What do you think of them? Have you written any? If you write drabbles, do you just stick to one and post it? Or post a series of them, connecting them together to make a story? Or, do you increase it and do a double drabble to make a fuller "story"?

Personally, I consider drabbles to be a slice of life. I like writing double drabbles too. Double drabbles are exactly 200 words, with drabbles being 100 words. Also, 10x100--my friend on here, Digital Tempest, introduced me to them. You take 10 drabbles and write them 100 words a piece. I like doing that when writing about 2-3 characters. You can alternate the drabbles between the characters, write about a scene, or the build-up and breakdown of a relationship. And all in 1,000 words, sectioned off into 100 word drabbles.

So what do you think? What's your opinion on them?

There were fifty-odd drabbles entered in the challenge (we did three each) and I enjoyed reading about five of them - even though all the authors were people who write great fic. It was a bit like listening to a really, really good pianist playing scales. You can tell they're really good - but it's much more fun to listen to them play a piece of music with a tune.

Then again, I feel pretty much the same way about poetry. I guess the really constrained, technical forms of writing don't do it for me.

Drabbles are fun for a writing exercise. I don't like them as fiction unless they're done in the 100 X 10 style, because with 1000 words it's a lot easier to convey a whole story. Though I have written ficlets at around anywhere between 250 words to 1000, but those tend to be more like a character realizing something about themselves, or just them thinking about an event that did or didn't happen.

IMO drabbles are a great way to practice writing clearly and concisely. It makes you choosy on word choice to represent your story and what you want to convey. I've never written only a drabble by itself. On LJ, there are 100 drabble challenges which would be interesting if you split the 100 drabbles into sets of ten and just do 10 10x100s. I enjoy writing long stories like Niko, but I've found writing much smaller than how I usually write is a nice break and breather. :)

And Sassy said it best on one other reason drabbles are great for. Drabbles can really enhance a writer's clarity and consistently, for there is a certain amount of space to write in (as said before, I know :P).

Hellooo, everyone. I'm new! ^-^ To this forum, at least. Because I'm a highly experienced writer who does not need to improve at all; I'm just gracing everyone with my skill and glory.(/ickywriterconduct)(/introduction)

It was a bit like listening to a really, really good pianist playing scales. You can tell they're really good - but it's much more fun to listen to them play a piece of music with a tune.

That was a really nice simile. :^) I love similes, even if I can't write them.

ANYwho. I actually kind of like drabbles. They're fun to read and I really enjoy seeing how drabble-writers are able to convey so much with so little. Most of ones in my fandom are really good.

I agree with you about drabbles--how so much can be conveyed with so little--especially if it's done right. What is your fandom?

My fandom is Wicked the musical and/or book. Ever heard of either?

Of course, it's a very *original* fanfiction but...whatever. I am desperately trying to see it on Broadway and my parentals originally said yes, and but they've just recently withdrawn their positive vote. -sniffs- But whatever; as illegal as it is, there's always YouTube if I'm in a pinch... :^P -looks at title of thread- I got us off-topic! I'm going to shun my self now.

-shuns-

But so...um, yes. I like drabbles.

Don't shun yourself. Enjoy the forum.

I like drabbles too. I like to write 10x100s. LJ (Live Journal) has drabble communities such as 100drabbles.

I disagree with you. I wouldn't say drabbles exist to tell a detailed story with plot twists, character development and so on. Sometimes a slice-of-life type fic is just as good as an epic adventure. That's how I view drabbles--as slices of life or as a way to get a strong point across in few words. Writers can still get their point across in a few words. Think of different forms of poetry. Also, drabbles don't have to stand by themselves. You can play with the format (such as 10x100s--ten drabbles together, each one 100 word a piece) and still write a short fic packed with emotion, tension, character interaction and so on.

That's fine. Many do.

I wouldn't say drabbles exist to tell a detailed story with plot twists, character development and so on.

Indeed, they don't. Which is why I do not bother to read nor write them.

Think of different forms of poetry.

I'd rather not. I don't read poetry either.

Typically I don't even read them unless I'm asked my opinion on them or it's someone that I know and have read in the past. Unless someone prompts me to, I generally don't read stories that are less than 10k words.

One of the things that appeal to me about fanfiction is that you don't neccessarily have to write novel-lenght stories; you can leave a lot of background info out, because anyone familiar with the canon your fic is based on, already knows about that. So while I wouldn't look twice at original fiction of fewer than 40.000 words (there's really no way to tell the kind of stories I like in so few words), I have no such problems when it comes to fanfiction; as a writer, you can easily make a point in 100 words or 1000, when you don't have to explain every little thing that's being said, done and thought.

I tend to look for longer stories and I feel it's very hard to flesh out a story and create a story with any meaningful amount of depth in anything less than 40 or 50 thousand words. Keep in mind that as far as commercial fiction is concerned, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was a short book, and it was 95k words long. Stephen King's "The Stand" was long to the point of vulgarity at 465k words long.

