2025 Microfiction Results – National Flash Fiction Day

​Lydia Davis - Five Short Stories.pdf

Daily Habits & Writing Routines of 21 Famous Authors

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Writing Exercises

1. The Object Speaks
Write a monologue from the point of view of an inanimate object in a familiar setting, a library book, a desk, a plant. What does it witness? What does it long for?

2. The Villain’s Diary
Take a well-known antagonist (fictional or real) and write a diary entry that reveals their inner world. What do they believe they’re doing right? What do they fear?

3. Through the Eyes of the Unseen
Choose a minor or background character from a famous story — the maid in Rebecca, the neighbour in Rear Window, the prison cook in Shawshank Redemption — and retell a key scene from their perspective.

4. Emotion Swap
Take a joyful memory and rewrite it as if it were tinged with sadness, or vice versa. How does the language shift? What remains?

5. The Mask Exercise
Write a scene where a character must hide their true feelings. Then rewrite it from their internal perspective, revealing what they’re really thinking beneath the surface.

6. The Unreliable Lens
Write a short story where the narrator is clearly mistaken, biased, or lying but never admits it. Let the reader piece together the truth.

7. The Genre Flip
Take a mundane event (e.g. making tea, waiting for a bus) and write it in the style of a thriller, horror, or romantic comedy. How does tone reshape meaning?

8. The 180 Rewrite
Write a scene from one character’s POV. Then rewrite it from the other character’s POV, revealing what was misunderstood, hidden, or misinterpreted.

9. The Impossible Interview
Write a Q&A with someone you could never meet — a historical figure, a fictional character, your future self, or even your own fear. Let the answers surprise you.

10. The World Upside Down
Imagine a world where one everyday rule is reversed (e.g. people speak only in questions, or emotions are worn visibly on skin). Write a scene set in this world.

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