ABSTRACT
Novelists and other dramatists have long extolled the practice of nonfiction writing, specifically journalism, as a way of gaining worldly experience, learning information-gathering techniques, and tightening one's prose style. Just as the practice of nonfiction writing improves one's ability to craft fiction, so, too, it can be argued, does the reverse hold true: the practice of fictive storytelling leads to a more cogent nonfiction writing style. One unique way of experiencing the benefits of dramatic writing is by composing 55-word short stories. Because the form is so brief, its successful completion mandates the writer's scrutinizing of every word used, and the questioning and analyzing of every sentence's function. In The World's Shortest Stories, a 1995 collection of 55-word efforts, editor Steve Moss reminds that all stories, must contain four elements: character(s), setting, conflict, and resolution. Quality 55-word stories tend to be stylistically characterized by active verbs; concise, minimally modified language; short-worded, short sentences; reader-inferred detailing; and rhythmic style and grace.
