#Fi50 | After Dinner – a fifty word story

After Dinner is Monday morning’s offering for the Fiction in 50 (words) for this week.  I usually do these a little earlier, to make sure I put them on the BookShelf Gargoyle’s page as soon as he puts it up – but then again, maybe it’s better this way.  You can join in – make your own 50 word story to the prompt of the month.

Someone asked me how I go about writing a story that consists of just fifty words. In a way, just like I do anything else. There needs to be some sort of inspiration.  Then there has to be something of an introduction, the action, and a twist, which usually doubles as ‘the end’.

So I write it down in as many words as it takes, and start editing – paring down every unnecessary phrase, reconsidering phrases, trying to get descriptions into two adjectives at most. Create the picture – then miniaturise it.

In some ways, it’s a haiku with different rules.

After Dinner

He burped.

The meat was tender; the potatoes mashed. The broad beans, properly cooked and chewed, to prevent wind. The strawberry meringue may have been light as air, but not full of it.

Being force-fed was another matter.

She tightened his bonds, and stuffed another roll into his mouth.

© J M Pett 2017