I like some happy medium between the two :)

In truth, making a very short story is a good way to brush up on your skills and I don't care much what people write as long as they are writing. Personal tastes are just that... personal tastes.

But, if I'm going to spend the sort of time reading a fic which I'd spend reading a book, I need a good reason not to just read a book. A good one, with near-zero technical errors, great pacing, and plot twists / subplots. In short, I'll only read a book-length fanfic if it's good professional quality book-like writing - and most of them aren't, they're much more soap opera-style, intended to be read an installment at a time as the author posts.

There are a lot of fics out there, though, where the authors write well, there aren't technical errors, and the fic is short enough (I'm going for 15k words up to around 30k) that it doesn't need multiple plotlines and twists etc. - just a good solid linear story. And those are what I mostly end up reading. (And writing. I'm not up to holding a reader's interest for a novel-length story. Not yet.)

I have to disagree with this. A fic can be fleshed out and tell an intriguing story with depth and insight, and still be under 40,000-50,000 words. There are many thoughtful and well-written fics out there that don't amount to 50,000 words and more. The quantity of words should NEVER be used to indicate or judge the quality of any piece of fiction--be it original or fanfiction. The reason being that a fic can be over 100,000 words and still lack direction, have an uninteresting plot, boring characters, flat dialogue, and so on. A short fic can have great flow, an awewsome plot, tight characterization, spicey dialogue, and so on. Also, the opposite can be true of both statements: you can find an excellent long story and you can find a poor short story.

At the same time, I understand that choosing to read a fic (again, original or fanfiction) based on length is a matter of personal tastes and preferences. Some people love novels, while others love series, and then there are others who enjoy short stories.

Most of my fics on FFN are under 50K words, since they're oneshots. Longer fics take time to write (and read). The story doesn't unfold as quickly, characters aren't introduced at the same time, there's more build-up, dialogue, and so on. I've written three novel-sized fanfics that are meant to be read as a trilogy. It's not I thought longer was better and I didn't write long for the sake of writing long. I didn't start out thinking: "I'm going to write a novel." It just happened that way. When I get into writing, more ideas will come to me, and I'll want to expand on them. When that happens, a 2 page idea blossoms into a novel or novella. With my trilogy, I had many events in the story that I wanted to show, characters I wanted to develop, and a storyline that I wanted to give justice to. Everything written in the fic has a purpose behind it, even scenes that don't seem important, they're mentioned later because they tie into something else I want to bring up in the story.

While I was slowly posting the first "book" (so to speak), I was afraid that potential readers would be turned off by the length. The entire book is posted now, but I still wonder about it. Even though I know I took the time, effort, and care to write what I consider to be a decent story, some readers without even clicking the link may took one look at the word count (100,000+ and 10k away from 200,000) and head off to find a fic that's shorter. At the same time, I do feel better knowing that some readers enjoy taking the time to read longer stories and I always hope that it moves them and keeps their interest on some level.

In the end, no matter how long or short the fic is, every word should count, and contribute to the overall story.

There are many thoughtful and well-written fics out there that don't amount to 50,000 words and more. The quantity of words should NEVER be used to indicate or judge the quality of any piece of fiction--be it original or fanfiction.

I agree with you, Sassy. I've read a lot of fics that fall short of being novel length that are very good. I've read some 100,000 word fics that were very bad too. Judging fics by their word count is an unfair and inaccurate way of judging how good they will be. Sometimes it works, but just because it works for one fic doesn't mean it will work for another. If you only read fics with more than 40,000 words you're missing out on some very powerful and well written one-shots.

However, I may be biased since I'm a minimalist of sorts.

On top of that, I just like to read long stories. When I open a story, it's with the intention that I'm going to be sitting down and reading for a couple hours or more.

While length makes the amount of time someone has put into their story more obvious, who's to say that short story/drabble writers don't spend quality time working on their stories too just because they're shorter?

I don't recall suggesting that, I don't even recall thinking it. You say you were thinking from the point-of-view of a person who has a short attention span, that's a perfectly legitimate opinion. I'm thinking from the point of view of someone who does not.

I said it somewhere else the other day - You read what you want to read, you write what you want to write. That's all that's important, everything else is only good for pointless literary debate.

Now, that said, I agree with you both. I agree with Rinse and Repeat, that there are many well-written and powerful one-shots. I also agree that writers can put just as much effort into shorter stories and drabbles. I also agree with Walks with Scissors that longer stories do take a lot of time, effort, commitment, and personal investment.

You both brought up good points and legit opinions.

