[The most sure-fire way not to get a blog post written is to mention that you are writing it. So this is not the post I talked about last time, either.]
The theme of this post is: one word, one story.
I’ve already mentioned our AE Micro contest where we’re giving a one word challenge to write one story. (Also in keeping with the “one” theme, there is one week left to do so.)
Today Robin Sloan kicked off another micronarrative exercise: Ash Cloud Tales. (OK, “ash cloud” is two words, but “micro” is a little less than a word, so let’s call it even.)
What I love about the idea of ash cloud tales is that they instantly take the mind into the future. Maybe it’s the way the concept was introduced, but the stories leap forward from the present mire. (“Stuck in Belgium. Mussels too damn expensive.” — We have Twitter and Facebook for that.) This project stretches the horizon of our attention from short-term inconveniences to long-term consequences.
I won’t get into all the possibilities “micro” can conjure. Just check out the entries so far and notice your focus shift toward the hidden, imperceptible, or merely overlooked. But I said I wouldn’t get into it, and I’m coming to the boundary of this virtual postcard.
In closing: Write short. Make it count.
Related Posts:
- by Harold August 29, 2023 In July, the Media and Democracy Project filed a Petition to Deny the license renewal of Fox29 (WTFX-TV) in Philadelphia. The Petition rests on a…
- by Harold March 15, 2022 It isn't the sultry Regency drama of Bridgerton, the action psycho-drama of Moon Knight, or even the, um, whatever the heck Human Resources is. But…
- by Harold July 1, 2022 For most people, the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency was about environmental policy and what the Environmental Protection Agency can…
- by Harold November 8, 2021 5G has been accused a lot of ridiculous things -- causing Covid, causing cancer, causing autism. This article provides a list of 9 separate conspiracy…
- by Harold July 24, 2023 Back at the end of June, Canada passed C-18, aka "The Online News Act," a law designed to make Google and Facebook negotiate with news…
- by Harold May 24, 2022 I would never have imagined that we could get past Memorial Day without Gigi Sohn's confirmation as the 5th FCC Commissioner/3rd Democrat. But Republicans who…
About Helen
Helen spent ten years in the trenches of book publishing, where she wrote things longhand, wrestled with fax machines, and learned the true meaning of "cut and paste." As a writer, editor, and all-around person-who-builds-things-with-words, she now works at a small software company in Cambridge, Mass. with one foot in the future and the other stuck in a peat bog of legacy content, technology, and methodology. Which is not to say anything against peat bogs.
