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Tiny Love Stories: Crowdsourced Flash Fiction
Tiny Love Stories: Crowdsourced Flash Fiction
"What kind of love story can you share in two tweets, an Instagram caption or a Facebook post?"
That was how the New York Times, one of the most prominent broadsheets in the world, began the call for their readers to share personal love stories, along with a photo (be it a selfie, screenshot, or snapshot) that would complement their short narrative. The most funny and heart-wrenching pieces would be published on their site page called "Tiny Love Stories". This online collection of super short stories gathered from the public is a wonderful example of crowdsourced flash fiction. Here are some of the stories I've enjoyed reading, complete with the photos that were submitted by the contributors. You can browse through other Tiny Love Stories pages if you want to read more.
I’m 12 years old and sleep on a 6-foot bed. My bed is perfectly comfortable, but I have trouble sleeping. Nothing changes my terror of the night and its darkness — the darkness that crawls into dreams, turning them into nightmares. A few months ago, I asked my 8-year-old brother to sleep with me. Who knew this scrawny little kid could make such a change in my life? He helps me feel safe, helps me feel strong. He helps me sleep through those otherwise sleepless nights. — Vivaan Parikh
Dominic moves with ease around the kitchen. There is no hesitation, no lingering. Recipes and measurements are nonexistent, but his food is always delicious. When Dominic cooks, the counters are spotless and the dishes clean. “Wash while you’re cooking,” he says. His hands are mysteriously baby-skin soft in spite of all the scrubbing. Dominic hasn’t told me that he loves me, unprompted, in days. But then he’ll look at me as I eat his food, our children sitting beside us. “Te quiero tanto” (“I love you very much”) is what I taste. — Susana Odriozola
Watch the lecture video on crowdsourcing and flash fiction here. Some of the things I talk about in the lecture video—and more on crowdsourcing and flash fiction can be read below. Happy reading!
The technique the New York Times used for Tiny Love Stories, that of asking readers or users to provide them with data, information--even stories, is what you call crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is a portmanteau of two words: "crowd" and "outsource" and it precisely means "to outsource work to the crowd".
History shows us many examples of the crowd or general public being asked to contribute information in order to solve a problem or provide greater knowledge on a particular topic. But this means of obtaining information flourished and became more widespread in the internet-mediated digital age.
The 21st Century is rife with terrific examples of crowdsourcing. Wikipedia is one, where volunteers contribute information to form a free, publicly-created, online encyclopedia. Waze is another crowdsourced tool--it's powered by data provided by users who report on traffic jams, alternate routes, road closures, etc. Later on in the term, we will read "The Life of Norman", a series of short tales submitted by users on the platform Reddit. The stories you'll find here in this "subreddit" are about a fictional character named Norman who is described as a "rather unremarkable fellow". Each tale was submitted by a different user and the series has become so successful that it's now a book. This collaborative, crowdsourced form of writing has hugely been enabled by 21st century technology.
Perhaps my favorite examples of literature through crowdsourcing is the PostSecret website, a platform I have been following since my college days (I was a freshman in 2005--that's a long time ago!). The initiative was started by Frank Warren and the premise is simple: people are invited to anonymously send their secrets via postcards. People can share about absolutely anything and their postcard secrets will be uploaded on the website for others to read. Again, it's completely anonymous.
What was initially described as a "group art project" has now become a series of published books. So far, there are six PostSecret books--and counting!
Through the years, I've read a mix of heartbreaking, scary, liberating, gross, romantic, horrendous, embarrassing, sad, tender secrets. Even if there are some "secrets" I can't relate to, reading them has made me (and perhaps others) feel less alone.
Here are some postcards shared on PostSecret. While they aren't exclusively about love, the ones here are (for us to stay on-topic). We all have secrets that we're afraid to share but at the same time, we're dying to share them. Do you have any secrets you want to let out anonymously? PostSecret is still up and running--it might be a good idea if you're looking for a room to share without judgment.
What is Flash Fiction?
What is Flash Fiction?
We just discussed the crowdsourced aspect of the narratives in Tiny Love Stories. Aside from being crowdsourced, one clear characteristic of the submitted stories is the length. They don't go over 100 words and can be read in less than a minute, which typical of flash fiction (also called nanotales, micro fiction, micro-stories, napkin fiction).
A narrative that falls under flash fiction is a bite-sized story of less than 1,500 words (maximum is 2,000). It certainly embodies the saying "brevity is wit", as writers must practice economy of speech, making sure that each word or line is purposeful. While the form isn't new (Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Neruda, and Jamaica Kincaid have all written well-known flash fiction), it's most certainly gained popularity in the 21st Century, often being referred to as "Twitterature". Here is a sample of Twitter-friendly flash fiction from Joyce Carol Oates:
That's the entire story--just four words, but the entire line packs in a painful punch. You have the title "Widow's First Year" and the rest of the story, in spite of having just four words, speaks volumes of the effort it takes to recover from the death of someone you love (remember the story we read, "Possessions"?). It might be mistaken for poetry due to its brevity but the presence of tension or conflict makes it fiction.
Here's another more recent flash fiction example from Etgar Keret, entitled "Asthma Attack". You will find the story in illustrated form, done by Frances Cannon (c/o Electric Literature). It's also on-topic, since we're still talking about love.
When you have an asthma attack, you can’t breathe. When you can’t breathe, you can hardly talk. To make a sentence all you get is the air in your lungs. Which isn’t much. Three to six words, if that. You learn the value of words. You rummage through the jumble in your head. Choose the crucial ones – those cost you too. Let healthy people toss out whatever comes to mind, the way you throw out the garbage. When an asthmatic says ‘I love you,’ and when an asthmatic says ‘I love you madly,’ there’s a difference. The difference of a word. A word’s a lot. It could be stop, or inhaler. It could even be ambulance.
Have you ever seen or had an asthma attack yourself? I like how this story reflects the weight words have, not just in an asthma attack, but also when writing flash fiction. Every word matters. It may appear easy to write, but it's actually quite a challenge to fit an entire story in just a few words. If you want to try your hand in writing flash fiction, just remember an important acronym:
KISS
KISS
It means: "Keep It Simple, Stupid". When it comes to this form, you have to somewhat count the words and make every word count.
From here you can either go all the way back to the main page of love, take a step back to our last topic "The Filipino Love for Hugot", or move on to the final chapter in our discussion of love: "A Poem and Two Shorts".
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