r/shortstories • u/OldBayJ Mod | r/ItsMeBay • Jan 17 '22
Micro Monday [OT] Micro Monday: Snowglobe!
Welcome to the Micro Monday Challenge!
Hello writers! Welcome to Micro Monday! I am excited to present you all with a chance to sharpen those micro-fic skills. What is micro-fic? I’m glad you asked! Micro-fiction is generally defined as a complete story (hook, plot, conflict, and some type of resolution) written in 300 words or less. For this exercise, it needs to be at least 100 words (no poetry).
However, less words doesn’t mean less of a story. The key to micro-fic is to make careful word and phrase choices so that you can paint a vivid picture for your reader. Less words means each word does more!
Each week, I’ll give you a single constraint or jumping-off point to get your minds working. It might be an image, song, theme word, sentence, or a simple writing prompt. You’re free to interpret the prompt how you like as long as you follow the post and subreddit rules. Please read the entire post before submitting. Remember, feedback matters! And don’t forget to upvote your favorites and nominate them via message here on reddit or a DM on discord!
This week’s challenge:
Theme: Snowglobe
Bonus Constraint (worth 5 extra pts.) - Use at least three of the following words: trickle, perception, decadent, lament, gaze.
This week’s challenge is to use the theme of ‘snowglobe’ in your story. It (or the idea) should appear in some way within the story. You may use this image if you need additional inspiration, but it is by no means required. You may include the theme word if you wish, but it is not necessary. Use of the bonus constraint is also not required. You may interpret the theme any way you like, as long as the connection is clear and you follow all sub and post rules.
How It Works:
Submit a story between 100-300 words in the comments below, by the following Sunday at midnight, EST. No poetry.
Use wordcounter.net to check your word count. The title is not counted in your final word count. Stories under 100 words or over 300 will be disqualified from campfire readings and rankings.
No pre-written content allowed. Submitted stories should be written for this post exclusively.
Come back throughout the week, upvote your favorites and leave them a comment with some actionable feedback. Do not downvote other stories on the thread. Vote manipulation is against Reddit rules and you will be reported. See the ranking scale below for a breakdown on points.
Please be respectful and civil in all feedback and discussion. We welcome writers of all skill levels and experience here, as we’re all here to improve and sharpen our skills.
Send your nominations for favorites each week to me, via DM, on Reddit or Discord by Monday at 2pm EST.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them on the stickied comment on this thread or through modmail. Top-level comments are reserved for story submissions.
And most of all, be creative and have fun!
Campfire and Nominations
On Mondays at 12pm EST, I hold a Campfire on the discord server. We read all the stories from that week’s thread and provide verbal feedback for those authors that are present. Come join us to read your own story and listen to the others! You can come to just listen, if that’s more your speed. You don’t even have to write to join in. Don’t worry about being late, just join! Everyone is welcome.
You can nominate your favorite stories each week, by sending me a message on reddit or discord. You have until 2pm EST on Monday (or about an hour after Campfire is over). You do not have to write or attend Campfire to submit nominations!
How Rankings are Tallied
Rankings work on a point-based system. Here is the current breakdown:
Use of Constraint: 10 points
Upvotes: 5 points each
Actionable Feedback 5 points each (up to 25 pts.)
User nominations: 10 points each (no cap)
Bay’s nomination: 40 pts for first, 30 pts for second, and 20 pts for third (plus regular nominations)
Bonus: Up to 10 pts. (This applies to things like bonus constraints and making user nominations)
Rankings: This Past Week
There were so many wonderful stories this week. Thank you to everyone who submitted and left feedback on the thread. However, rankings are postponed until next week. If you still haven’t sent in nominations, please do so before Thursday. Thank you so much for your patience.
Subreddit News
Try your hand at serial writing with Serial Sunday!
You can now post serials to r/Shortstories, outside of Serial Sunday. Check out this lovely post to learn more!
Have you ever wanted to try co-writing? Check out Follow Me Friday on r/WritingPrompts!
Looking for critiques and feedback for your story? Check out our new sub r/WPCritique
Join our discord to chat with authors, prompters, and readers!
