It's been done in 6 - there are lots of examples of micro fiction - there's a famous example attributed to Hemingway: For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

But 3?

This is really a fun writing exercise I've thought up for a workshop I'm doing for able writers in a school in Harrow this week, which will be presented as an Odyssey Grid (shameless plug, I know, but this 'ere idea's worth the price) - it's about taking 3 words and spinning atmosphere from them. Take 'long, dark, scary' for example and turning the 3 words into a De Copia style exercise relevant to today's world ...

1 -

Long.

Dark.

Scary.

2 -

It was long, dark, scary.

3 -

It was long, and dark, and scary.

4 -

It was very long, very very dark, and very very very very scary.

(3 ‘very’s or 4 ‘very’s for the 3^rd one? What do you think? Why?)

5 -

Long ... d-d-d-ark ... sca .... ahhhhh!

Knowledge of rhetorical forms such as antanaclasis, or ploce could help in generating new ways of approaching a topic.

But those are just ways of ordering and presenting the words to nuance and colour meaning ... which authors out there can generate the best developed descriptive passage, inspired by the 3 words, up to a limit of 100 words? Just how scary was it? Free ebook of your choice from Liberalis for the winner - to be judged by John Hunt, from his retirement - closes 31 May 2015. John's word is final, and the usual disclaimers apply.

 

 

 

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