What the Heck is 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.
On Writing Drabble
Made with My Cool Signs.NetDrabbles 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.
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.
Made with My Cool Signs.Net Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Really Short Stories
by Jerome Stern (Editor)
Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Fifty Really Short Stories
Amazon Price: $10.36 (as of 07/11/2009)
Paperback: 141 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (August 1996)
Language: English
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)
World's Shortest Stories: Murder. Love. Horror. Suspense. All This And Much More...
Amazon Price: $8.95 (as of 07/11/2009)
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Running Press Book Publishers (February 1998)
Language: English
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Tipi wrote...
This is interesting and helpful. Drifter recommends this lens on Flashes of Darkness.
Glad I stopped by and learned about drabble! :D - Susie
Posted May 09, 2009
ElizabethJeanAllen wrote...
I've written some flash fiction but Drabble is a new term for me. It would be fun to try. The only thing that makes me hesitate is the exact word count. With my luck, I would end up with 101 words.
Great lens
Lizzy
Posted February 15, 2009
drifter0658 wrote...
I love Flash Fiction, and writing Drabble or my favorites, the '55 worder' is not as easy as it looks. But, these stories can make great springboards for larger works. 5*
Posted January 20, 2009
Trekkiemelissa wrote...
Another great lens. I've never heard of drabble. I am definitely going to try this after I get through nanowrimo next month. 5 stars to you.
Posted October 20, 2008
BonesBin wrote...
Popped my head in and found that they'd already started.
Angie was there. And, as expected, she was crying uncontrollably.
I keep telling them to take his photo off the piano.
Posted July 26, 2008
by rms
Hi! I'm Robin, one of Squidoo.com's Giant Squid Community Organizers and the Squid Citizen, Giant Squid Mentor which means I'm ready, willing and able...
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