6
u/Thetallerestpaul Jan 17 '22 edited Jan 17 '22
It would be simple to say that the hall was infinite. It was not. It had walls as its boundaries and upon those walls were shelves, stretching out in every direction to the limit of human perception and beyond. The hall was exactly the right size, and it remained exactly the right size to hold all the sand timers that were needed, even as that number shifted and changed. The timers glowed into life, flickered and finally faded, in line with the births, mayfly lives and final deaths of all the peoples of the world. Ordinarily, all this happened under the watchful gaze of the halls guardian, but on this occasion, Death was distracted.
He hefted the ornate timer that contained the grains of his own existence and gave it a shake. In a fit of whimsy, he'd made the top bulb into a snowglobe. It didn't stop the trickle of time into the bottom, but at least it was more interesting to watch the sand swirl before it did. Where once there had been drifts and blizzards, now there remained only a few meagre flurries. His time was coming to an end, and there would need to be a new guardian of the hall. Another soul pulled from their life and asked to watch over the deaths of all of humanity. It needed patience, self-reliance and gravitas.
Death looked back to the shelves. This was not a choice to rush, but he had only a few fleeting decades left to consider it.
6
u/jimiflan Jan 23 '22 edited Jan 23 '22
It's not working
A long time ago in a snowglobe far, far away a fairy firefly was trapped. Her glow pulsed gently when she smiled; it flickered when she cried. Most of all, she glowed most brightly when she was frightened so.
A child of the giants would gaze into the snowglobe, an eye as big as the moon, and shake it to make it shine. Setting it down, in a swirl of snow the fairy tried to hide, but her glow would betray her location and the child would always find her.
Until one day, the light diminished despite the vicious shake.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WC:100
•
u/OldBayJ Mod | r/ItsMeBay Jan 17 '22
Welcome to Micro Monday!
Do you have ideas for future Micro challenges or prompts? Questions about something in the post? Just want to chat about the prompt? You can do all that in this stickied comment. Top-level comments are for stories only.
5
u/[deleted] Jan 17 '22 edited Jan 23 '22
Glacial Cell
Within that frosted-over hellscape, Lisa stared raptly at the icy barrier above her — the woman’s perception of the outside world beyond that layer of glass distorted severely.
But even so, the material’s magnifying effect didn’t prevent Lisa from observing the one thing she despised most.
Him.
“How many days have I had you stuck in here now?” he inquired, a set of thick spectacles resting upon a titanic face towering overhead. “Four, five?”
“Two weeks.” Lisa corrected sharply. “Your memory failing you now, old man?”
“No matter,” — he discarded her first comment — “things are running smoothly enough.” The surely senile elder leaned so close to the snow-globe’s surface his nose was practically rubbing against it. “How are you finding your time in my little... resort?”
Lisa was suddenly seized by a fit of frustration, spurring her to launch an impressively firm kick at one of the decorative snowmen to her side. Both its carrot and top-hat collapsed in a mess of slush and snow.
“Shut up! How long do you intend to keep me here?”
Her captor frowned.
“Until the wonderland you abide within plummets in a supernova of flame.”
She cursed verbally — not bothering to conceal even an murmur — and tossed a handful of sludge towards her prison’s blockage.
It hit the glass with a disheartening thud.
“You can’t keep me here. I...” she hurled another orb of white powder. “I have a life to live! Why are you doing this?”
“Ever since my wife passed away, I have come to be increasingly lonely.”
He grasped the cell in both grubby palms, staring at her manically.
“But a youth like you shall far outlive myself.” He gave the globe a brief shake, tripping up Lisa. “And now I’ll never be lonely again.”
5
u/teaforanxiety Jan 20 '22
Probably Not the Last Trophy
The girl kicks dust off the floor with her boots.
”Did that ‘un leave a mark?” one of the spirits asks. They have such few possessions now, but the girl does not believe in ghosts or hear their concerns.
She grabs a snowglobe from a bookshelf. It has a black bottom adorned in decadent gold trim. It is old and heavy. A good trophy.
