do you participate?

First, you have to write your story. The specifications are very clear: “A 50-word story is a piece of fiction written in exactly 50 words. That doesn’t mean “roughly” 50 words; it doesn’t mean “as close to 50 words as possible”; it doesn’t mean 50 words or fewer. It means exactly 50 words.” (fiftywordstories.com)
Second, you must submit via email to Tim@fiftywordstories.com, between the 1st and the 15th of each month. All submissions turned in after the deadline each month will be deleted. You can re-submit the following month.
You may only submit one story per month.

While perusing the 50-word stories website to learn about this amazing phenomenon, I came across several intriguing, beautiful, shocking, and heartwarming stories. "Happy New Year", by Mary Steer really stood out, so I have shared it below.