A thousand-word story without plot or meaning. — These thousand-word stories are informed by Austin Hackney’s article, “5 Powerful Reasons to Free-Write 1k Every Day.” The five reasons: writing priority, opening to subconscious, style development, generate raw material, create the nuggets of publishable work. The bowl, sitting neatly in the center of smooth black table, was singing. It…

The way it is is the way it was. Not always, her father said, but eventually. When the raids started it was if a known potential manifested into an understood inevitability. So it was all she knew, Genne and Paul. What she also knew, without being told, was she was…

“This key doesn’t work.” Thrust dangle here it comes. She looks at me like “you put it in the lock” or some such aggression. I know what she’s going to say. I look at her neat little desk all fresh colander with leather pockets and steamed broccoli. “There are four…

This is Version #3: The Beach #1: Baseball #2: Noises From George Saunders’ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, “Why does this exercise work? I’m not sure. The constraints have something to do with it (the 50-word limit and the exacting — 200, not 199, not 201 — word count). When a person is…

Write 200 words, using only the first 50 unique words. From George Saunders’ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, “Why does this exercise work? I’m not sure. The constraints have something to do with it (the 50-word limit and the exacting — 200, not 199, not 201 — word count). When a person is doing this exercise, her…

From George Saunders’ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, “Why does this exercise work? I’m not sure. The constraints have something to do with it (the 50-word limit and the exacting — 200, not 199, not 201 — word count). When a person is doing this exercise, her…

The sky is blue while a swath of elongated clouds are lit up by the rising sun. The Venetian blinds are pushed to one side, exposing the picture window and the patio deck attached to the apartment. …

This is an assignment in Method Writing. The dialogue is ordained. Between lines of dialogue, there should be no action, just description and commentary. “Sorry,” the cop said. They were standing on the street eyes down, just looking at his son’s hamster bleeding out. …

“Romancing the Shadow” is literally soul-saving work — In Christopher Marlow’s The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, the good doctor trades his soul for youth and pleasure. He agrees to be the devil Mephistopheles’ servant after death if the demon will serve him in life. …