Hint Fiction

I’m just learning about Hint Fiction. It’s a term coined by Robert Swartwood, who defines it as: very, very, very, short tales where the reader is given just a hint of the story. Not a scene, or a setting, or even a character sketch. They are given a hint, nothing more, and are asked — nay, forced — to fill in the blanks.

We’re talking about twenty-five words max here.

Swartwood adds, “One of the biggest hints in Hint Fiction is the title. It’s like the setup to a joke, and the story is the punch line. Without the one, the other won’t work.”

So I’ve been toying around with a few, just for fun, filling in a free moment here and there. Here are some examples of what I came up with:

A Woman Scorned
After seven years of marriage it had become a love-hate relationship. And when he cheated on her, she found the hate impossible to control.

The Visitors
Light poured through the bedroom window, waking her. Not a flashlight. Not a passing headlight. A light that flooded the room. They were back.

Fright Night
Norris was exhausted when he fell asleep. When he woke, his hair was milky white, his eyes wide, his mouth frozen in a scream.

These are fun to do, though I don’t intend to waste too much time with them. I do think they provide an interesting way of generating story ideas. It’s a bit like doodling … every once in awhile you turn up a real gem.