1) How many words can my story be?

Fifty. Not forty-nine, not fifty-one. Not one hundred, either, although you're welcome to make your own site for that. Or if this one does well and people clamor for 100 word sites I might consider it. (No, I lied, no matter what `MinorKey tells you. I can barely keep up with this one.)

2) Is that fifty words including the title? Or does the title count?

The title does not count towards the fifty words. Although if your title is longer than fifty words ... well, that's kind of weird.

3) Isn't there a fifty word fiction site out there?

There are at least two, but they haven't been doing anything for years and the first one has a note on it that if someone wants to make one they are welcome to. There's also 55 Fiction, if you prefer slightly longer fiction writing.

4) Do contractions count as one word or two?

One.

5) Do I put you on watch or send a note to join?

If you want your little icon in the "members" area then you gotta send a note because I don't feel like getting evil notes from people saying they just wanted to watch. Of course, if you send a note with a link to your fifty word story then I'll assume you want to join.

6) If I join do I have to write stories?

First rule of life: the only things you are forced to do is eat, sleep, breathe, and other survival/bodily function-type things. If you join and never write anything ever, you'll look kinda silly. But no, you don't have to write anything. But it would be nice.

7) Are you gonna steal my awesome idea/story/take my copyright/etc?

Um, no. I have plenty of awesome ideas, etc, of my own.

If you publish more than 10% of a story on a public site (ie. this one) it's considered published and is less likely to sell to a publisher. But this is sort of for fun. There's really nobody out there buying fifty word stories that I know of. And nobody can take a copyright from you.

8) What are your plans for this?

Well, while I was sitting by a pool in Ft. Lauderdale this weekend, I thought that if we got a really nice number of these (like 100 or 300 or something) it might be fun to print them up in a little book like you see in bookstores. But right now it would be nice to have lots of people trying their hand at writing fifty word stories!

9) I feel so pressured! I can't write a fifty word story in a week! Can you make it one new topic a month/year/decade/century?

No.

If you find you've missed the topic for the week and want to add your story, send the link to it to me in a note (and I'll update the deviation: preferred method) or put the link to it as a comment in the deviation for that week/topic. Don't cut/paste your story into a comment unless you just don't want people to go see it on your site. I personally think it's cooler to go to the person's site and see all the other stuff they've done too.

And if you feel inspired to write on some other topic (one not mentioned, or one that was from a while ago) just add the link to it on the appropriate deviation as a comment. That was the purpose of doing it like this, so we'll have a list of topics to add stories to forever. Open mike week is for whatever you want to write about.

I sat by a pool yesterday and wrote a fifty word story in about ten minutes, including getting rid of the words that weren't needed and made it go too long (the hard part). It takes a little practice but if you try it, I think you'll like it.

10) What's with the deviations? They aren't fifty words!

The deviations are collections of links to whatever stories are submitted for that topic. If no one submits any stories, there will just be the topic posting. And no, I don't try to make them fifty words.

11) What do I do after I join?

Go through the gallery and find a topic that interests you. Write some fifty word stories! Submit them by sending a link to your deviation in a note (tell me what topic your story should be put under), or just post the link or the story as a comment. The idea of this is to make a place where people can come read our stories, visit our sites, etc.

There's also at least one Open Mike Week post. If none of the topics suit you, write a story and submit it and let me know it goes under Open Mike. Or suggest a topic of your own!

12) It's Monday! Where are you?!?!!!?!?!

I'm married and have three kids and a more than full-time job and a life. Sometimes I don't update this every week. If it's a holiday in the US on a Monday, the chances are good this site won't be updated.

Also, if there's no participation for a particular week, the chances are good I'm not going to give a new topic. But I will try to update at least twice a month.

13) When's the deadline? *stress*

Relax. There is no deadline. Just like there is no spoon. If you want something posted, submit it. Just let me know what topic it goes under. I don't care if it's something from last year.

Feel free to submit your story or any topics you'd like to see here.

Hope to hear from you soon!