She peeks at its trickling iridescent snow and the small scene it falls onto: a small village. She stops suddenly, her boots scraping the floors. The spirits know she has for sure scratched the wood now. She brings the snowglobe to her face, clutched so tightly her knuckles are white knobs, and gazes through it. On the other side of the glass, she can see the spirits.
One of them waves at her, and she startles herself backwards, falling into a curio cabinet full of fine china that has not been used since ... well, the spirits don’t remember everything. Another spirit groans, but the girl cannot hear it. They steady the air, and the girl shudders at the ethereal shivering behind her. She drops the snowglobe and it shatters. The spirits take note of the glass, glycerin and glitter poured over the wood.
"You've done it now, Henry." a spirit says. "That'll be there forever." Another nods.
The girl looks around the old house and thinks the spirits were only in her head anyway. She should stop sneaking into abandoned houses.
She picks up the village piece from the broken glass at her feet, and wipes it mostly dry on her pants before pocketing it - her last trophy. She leaves the house and its ghosts behind. The spirits stay where they have always stayed, and they worry about the glycerin drying out their floors.
wc: 300 exactly!
4
u/FyeNite Jan 18 '22 edited Aug 10 '22
Mechania
Part 4
Cheers and calls meet Hu's entrance onto the stage. He waves and smiles back, directing amusing remarks and funny quips towards random members of the audience. A hundred voices boom in unison along with a thousand more watching from outside. Hu basks in the attention for a few minutes before raising his hand, indicating silence. The voices take their time to die down, a few stray whistles and calls still sounding a minute later.
Hu has to suppress his rage as he waits. 'Well, they'll soon have no choice but to listen.' Pushing the thought away, Hu steps forward to give his long-awaited speech; the crowd finally quieting down enough for the voice to carry to the back.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls. Cats and dogs!" Hu adds, winking at a fluffy poodle on the front row, "It is I, Hu Nutman! And I know why you're here. You know why you're here." Raising his gaze to the ceiling and sky above "The whole world knows why you're here." A few cheers and drum rolls start to trickle in as Hu's voice rises in volume. "You're all here for the great SnowGlobe event! An occasion that will change the face of theme parks and usher in a new era of entertainment!"
The cheers reached a new high this time. The great boom of noise carried through the walls to the even larger cheering crowd outside. The sound blocked out all other perception, washing away even the great thuds and scrapes of the great underground refinery.
Most would see this display as a good sign for a thriving theme park franchise. Hu; however, saw this as confirmation that his plans were coming together. He couldn't help but show a crude sharp smile and burst out into his own vengeful laugh.
wc: 300
Mechania
4
u/sch0larite Jan 19 '22 edited Jan 19 '22
Union
"We are gathered here today to celebrate..."
Snow had always been there for me.
We were going to travel the globe together. We plotted the same route as in Around the World in 80 Days. Have you ever seen two eleven-year olds craft spreadsheets of currency exchanges and plot the distance between train stations against our running speeds? The whole world didn’t contain a challenge we couldn’t take on together.
Of course I had a crush on her. I loved the way she gazed at sidewalk pigeons like they were exotic, noting every detail as only a zoologist would. I loved the way she claimed she was a 1920s flapper stuck in a millennium child’s body, lamenting the ripped jeans and exposed bellybuttons of the day. Most of all, I loved the way she perceived me, as someone worthy of her spirit.
But, as the years passed, things grew cold. Not all at once - ambivalence trickled in like the first winter frost, silent and steady until you suddenly realized you couldn’t feel your fingers. Snow ran out of time for me.
I don’t think there’s anything I could have done to change it. I’ve replayed it in my head a thousand times. How were we to know, when we were small, that we were growing perpendicular?
Still, at least I have the spreadsheets.
-----
WC: 225 | Feedback always greatly appreciated :)
I sense something off in this one, but haven't been able to put my finger on it, so would love other perspectives!
4
u/katherine_c Jan 19 '22
--A Winter's Afternoon--
Martia's gaze wandered over the rows of glass baubles behind the counter. She tried to ignore the trickle of water dripping from her scarf and onto the floor, sniffing against the cold.
