55 Fiction

 55 Fiction, created by Sara on 12/18/2004 in Otaku Anthology, would become one of the mosty wildly successful threads in a forum whose offerings often languished, unnoticed.  The basic idea of 55 Fiction, was for members to write a story in 55 words or fewer.  The challenge of the premise, was that each offering had to be a complete story (not poetry) with a setting, characters, conflict, and resolution.  The strict limit placed upon contributors  forced them to understand the value of words; members would not be able to “pad” their stories with “fluff.”  Instead, members were set forth with the goal of telling an effective story, beautiful in its simplicity.  Because the stories were so short, members easily read through and commented on their peers’ work, which fostered a “writing workshop” atmosphere.

Dozens of members contributed to the thread, which was recognized in the 2005 Nifty Fifty awards.  The thread has been updated up through 2007, a testament to its longevity and success.

Categories: History, Notable Threads