Storytelling is hard, or easy, depending on who you ask. Traditionally stories were told by mouth, around a fire, by the moonlight or on the way back from the farm. The average folk tale would be the length of today’s short story, approximately 1500 words or less. With the advent of printers and the pay per word culture, story telling exploded into long epic tales with many chapters and even volumes. The average novel is about 70-80,000 words long. For some stories, a single book is not enough, volumes and sequels are needed– Harry Potter, Song of Fire and Ice (Or Game of Thrones Series).
But while stories have grown longer, they have grown shorter too. The Internet and the use of phones as e-readers have provided an opportunity for people to read things ‘on the go’, in the time it takes to finish a drink, wait for a train or ride to a bus stop, one can read and enjoy a complete tale.
These ‘shorter short’ stories have gone by many names, but the most common one seems to be flash fiction. Flash fiction is said to be any story 1000 words or less. Within this class there are many other shorter/smaller stories still: there is short flash usually between 300-500 words, micro-fiction below 300, drabbles at 100 words, 50 word stories, and any number of words below.
( I have seen calls for 17 word memoirs, 10 word stories, six word stories and even four word stories)
Some other people classify their flash fiction by characters, so there are 280 character stories, 160 and even 140 characters. These were designed to take advantage of the character limits on SMS and Twitter, while giving a satisfying flash fiction experience. The emphasis being brevity and completeness.
The one sentence story is a twist on the theme. Can a story be told not only with a few words but with a single sentence?
A literary magazine, The Monkey Bicycle, is exploring this space. The magazine is currently taking submissions for their ‘One Sentence’ category which they hope to post every week.
A few stories are already up and the possibilities hinted at are endless. While some stories there are less than 17 words, others extend beyond 50 words. The test is in being able to keep the story going for as long as possible while delivering a pleasant reading experience.
Since I saw the challenge, I have been thinking about one sentence stories a lot. What can be done with the form? What sort of stories would flourish best in it? How can I use the form to create a pleasant experience?
I don’t have all the answers yet, but I will definitely explore the possibilities. For now, enjoy today’s offering
Village Rendevous
When Abel promised to show us a good time in the village we believed him, it would be a weekend filled with palmwine, bushmeat, and beautiful women, we thought; we weren’t ready for the gunshots that rang out that night and sent us running into the bush, or the severe malaria, diarrhea and rashes we had, in the days that followed.
Hope you liked my one sentence story. Now share yours in the comments or send to me via mail or send it to The Monkey Bicycle for a chance to be published.
naijawriter 
I must confess I’ve become lazy in my writing, embracing the flash fiction form. I’m intrigued by this one sentence form as it may help me take the expression of my laziness to the next level.
Hehe. Abi o! That one self dey. I think the key is to have many on-going projects… Thank you for stopping by.
One sentence story can stretch into 1500 words. Teju Cole once wrote a whole article in a single sentence. His feat set the literary world agog.
I might try my hand at a one sentence story too.
Yes, I read Teju’s own (in a way it seemed overdone, a bit clunky, not especially pleasant to read). I think the best ones aren’t those that try to be a book in a sentence but those that give a brief but pleasant reading experience.
One sentence stories are in abundance on old twitter though. Great post
Yes oh. Still are, really. But old Twitter was their Golden Age. RIP
What Red said.
When I think of one sentence stories I think of a story that goes on in exactly one sentence… And doesn’t read like its broken or needs a fullstop somewhere in between.
Yeah right, 😂
One sentence, 1500 words. Nah!
I will probably get lost reading because I will be looking for the colons: semi-colons; and commas.
Me too