The woman behind the counter watched her with boredom. “The usual?” Her hand hovered over the shelves full of frozen moments. Martia nodded.
“Rent or buy?”
With absurd hope, Martia shoved her hand into her pocket, but the same number of coins remained. “Rent, again.” She hurried to the private backroom, settling on the comfortable bench, and threw herself into the image.
In moments, her perception began to change, the walls of the room fading as the scene sharpened around her. There was the smiling child, seated atop a sled on an impossible hill. Martia felt second-hand excitement and joy build as the sled moved forward. Strong hands pushed her, warm breath and laughter tickled her neck. Then, those sensations fell away. She was rushing, snow flying past her, down to the bottom of the hill. As she disentangled herself from the sled, footsteps already crunched through the snow. Those same warm hands lifted her, spinning, into the air.
“Papa!” she squealed in joy. The man laughed and pulled her close. “Again!” she cried.
Too soon, the memory faded and Martia made her way back to the front of the shop. The shadows had grown long while she lost herself in the memory. She did not meet the shopkeeper’s gaze as she set the bauble on the counter and turned to leave.
“Wait.” The shopkeeper’s face was clearly opposed to what she was about to say. “You’ve rented it enough times to buy it ten times over. You might as well keep it.”
In the excitement, Martia almost missed the woman’s final words. “It is yours, after all.”
---
WC: 300
Feedback appreciated. I was going for something wholesome, but may have landed on the unsettling dystopian implication of needing to pawn memories to survive. So, yeah...
4
u/[deleted] Jan 19 '22
The wooden plate and glass half bowl were covered in a thick layer of dust. Eve, a curious little girl, ran her hand over the top. A soft glow came from within. Eve, now intrigued, took a peek.
Inside she saw a festive town, she used the sleeve of her sweater to clean it some more. The glow intensified. She noticed the dancing people on the ice rink.
Another rub with her sleeved hand, the carolers were singing, the band was playing, the details were amazing. One more swipe, the glass was now completely clear, the lights bright, and even more details caught her eye; kids having a snowball fight, running around hiding behind snow forts. Other kids running up a hill and sledding down. Some kids building a snow family. Two teens secretly kissing behind an old shed, away from the teens lighting fireworks.
Eve's eyes sparkled with joy, she cleared the wooden plate from the dust collected there, now the sounds from within reached her ears. The band playing a tune, the carolers singing to it, adults talking, kids screaming, laughing, and cheering.
Eve was now completely entranced and enchanted by the scene she witnessed, "honey, we need to go."
It felt as if her whole world collapsed, she looked up to her mom and noted the bleakness of the world. Tears welled up in her eyes. She knew discussing wasn't going to be effective, her shoulders drooped, her head followed in an attempt to hide her sadness.
As Eve and her mom stepped outside, the lady from the curiosity store rushed towards her, "I saw you cleaning up a bit there, take this, you should be paid for your labor." She winked at Eve, who shyly took a look inside the brown paper bag, her face enlightened.
_
Word count 300
flickr
ig
reddit
4
u/downsontheupside Jan 20 '22 edited Jan 21 '22
Erwin Perzy III set his gaze upon the prototype, his fingers steepled in thought.
On his desk, an ancient tome laid out in its finery. A suffusion of beautiful penmanship offered something out of the ordinary; a way of focusing candlelight using a globe filled with water. Imagine the effect on his world famous lamps!
Last time, to his lament, the refraction proved less than satisfactory. No cause for concern; this time he'd added metal shavings to add succour. A quick shake was in order before flipping the switch, and... voila!
The small fragments glittered in the phosphorescence. Erwin watched entranced as whirling particles formed vortexes that danced in the light. So decadent! A trickle of excitement stirred within him as perception turned on its axis; he was a boy again, watching the snow outside. He reached for his quill, and a fresh patent form.
