A story in a neat little 100 words box...
I wrote my first drabble roughly two years ago and I found out that crafting a drabble fits beautifully with my obsessive-compulsive tendencies. It's like a puzzle that you fondle until it seems to fit just right. With drabbles I've tried my hand at new pairings (Sawyer/Juliet), characters I would not have written otherwise ( Danny Pickett), experimented by weaving my words with other material (Alex POV, using a nursery rhyme) or downright went for crack ( Frank centric). Even if the canvas of 100 words seems very rigid at first glance, I on the contrary find it to be pretty versatile.
Oh and writing a drabble is a real nice exercise to try to shake writer's block away. You know you won't wander aimlessly in convoluted plot and will be allowed to stop after 100 words, so it's not asking too much of the muse, but it still gives her a kick in the butt.
How long does it take to write a drabble?
I am sure some people craft amazing drabbles in 5 minutes or less. I, on the other hand, am not that lucky. Sometimes it does flow right on the keyboard after I've turned the idea in my head for a couple of minutes. In a very few memorable occasions, my first draft was at 99, 100 or 101 words that I was happy with and it only needed fine tuning. When I first started submitting myself to that particular brand of torture, I often ended up with 150 or 200 words and had to slash out whole parts of it as I cut and re-did whole sentences. Lately, I've had the opposite problem and rounded my idea in about 60 words, so I had to expand afterward. Believe it or not, it's harder! If I had to make an average, a drabble takes me between 10 and 30 minutes to do, sometimes a bit more.
What is the process?
I can only speak for myself, but:
1) find a prompt that works for you
2) flip it over in your mind until an idea sticks
3) try to limit the idea to something doable in a paragraph or so (frame it in your head)
4) make a first draft without worrying about the word count
5) check the word count and then start fiddling
6) rewrite, add and substract words until you are satisfied, checking the word count obsessively
7) leave it alone for a little while
8) read it again and tweak (some more) until you are happy and it's 100 words exactly. The title doesn't count.
If you are interested to see how I personally craft a drabble, I have two examples for you. I rarely work longhand, but here is how it looks when I do:
Yeah. Ahem. The drabble in its final form (and therefore readable) is here: Invisibility Cloak
Also, I did a step by step sort-of-DVD-commentary of how I wrote a drabble the other day (Sawyer/Kevin, PG-13) that you can read here if you are interested. It's kind of long, so you are warned, but it gives insight on how a drabble can take form for me.
Any tips?
- Like anything that you attempt to write, have fun doing it. :)
- I may abuse listings in drabbles because it permits to say a lot in few words. It's tricky though.
- Contractions are your friends ("He is" = 2 words, "He's" = 1 word)
- When you think you are finished, take a pause and come back to it later because something might need re-working after all.
- With practice, it becomes easier to be concise. Don't be afraid to try! And do it again!
- Go read someone with a lot more talent than me talk about drabbles: Workshop - Drabbles: Making Every Word Count by kimonkey7 (when this popped up on my flist the other week, I purposely stayed away in order to avoid copying elements of her workshop, but still there are similarities! However, different POV on a same subject is always great.)
- Wikipedia's definition of the drabble
- Other links on short articles on drabbles: Squidoo, The Power of 100 .
It's my turn to ask questions!!!
Have you ever tried writing a drabble? If yes, what do you like or hate about them? Link to your favorite one in the comments! If you never tried, why not?
As a reader, what do you think of drabbles? Are they just tease-fics? Do you like them or prefer fics with more substance? (I will not be offended! Lol!)
Everybody drabble now :)
There is a drabble challenge going on right now at lostsquee (and believe it or not, it's a coincidence!)
Go sign up for a prompt here, then go post it here (and read what everyone come up with!)
Thank you!!
Thanks for reading everyone. It's been fun for me, and I hope I didn't bore you to tears! Once again, I would like to thank themoononastick and cmonkatiekatie for permitting me to link to their drabbles, bluelittlegirl for betaing this essay for me because she's awesome like that and thank you to elliotsmelliot for the opportunity to discuss drabbles with you guys!