For the love of tiny stories
When a little story conveys a big feeling
A little band of writers
That’s how this all started. I run a writers community in Baltimore, and this past year, we tried something new: Tiny Stories. Based off the New York Times’ “Tiny Love Stories,” we got together, looked at a small collection of one-word or one-image prompts, took 20 minutes to speed-write, then boldly - or softly - shared out loud the stories we just wrote.
Every single story contained gold. I was hooked.
1. Tiny Stories surface the essence of a story
If you want to write a complete story in twenty minutes, you have to force your mind to choose: What’s the most important thing that happened? Here’s the trick: Don’t try to make a point. Let it be small. Just make sure it’s real.
2. Tiny Stories are memorable
I’m a huge fan of long-form content. Long-form journalism. Novels. Films. Podcasts. But tiny stories have their place, too. Long-form content naturally limits your audience. Tiny Stories are easier and faster to digest. Plus they’re memorable, in a way social media posts often aren’t.
3. Tiny Stories touch our hearts
A good tiny story is a release valve for emotion. Sometimes we need to “name it to tame it.” But sometimes what we need is a story that allows us to sink into the emotions that are too big for words. Or a moment that’s just unexpectedly funny.
4. Tiny Stories comes to Substack
Since our Tiny Story events began last year, I’ve incorporated Tiny Stories into my regular writing practice. I’ll share the best ones here. I also anticipate, down the road, sharing Tiny Stories from other writers (with their permission, of course).
5. Subscribe for free or a small fee (your choice)
Please subscribe. You can join for free (about 80% of the content will be publicly accessible to all subscribers), or, if you’re financially in a position to do so, you can support the cause by paying a small subscription fee. I’m grateful you’re here, whichever option you choose.