Tiny Wee Fiction: Moon on a Stick

Flashback to my old Twitter-based writing project, where each story had to fit into a single tweet.

This is a nostalgic post about my Tiny Wee Fiction writing project. I started these miniature stories in 2012 and wrote them religiously at first, then less frequently, then sporadically, and finally allowed them to fizzle out when Twitter doubled its character limit, which kind of took the challenge away.

There were three self-imposed rules that I had to adhere to:

• Each story, including spaces, had to fit into a single tweet, which at the time was limited to 140 characters.
• Full language needed to be used, so cheats such as using "2" in place of "to" were a big no-no.
• Likewise, each story had to include correct punctuation and grammar, the same way a larger piece of fiction would.

This project took my mind to all kinds of places, from time travel to murder, heartbreak to madness, and everything in between. I then chose my favourite six and turned them into visual pieces thanks to the calligraphy of Cassie Brandish-Lowe and the photography of Tom Arran and Sarah Aylward. Two of these were accepted into the Ferens Open Exhibition and displayed in 2013, which was pretty nifty.

The one above reads: It took many years and almost killed me, but finally I gave her the moon on a stick. She quickly handed it back. "You call that a stick?"

And yes, that's a younger, slimmer and less beardy yours truly holding a homemade moon on a stick. Oh what larks!

If you're interested in reading more of these titchy tales, check out @tinyweefiction on Twitter.

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Copyright © 2020 Rich Sutherland

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