You might think that the longer the story, the harder it is to write. But that’s not always the case. When you have limited space, it can be quite a challenge fitting in a beginning, a middle, and an end, while simultaneously making sure the story says what you want it to say. Over the past couple of years, I’ve taken a liking to drabbles (100 word stories). Several have seen the light of day including Coming Around, Hitori Kakurenbo, Naughty Step and Louie’s Room. 101 Words puts a new spin on the drabble formula by, you guessed it, adding an extra word.
The idea for Sleepless came from this article I read a while back about an American teenager called Randy who stayed awake for over eleven days. Eleven days! That’s impressive enough, then I started thinking… what if Randy had a job? A very responsible job, where a lot of people’s safety and/or welfare depended on him? Things could get decidedly messy.
Check out Sleepless, and some other incredibly concise 101-word stories, HERE
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About cmsaunders
I write stuff. Pretty much any stuff. My fiction and non-fiction has appeared in over a hundred publications worldwide and my books have been both traditionally and independently published. My first book, Into the Dragon's Lair – A Supernatural History of Wales was published back in 2003, and I've worked extensively in the freelance journalism industry, contributing features to numerous international publications including Fortean Times, Bizarre, Urban Ink, Loaded, Record Collector, Maxim, and a regular column to the Western Mail newspaper.
I lived in China for over nine years where I taught English at universities in Beijing, Changsha and Guangzhou during my search for enlightenment, before moving back to the UK in January 2013 to work as staff writer on Nuts magazine. Later, I was senior writer on Forever Sports magazine, associate editor at a shortlived title called Coach, and I currently write business news for a trade magazine about the plastics industry. It's far more satisfying than it sounds. My latest fiction releases have been Human Waste (on Deviant Dolls Publications) and X5, my fifth collection of short fiction. I also edit, proofread, ghost write, and drink far too much craft beer.
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cmsaunders 
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:21 pm
[…] in the lit mag The Quiet Reader and I had other short pieces published in Every day Fiction, 101 Words, twentytwotwentyeight and Meghan’s superb blog, which I also did an interview with. I did an […]
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