The tiny hunter: a 50-word short story
In case we haven't met, I'll share this one thing with you. I love 50-word short stories. My natural tendency is to write longer stories, anywhere from 1,000 to 6,000 words. But I have fallen in love with the 50-word short story as a way to capture the essence of a thing--a moment in time, an incident, or a magical scene.
I'm currently running a #fiftywords short story contest. You're welcome to join!
The tiny hunter
(Image credit: werner22brigitte, Pixabay)
The old painter lives and breathes brushstrokes and birds. When he captures the tiny hunter, it is with russet, burnt umber, aquamarine and teal. Despite diminishing kingfisher numbers on the river near his home, this one will live forever-- perched on a tree limb, clutching bark and watching for fish.
Thank you for reading!
Here are my other 50-word short stories:
Ultra well done, @jayna. Excellent word choices to make it more vibrant and full and feeling much longer. Word artistry to match that beautiful find of a painting.
Thank you very much, @negativer. I really appreciate your lovely comment!
Can you win your own contest. Nyce work, Jayna. Certainly one of the favourites from this round:)
Thank you for your lovely comment, @prydefoltz! Ha ha, no I am certainly not entering my own contest, but I couldn’t resist writing a story from the prompt! 😊
brava:)
My mom is an artist and seriously, just the words "burnt umber" took me back to my childhood when she would paint on old barn boards. I ws always (for some weird reason) fascinated by the names of the colors on her paint tubes.
Wonderfully evocative writing... and in only 50 words? I'm amazed. You are awesome!
Thanks so much, @byn! I used to paint, long ago, and I always loved the names of the paints too. Thank you for reading the story, and for the lovely comment!
Ahhh, you used a dash to get to fifty words :P
For real though, I'm with Neg. This is crazy effective and is making me consider taking mine down lolz.
Oh my, did the dash give me an extra word? That was totally unintentional. I need to do a recount. At any rate it’s not like I will be disqualified. 😊
Don’t take yours down! I’m just about to read it a second time and upvote. But if you’re so inclined, you may make changes up to the deadline.
I’m so glad you decided to jump in!
I thought "What the heck," so yeah. I think I'm fine with it, but yours was just ugh. I keep forgetting how good you guys are at writing around here, like WOWZA.
I think yours is still at fifty. I counted it out of pure butt-ness.
No I had to edit it. I am absolutely devoted to making my 50 word stories exactly 50 words! I'm really glad you called my attention to that. And thank you for the very nice compliment.
You're welcome :D
That was very strong @jayna Great use of language, I especially liked "breathes brushstrokes and birds"
Thank you very much for your nice comment!
I'm with you @jayna and @byn about the paint tubes. My mom is an artist too. This leaves me both sad and hopeful somehow. Thanks for this provocative word-picture!
Thank you. I do hope we can make sure we preserve our environment and our wonderful wildlife!
I enjoy the 50 word format too!
Awesome! Do you write them?
I had at some point before. These days I pen down poems mostly.
I consider them (poems and 50-word stories) to be distant cousins. 😊
Here is one that I just did.
What a lovely word painting of the painter and his process
Thank you!
That's beautifully worded :-) New follower! :)
Thank you for the nice comment and the follow!
I love the poetry in this piece, very well done @jayna
Thank you, @cizzo! And I see you have written one. I’m so excited. I’m off to read that next.