It’s time for another site event, this time around with a change of format. Something compact but no less fun to read and write!
Participating
Anyone can participate as a writer and/or a reader, and all skill levels and types of interests are encouraged. Prospective writers are to submit a piece by the end of the submission date and everyone, both writers and readers alike, are encouraged to comment about the stories and discuss them. Feedback and critique is always appreciated! As with most site events, the idea is to have the community participate and make things lively.
The tradition is to have people submit entries anonymously, so as to not taint perceptions and color feedback, but this is just a suggestion. The main goal of these events remains to encourage the community to create and for everyone involved to have fun.
Duration
Writers will have a month to prepare their entries and a thread will be created for submissions. The deadline for submissions will be 2025-07-24. Any late entries might not get commented upon by your fellow THP users, so make sure to do your best to have everything ready by the deadline!
Format
This time around, instead of going by themes, I thought it would be interesting interesting to experiment with format. This exhibition is centered around the concept of flash fiction. There’s a few different takes on what that means exactly but for our purpose it means that the entries for this event ought to seek to tell a story within a 1000 word limit. It’s a change of pace from the usual and I think that not only is it useful for writers to attempt different sorts of stories as an exercise but that constraints can make for all sorts of creative solutions.
Below you'll find a few examples of stories that can be considered flash fiction. These authors are all ones whose works I have enjoyed and are not necessarily known for the format. There's a range of styles and approaches on display in the pieces:
https://www.newyorker.com/books/flash-fiction/the-door-between-us
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a5576/john-updike-final-story-0498/
https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/haunths.html
https://ir.library.osaka-u.ac.jp/repo/ouka/all/99041/jaas_011_157.pdf
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/12/23/indigestion
https://anthology.lib.virginia.edu/work/Hemingway/hemingway-hills
https://www.kafka-online.info/an-imperial-message.html
There’s several websites that dedicate themselves to the format that you can find on a search engine but if there’s any doubts about what sort of thing is in mind, I’d be happy to explain further or provide more examples. It’s important to note that while 1000 words is the objective upper limit, no one will be enforcing it strictly and if a story is a little bit longer (or, indeed, shorter) by hundreds of words that’s fine too. Just tell the story you want to tell as best you can while following the spirit of things!
Themes and further examples, kind of
There are no themes which this exhibition nominally revolves around and stories can be about whatever the author wants them to be. Still, I realize that sometimes little prompts or ideas can help some people so I’m offering a few vague notions that might hopefully get a few wheels turning.
Stories about key moments in relationships, an illustrative event, an intense occurrence, a brief encounter, a bold pronouncement, or anything that can succinctly encapsulate a feeling, mood, idea, relationship, or character might be good starting off points. Think about the key things you wish to transmit to your reader and how you wish to do it. Be bold, don’t be afraid of cutting out anything that doesn’t contribute to that vision. There can be a lot of depth in a short dialogue or in the understatement of description or in a different sort of perspective.
I’m not sure how useful it might be to name specific characters but there’s a lot to draw from both incidents as well as the self-contained chapters in the official manga. But even putting that aside, there’s plenty of openings in group dynamics such as with villagers, tengu, kappa, or even with the Hakurei shrine’s visitors that can also be a starting point.
The spirit of things
In case it isn’t clear, the idea here is for people to participate and have fun, generating interesting and different stories. There aren’t very specific rules as to what does and doesn’t count in terms of entries. There are no real stakes as there will be no voting at the end to find a “winner” nor will there be a discrete prize. In other words, writing and sharing your thoughts on stories should be the goal unto itself.
Of course, should anyone in the community wish to write, draw, or otherwise create something as a reward to the participants, they are welcome to do so.
I’ll be personally reading all entries and posting my own thoughts as incentive to writers.
If there are any questions or clarifications needed, feel free to post in the thread and I’ll try to answer them as clearly as possible.
Make sure to have fun!
