What the Heck is a Drabble?
What's a drabble?
In creative writing, a drabble is a short fiction story that consists of exactly 100 words. A drabble, although extremely short on words, must be a complete story that contains a proper beginning, a middle, and a satisfactory ending.
Drabbles are not easy to write. You must choose your words very carefully, stay away from adjectives and adverbs, and keep a constant watch on your word count. The story can be of any genre but most drabbles tend to be either science fiction or slash fiction in nature.
If a drabble isn't done right, it usually turns out to read more like an anecdote or a joke that had its punch line twisted inside out.
Correctly written drabbles are tight concise stories that pack a wallop and tend to stick with the reader for a long, long time.
In spite of the fact that drabble writing can be difficult, drabble writing can become highly addictive if you aren't careful.
Sometimes the name Drabble is given to any short piece of fiction writing that contains less than 1000 words. These types of stories are more commonly known as flash fiction, nanofiction or micro-fiction.
The name Drabble is credited to Monty Python's Big Red Book where Drabble was a word game played by 2 to 4 people where the first one to write a novel won. Of course, the novel needed to be very short!
Drabble Link List
Read 'em.
Write 'em.
Submit 'em.
- 100 Word Stories
- 100 Word Stories . . .Keep it Brief is a site that offers a weekly Saturday challenge where you are to write and record your own drabble for inclusion in a pod cast collection that is available online.
- 100 Word Stories
- 100 Word Stories is a site where "Each day brings a new theme, and each
theme brings 100 words of fiction from the authors." - Drabble - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Drabble From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The Drabble Protection Society
- The Drabble Protection Society
- FLASHSHOT: Daily Genre Micro-Fiction
- FLASHSHOT is a daily dose of genre (Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery and Surreal) flash fiction of 100 words or less, sent to your email box every day. All you have to do is subscribe at the email link. It costs you nothing.
- The Drabble Project
- To read examples of well done drabbles visit The Drabble Project online where you will find links to drabbles written by Terry Pratchett, Mike Ibeji and many other fine writers.
Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Really Short Stories
by Jerome Stern (Editor)
Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Really Short Stories
Amazon Price: $9.56 (as of 09/05/2008)
Paperback: 141 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (August 1996)
Language: English
Why You Should Write Drabbles
Writing drabbles as a exercise is a good idea for any writer who wants to tighten their stories and improve their writing. Think of the famous Mark Twain quote, "I would have written a shorter letter, but I didn't have the time." Writing short can prove much more difficult and time consuming than writing long, but the improvement you see in your own writing will be well worth your time and effort. Instant Drabble Maker
Just for Fun
Just fill in the blanks!
- Halrloprillalar's Fan Fiction | Drabble-Matic
- Fanfiction by Halrloprillalar.
Even Shorter than a Drabble
by Steve Moss (Editor)
The World's Shortest Stories: Murder, Love, Horror, Suspense, All This and Much More in the Most Amazing Short Stories Ever Written, Each One Just 55 Words Long
Amazon Price: $8.95 (as of 09/05/2008)
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Running Press Book Publishers (February 1998)
Language: English
Update Your Home Office For Less
Find Everything You Need Here
Drabble Feedback
Questions?
Comments?
Suggestions?
Leave them here!
|
BonesBin
Popped my head in and found that they'd already started. Posted July 26, 2008 |
Thanks for the recommendation!
Posted April 22, 2008
|
webnh
This great lens has been blessed by a Squidoo Angel. Posted April 19, 2008 |
|
shortstories
This is a great resource! You clearly love short stories so I thought you might be interested in Bibliofaction Short Stories. Posted April 14, 2008 |
|
chloecavanaugh
I always learn so much from your lenses. You offer a wide variety of unique topics. Posted February 23, 2008 |