What I find debatable is judging a story by the mere length of it, IMO. Walks with Scissors, I disagreed when you said "it's very hard to flesh out a story and create a story with any meaningful amount of depth in anything less than 40 or 50 thousand words." That's what I find debatable. It's not pointless literary debate because even in literature, you find various styles of writing, short stories, novels, free verse poems, structured poems like sonnets and so on. While I have my preferences of what I like reading--for example, I can't stand William Faulkner and his run-on sentences, but I like slam poetry and the many ways it can be written and performed---both types of writing are still legit, valid, and valuable.

Using length to judge a story's value is, to me (and Rinse) unfair. There are many fics under that amount of words that show care, effort, meaning, and depth. Some fics aren't meant to be fleshed out into a novel-length story. Some are just slices of life, a brief glimpse into a character's mind, what-ifs?, or just mere observations. It all depends on the story.

I linked some fics that fall under that category--under 40,000 words, one-shots, but pack a lot of punch. Some of these fandoms might be unfamiliar to you, and you are under no obligation to read them. I just figured I'd link them here for you or anyone's who's interested to show that there really are powerful and fleshed out stories that are on the shorter side. [Please don't mind...I'm biased and put them up from my faves list. ;)]

A Weak Man by Moneypenny1979 (Stigmata)

Cell Block F by The Island Hopper (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

Expendable by Digital Tempest (X-Men 3)

Winema by Tinksbelle85 (Jurassic Park)

Empty Tears by Senshi Alchemist (Kill Bill)

Interview with a Lion by Spotted Hyena (The Lion King)

To conclude, I've written both on the long and short side.

I can say from experience that writing a longer fic does take a lot of time, effort, committment--and patience. That's a big one. Writing takes time. I put a lot of care into my story because I wanted it to be a good story. It's a story I loved writing, and I hope it's a joy for others to read. It became long because...it's the oldest excuse in the book, but it's the truth: it just happened. I didn't plan for a long fic, but once I saw it was getting longer than I expected, I make certain to know which direction I'm going in. Along the way, I'll be hit with writer's block, frustration at parts that I'm not sure how to write until I just write it, and happiness at completing a chapter because it means I'm closer to the finishing line.

On the short side, I enjoy writing one-shots. I don't have to worry if I lose the reader's interest halfway in the story--I mean, it can happen, but I worry more about that when it comes to my longer works. When it comes to writing drabbles, that's the only time I'm disciplined when it comes to my writing. I choose each word carefully, and have to cut out anything that isn't contributing to the story. I do my best to edit like this when it comes to longer works, but with drabbles, it's more urgent. I'm trying to convey a message or an emotion in so few words, like a poem. Since drabbles are supposed to be 100 words long, I stick closely to that. And so far, I've written 10x100s, ten drabbles, each one hundred words a piece. It's a fun exercise and one that takes care and effort, especially with word choice. As others mentioned, it can be used to break writer's block.

So yes, we have our preferences as to what we read and write. Whether a fic is long or short is dependent on the writer--just as much as the quality is.

And perhaps when I say an in-depth story, I should have said a story with a depth sufficient to satisfy my own tastes in reading.

When I give a minimum work count for a story to have a sufficently meaningful depth, understand two major things. First is that when I write I create entirely self-contained stories; which is to say that I write stories with the intention that someone who has no understanding of the fandom whatsoever would be able to read it and comprehend it. This is something that's difficult to do in a one-shot... and if you can find a drabble that can do it, please link it to me, I would really enjoy reading it.

Second is that I write and prefer to read stories about original characters. Orignal characters (at least ones that are written well) involve a whole lot more lead-in than a character that's already been established.

Okay, now I see what you mean. When you said "in-depth", I kept thinking you wanted a long novel-length fic with flashbacks, twists and turns, and a fleshed out story.

It's hard (or maybe not too hard, now that I think about it) to write a fic in a way so that others who aren't familiar with the fandom can understand it. I think it depends on what fandom you're writing. It can be done. In general, when I read fics, I tend to go with fandoms I'm more familiar with. When I write them, I tend to stick to the canon. Even if the fic is an AU, I'll do my best to keep the characters as they were presented in canon, so that it's won't throw new readers off.

I have two 10x100s in my profile (both are from the Kill Bill fandom) and a set of double drabbles (each 200 words a piece) for each character for The Skeleton Key fandom. If you like I can link you.

Ah fics with original characters--there are many like that in the JP fandom and other fandoms. I prefer to read canon characters over original characters. For example, I like JP for the canon characters so I read and write fics based on them, and I look for fics that have the canon characters. I remember reading a fic that had a cast of all original characters and it was great. But most times, I figure if the entire story is made up of only original characters--then why not write an original story instead. I know others who enjoy reading OCs because it's different from reading canon characters. It all goes back to preferences.