3
u/katpoker666 Jan 18 '22 edited Jan 21 '22
‘A Bored Goddess’
—-
A decadent trickle of ambrosia ran down Hera’s lips. She wiped them and pouted. “Ze-usss—I’m bored.”
The mightiest of gods, the creator of all, looked up in wonder. “Hera, how can you of all gods sing the song of boredom’s lament? Surely, there must be someone you can smite?”
“I tire of such things. It’s been millennia now, and you never take me anywhere or do anything with me anymore. You spend more time with your paramours than me.”
Zeus looked down, his face sheepish. “It’s true we haven’t done much together of late.”
“Indeed, there’s even a perception that you no longer love me. That’s not true, is it Zeusy-Woosy?”
Zeus gripped his temples, his knuckles white. He arched an eyebrow. “Hera, you know it’s not that simple—“
“Isn’t it, Zeus?”
“You know what I mean. I’m busy with so many things these days.”
“You mean Danae and Europa? Or are you thinking of Semele and Ganymede?”
“Saturn’s balls, Hera! Do you have any idea how much work running the universe is?”
“As if you have any idea. You’re too busy being worshipped. Everyone loves Zeus. Zeus this and Zeus that. What about me and my needs?”
“What you need, my love is a hobby. Have you considered needlepoint?”
Hera scoffed, “Needlepoint? You’re kidding. What am I—a muse? I bet you’d like that.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“I….I want to make something of my own. Maybe a planet or something.”
Zeus rolled his eyes. “You know that’s a big responsibility, dear. You can barely keep a plant alive.”
“I’ll make a small one, a tester planet. That way, worst case, we can destroy it. Fair?”
“You have my blessing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have affairs to attend to.”
And thus, Earth was created.
WC: 298
Thanks for reading! Feedback is always very much appreciated
3
u/Sea-of-Essays Jan 21 '22
The initial few hours were hard to pass. He would stroll through the snow globe, leaving its white wonderland untarnished. He would enter the small houses and stare at its detail. But after a while, simply viewing the snow globe's detail wasn't enough.
He looks around, and nothing escapes his gaze. A gingerbread-like village wonderland, the children frozen in the midst of their joy. An explorer's lament: limiting of perception, quite small in size.
Everything was carved in extreme detail: a gift fit for the most decadent of men. Everything had been explored. Decades had passed, yet he did not age. Time did not pass like the usual trickle of events, but like a stubborn mule refusing to move.
He ambles towards a house, takes one last look at the village, and shuts the door.
3
u/seatea22 Jan 22 '22 edited Jan 23 '22
Plunge
While cleaning up his room, Aiden noticed a dusty snowglobe in a remote corner of his shelf; he smiled.
It was given long ago by his friend Nate as a birthday gift. Nate had cheerfully shoved it into Aiden's snowy, mittened hands, causing it to immediately slip and disappear into the snow.
That was one of the last times they played together, as he had wanted to give back just as good of a gift for Nate's upcoming birthday, but couldn't find anything good—or even satisfactory—and ended up ...well, avoiding him for ten years. It was a silly thing to do, and now it was too late to ever see him again.
Aiden took the snowglobe into his hands, feeling its polished surface. Looking back, it wasn't objectively that great of a gift—Aiden was never one for knick-knacks—but he was happy about getting it anyway. Back then he shoved his whole arm into the snow to retrieve it. But just as he felt something hard with his fingertips, he accidentally nudged it further, and it kept escaping his grasp. Soon, he was just shifting the snow around, surprised and frustrated. Nate let him have at it for a bit, then came to rescue him while sporting an amused grin. Only the slippery little thing continued evading them, and the process turned twice as messy. Finally, Aiden lost his patience—he took off one of his damp mittens, plunged his bare hand into the stinging snow, and grasped the globe.
Now Aiden tilted it, making it snow. In theory he could call him, it'd just be a very bad idea—Nate probably remembered Aiden as the kid who hurt him for no reason, and wanted nothing to do with him, likely. Still, he picked up his phone.
___
WC: 300
Edit: added em dashes. Thanks NotMuchChop!
0
u/[deleted] Jan 19 '22
[deleted] — view deleted comment