The New Word Issue
Fact and Fiction
Hey readers! I used to post microfiction under the #vss365 (very short story 365) tag fairly often on Twitter. It’s fun because whoever is hosting that day will provide a word for everyone to use, adding to the challenge of writing a story in under 280 characters. I don’t do it much anymore, as my dusty microfiction Twitter account can confirm, but I still look to the tag and the different words of the day as sources of inspiration. For the latter half of August, @silveringofrose provided some very unique words, which got me googling and making a lot of silly bits. If context clues are not enough, I have provided the definition of most of the words. Hope you enjoy!
Quick Sparks
Totally From Around Here
“Oh god, my kidney!” Ivan yelled.
“I only hip-checked you so that you’d move aside,” I said. “I got nowhere near your kidney. You’re So dramatic!”
“Tell that to my swollen fundus1!”
“Is that even a human part?”
“…”
“No, don’t pretend you’re an alien. I can’t deal with that today.”
Nearly Identical
The waves that crashed against the wharf were so high, they threatened to whelve2 the ships, like a child playing boats in the tub… or a would-be murderer eying their potential victims, bloody shovel in hand. They’re both practically the same.
Anyway, about the ships…
Necessary Space
“I have something to confess to you, my dearest friend. I’m a bibliophobic.”
“Oh, if you need something to read, I just finished a great novel on—”
“I just called you my ‘dearest friend,’ why would you do this to me?!”
“You said you were abibliophobic3! I’m just trying to help!”
Hot 100
For Want of Currency
She laid her head on her husband’s lap, staring at the ceiling. “Ugh, I’m craving ice cream.”
He didn’t flinch from his channel surfing. “You didn’t want any while we were shopping.”
“I know,” she drawled. “But now I’ve got a hankering.”
“We could get some.”
“Too comfortable. Just wanted to complain about yearning the stuff.” She glared at the ceiling fan. “I have a yearn, Nick.”
“‘Yearn’ isn’t a noun, Ronnie. Word you’re looking for is ‘yen4.’”
She snorted. “That can’t be right,” she said. “One yen can’t even buy a pint. Five hundred yen, maybe. But not one.”
The Garbage Man
“GPS said to take the left exit here, you gubbins,” said Paolo.
“Shit,” said David. He prayed the GPS’s new route wouldn’t lose them too much time. “Wait, what’s a gubbins?”
“It’s a silly fool, I guess? It could also be scraps, waste, or refu—”
The brakes slammed. Paolo snapped forward and back in his seat like a yo-yo.
“You called me trash?! For missing an exit?!”
“What? No, David! I called you a silly fool! It was light ribbing. We’re on the highway!”
Cars zoomed by, honking and hollering. David was an emotionally inconsolable gubbins5 for thirty minutes straight.
Share Corner
Today I have another short fiction writer I’ve been enjoying that you should all check out!
Ajinkya Goyal writes speculative and gothic fiction, along with a smattering of fluff thrown in for good measure. Check out his writing now and read Frozen Summer: Stories From the Dark and Twisted Crevices of the Universe for free!
Time to share my progress report:
• New schedule: I think I’ve settled on posting Quick as a Flash once every two weeks for the foreseeable future. That leaves seven issues to finish out the year with!
• New serial: Still on track to get this started before the end of the year! I’m still building out the skeleton of what this thing will look like, but it’s going well. I may do some polling in a future issue to determine the ideal post length and schedule.
• Re-branding: I still need to create a new email banner, but otherwise, the work’s done!
• Another microfiction collection: I aim to create about 30 stories, 100 words each. It’ll be fantasy themed, and I’m probably a little behind where I’d like to be. I think I’ll be happy if I have everything drafted before the year’s out. It sounds like a lot of time for 3000 words, but the hardest parts of writing microfiction for me are generating ideas and trimming them down to the desired length. Both take more time and energy than I want to admit. 😅
fundus: the part of a hollow organ (such as the uterus or the gallbladder) that is farthest from the opening. (Oxford Languages) Very much not an alien body part.
whelve: to bury something deep, to hide; to roll or surge over something (LaWhimsy-Word Nerd)
bibliophobia: an intense fear or dislike of books (Cleveland Clinic, Merriam-Webster)
abibliophobia: the fear of running out of things to read (Macmillan Dictionary)
I’m sure the joke is very funny now 😅
yen: a strong desire or propensity (Merriam-Webster) Also, yes, the Japanese currency.
Paolo literally defined it, ya silly gubbins.
I love those Twitter prompts! And if you shoot for 50 words along with the 280-character and specific word prompt of the day? A trifecta challenge
It's been so nice chatting with you! Thanks for the share!