Short (attention span) stories

Number of entries received for the 2007 InnermoonLit Award for Best Short-Short Story to date: 51

Of the two InnermoonLit contests, the Best First Chapter is definitely more popular than the Short-Short Story. We receive many more entries for it, which I assume is because short stories just aren’t as marketable as novels, especially very short stories.

I personally love reading these little self-contained gems. In fact, I find them easier to judge than the first chapter submissions, which, when they’re good, leave me hanging, wishing I could flip over to chapter two. As a novelist himself, I think Brian prefers judging the chapters, because he is so good at seeing whether the foundation for a good novel is there. So it balances out. He is super focused; I have a short attention span.

If our 500-word limit on this contest seems extreme…well, I guess it is. In addition to my puny attention span, we are governed by practical concerns. When we were developing the contest guidelines, we were concerned that we’d get stuck printing out thousands of entries. So far that hasn’t happened, and we still seem to be a fairly well-kept secret, with a manageable volume of submissions and reasonable paper and toner expenses.

But I have to wonder why there isn’t a bigger market for flash fiction. Most people don’t spend a whole lot of time reading, and the idea of getting a complete, satisfying narrative read in a few minute’s time seems like it would be appealing to a pretty wide audience. Super-short stories are also well-suited for reading online, where eye strain is a serious limiting factor. I don’t see why the market for short-short stories doesn’t expand, particularly among electronic publications, and I really hope it will.