To answer the original question: I like the idea of drabbles. A very short story that throws out an idea, explores it briefly, and leaves the reader with something to think about. It's perfect for addressing those little "what if...?"'s that all fans inevitably get while watching/playing/reading their fandoms. They're also a great way to deal with any other ideas that you fall in love with, but can't for the life of you figure out a way to make a complete story out of.

However, I dislike the mechanics of drabbles. Trying to keep to a word count never appealed to me. I always find that I end up limiting myself if I try to fit everything I want to say into a rigid structure. One hundred, even two hundred words always seemed like too little.

The best compromise, I find, is the noble oneshot.

If you look at my profile you'll see that as of now, twenty-three of my thirty-one stories are oneshots, and only one of those can even come close to being considered a drabble (at 131 words, while my normal range is anywhere from 200 to two thousand words). If you look closer, you'll see that my two longest multichapter fics are actually just collections of oneshots as well.

I'm in love with oneshots because:

1) They have the brevity of a drabble, but, without constraints on words, you're free to dig as deeply into a subject as you want.

2) As a writer who crafts mostly humor pieces, I often can't let a story run too long or the joke will be dulled, nor can I let it be too short or the punchline gets lost. A precarious balance that is... The average word count needed is between 500 or 900 words, way too much for a drabble.

3) I'm not very good at devising the convoluted plots and brilliant development required of a respectable twenty or fifty-chapter epic. (Not to mention I have a hard time shelling out the effort to get started...) I can do a oneshot or drabble quickly, be done with it, and still have my fun. (I admit, I have high standards for my work, but I'm insufferably lazy.)

By the way, collecting drabbles or oneshots into multichapter fics is just a good way to save space on your profile and make sure readers will look at (close to) all of what you've created. It's easier for the readers to hit the button and go to the next chapter than to return to the profile and read down. ^_^

I like character studies. I like them a great deal. They're excellent practice and a way of getting ideas about a character, especially backstory, down creatively. As a result, three of my best fics are oneshot character studies under 1000 words ('Red Riding Hood' and 'Little Match Girl' in the Chicago fandom, 'Music From a Farther Room' in Harry Potter). Often good lines that summarise that character come to me and I can use them in a longer fic. For example, in 'Red Riding Hood' I came up with a line that described the character in question, Annie, perfectly: "she could lean against a lamppost like she was doing it a favour." Now that line and the image it conjours (femme fatale to the max!) I can use in a longer, more plot driven fic.

The meme did make for a pretty funny mistake by someone else for their drabble. I'm sure it was the word count that did it. I think the line was supposed to go something like this:

Coach curled his lip like he did when he was pissed.

but the actual line read this:

Coach curled his lip like he did when he pissed.

I about died laughing when I read that because just losing that one word changed the whole mental image.

Twillight Scribe, I'm glad you posted in this thread. It doesn't matter how late it is. If the thread is up, and you want to respond, by all means do so. It's fun when old threads are bumped up!

I agree with you that drabbles are a great way to address an issue briefly without making a complete story. That's what works for me. There've been times when I wanted to do a one-shot on a certain issue in the fandom, and since I wasn't sure how to approach it, I went with drabbles.

As far as mechanics go, drabbles are the only time I adhere to a rigid structure and strict word count. For me, drabbles are good practice for word usage and bringing across a clear and concise message.

Usually, I tend to write as much as I want without any constraints. This applies to my one-shots and multi-chaptered fics. I understand the appeal of one-shots too. We can start a thread on one-shots that can be as small as hundreds of words to thousands of words. I like the idea of collecting drabbles or one-shots into a multi-chaptered fic, especially if they revolve around the same them and characters.

SugarFaerie mentioned character studies--those make great one-shots, and you can write them based on one line from a song or whatever inspires you. I wrote my first character study based on the idiom "foaming at the mouth", and gave the fic that exact title.

Maryilee: LOL@Coach curled his lip like he did when he pissed. One word missing in a sentence makes a huge difference!

I agree with you that drabbles are a great way to address an issue briefly without making a complete story. That's what works for me. There've been times when I wanted to do a one-shot on a certain issue in the fandom, and since I wasn't sure how to approach it, I went with drabbles.

Hmm, while I like to read drabbles and can only agree that they're great for character-studies. I don't think I'm going to post any drabbles. I've written them but they are usually plotbunnies I wish to use for a full fledged story some time. It's just I don't want to give away my story ideas.

The closed to a drabble was a nearly 600 word one-shot, so not really a drabble or may be six drabbles. XD

I've actually done the same. I used to have difficulty writing long fics and keeping coherant storylines and IC chars over long periods of time. Not to mention my short attention span. But after practice I am finally tackling my first multi-chaptered story, and what I learned from writing good one-shots (no idea how many of those were drabbles, a couple at least) has really helped me to do a half-decent job on my current fic.

So I have nothing against drabbles, I just wish for sequals and mull over the story itself. (So long as it was done well, I have VERY high standards.)

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