The theory set out in this section may be seen as controversial but following this format allows even the smallest piece of creative writing to attain a beginning, a middle and an end.
Whilst a 100 word story could incorporate these sections relatively easily, a 50 or even 10 word story might struggle to include them.
The key to achieving a beginning, a middle and an end is that the story requires emotion, where emotion in stories, especially very short stories can often be achieved by having a twist or good reveal.
The theory is that the final twist/reveal is considered as the ‘middle’ of the story, not the end, even if it is the last piece of text. This allows the reader to (what I like to call) ‘think on’, and it is this activity which is considered as ‘the end’.
This doesn’t mean the story is left open-ended (although it may) but the reader will be affected by or left to reflect on the twist/emotion. The end, if not in text could therefore be a careful consideration of what they have just read, a fleeting smile or even provoke a lifelong change.
The ‘beginning’ of a story could therefore constitute the majority of the story especially in extremely short fiction. To illustrate this, consider probably the most famous micro story of all time attributed to Ernest Hemingway:
For sale, baby shoes, never worn.
Some would say that the beginning is ‘For sale’, the middle is ‘baby shoes’ and the end ‘never worn’. However I would argue that ‘For sale, baby shoes’ is the beginning with ‘never worn’ being the middle and the impact / reflection / realisation of what this may mean is the end.
The decision regarding the sections of this story can be argued over for the rest of time, maybe there’s even a PhD thesis in it, but whatever your opinion, the theory I set out above still works with this story. I would therefore argue that the theory can assist those of us less talented than Mr Hemingway to construct very short fiction.
The following two stories (written by me) all have a twist/reveal in order to elicit an emotional response and thus they (according to this theory) contain the three sections of beginning, middle and end, even though the end is not written. Each story is shown twice — once as it is meant to be read and again broken down into constituent parts.
Story 1 (Finalist, Gotham Writers (writingclasses.com) stories up to 10 words competition, June 2021).
She learnt about families in the school library. Fiction section.
Beginning: She learnt about families in the school library.
Middle: Fiction section.
End: Reader reflection of the character’s situation.
Story 2 (Winner of the txtlit.co.uk 154 character competition, October 2016, theme: Pay-day).
Pay-day meant nothing. The next day there wouldn’t be anything left. Life was just responsibility, demands. With each worker paid, bankruptcy loomed.
Beginning: Pay-day meant nothing. The next day there wouldn’t be anything left. Life was just responsibility, demands.
Middle: With each worker paid, bankruptcy loomed.
End: Reader realisation of situation.
Fusilli Writing 