"No, not drabbles — dribbles!"

✶ yes, for real, that's the term ✶

Of course, definitions can morph, because language is fluid, but let’s discuss some generally-accepted microfiction terminology:

Microfiction: 300 words or less (for the purposes of this substack, we’re fudging the top number up to 500) (…just because I want to…)

Drabble: exactly 100 words

Nanofiction: some say anything between 50-100 words, some say exactly 55 words

Dribble: exactly 50 words (half a drabble)

Hint Fiction: 25 words

Please enjoy this mushroom graphic to help in your understanding of microfiction:

I write a lot of drabbles. Like, a lot — over a hundred in the last couple of years. To the point where I’m very comfortable with the word count, and can tell almost immediately if an idea will ‘fit’ into drabble form. But most of the non-paying markets I occasionally submit to focus on extreme micro writing, usually 25-50 words at most, and I like to use them as practice for my more ‘literary’ or experimental writing. I’ll indulge in more off-beat ideas, too, just for fun.

I’ve mentioned these before, but here are some extreme micro markets:

Gotham Writers

Word Count: usually 25-50
Genre: any
Current Prompt: family reunion (Stories Everywhere); worst vacation ever (other)
Due: 6/30 (Stories Everywhere) and 9/15 (other)
Payment: a free class

This one doesn’t really count as ‘no payment,’ because there is ‘payment’ in the form of one of their classes, which I’ve heard are quite decent. They usually have two contests running: a monthly “Stories Everywhere” contest, and one that spans a couple of months.

My take: one of my entries came in second — so close!

Press 53

Word Count: 53 exactly
Genre: any
Open: from the 1st to the 15th of each month
Prize: a copy of one of their books and publication in their magazine

What They Want:

Each month, when we offer a new prompt, we introduce it with a short 53-word description that suggests several ways you might consider the prompt. Even the photo can offer a different way to look at it. What are we looking for? A story that surprises us in its approach to the prompt, something unusual and creative. The first idea that pops into your head probably popped into the heads of others too, so you might want to take another look at how your story can be different. Challenge yourself to find an unusual way to write a 53-word story about the prompt, and don’t think you have to use the prompt in your story, literally; implying the word works too. Surprise us! That’s what we are looking for.

My take: This one is just fun for me, to try to think way outside the box and hit exactly 53 words. I don’t submit every month — just when I get (at least in my mind) a really good idea for the prompt.

Blink Ink

Word Count: approximately 50
Genre: any, no poetry
Theme: home
Due: 7/15
Payment: copy of the publication

What they want:

Once upon a time, Home was a place with a fixed address. Today, some folks have too many homes to track, too many people have nowhere to go, and everyone is in motion. Home is an incorporeal package of expectations, yearning, hopes and fears that we take with us when we go. Tell us what you know about Home in stories of approximately 50 words.

What we love most is writing that has found that preternatural detail of thought or thing that cracks the story open and allows it to matter or to reveal a truth.

My take: I cracked this one! My dribble “Fireworks” was published in the Midsummer Magic edition, and the magazine they sent me is tiny and GORGEOUS. And now I can say my work is archived in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.

50 Word Stories

Word Count: 50
Genre: any
Open: from the 1st to the 15th of each month
Prize: publication on site
Sim Sub Allowed / Reprints Allowed

My take: I’ve had five ‘dribbles’ published on the 50-Word Stories site. There is no payment, but every piece has a comments section, so if you like a little jolt of validation, it’s a nice safe space.

Bottom line: extreme microfiction is a low-pressure way to play with words, voice and structure. And if you end up hating it, you’re only out fifty words or so!

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What you can look forward to from Micro Markets: themed and unthemed calls, monthly micro contests, micro-lit mags that are always open, micro-focused anthologies... maybe even some craft essays about writing microfiction and a place to feature YOUR published micros.

So dust off some of your tiny treasures, and let’s send them out into the world!