Grant Faulkner, who is a part of the NaNoWriMo organization, and also runs a website called 100 Word Story, spoke last night at The Avid Reader bookstore in Davis last night. A friend mentioned it to me, so I went because the idea of writing flash faction and micro fiction has intrigued me but I’ve never really dabbled in it. Of all the stories I’ve written, I can think of only one that qualifies as flash (1000 words or less) and one that may be micro (100 words).

One of the things Faulkner mentioned was that, when he writes micro fiction he aspires to exactly 100 words. No more, no less. At the end of the discussion he gave us a prompt and suggested we give it a try. So … here is my first micro story. The first sentence was the prompt. It is exactly 100 words long.

“Just one more drink won’t hurt anything. Isn’t that what they say, whoever they is?” 

The bartender nodded. “I think I’ve heard that a time or two.” 

“Doesn’t it matter though?” 

“On what?” 

“One drink in, another won’t hurt, right?” I pushed my empty glass forward. “But, if you’re on your sixth or seventh, maybe not.” 

The bartender took the glass and placed it under the tap. “Yeah, I gotta keep tabs on you, don’t I?” 

He pulled the handle forward and begin to pour. 

When he pushed the glass back to me, I slid my car keys to him.