A History of the Drabble in 100 Words

Drabbling the Drabble

A Drabble is a flash fiction story, except for this one. This is a short history of the Drabble, and therefore necessarily nonfiction.

This unusual word comes from Monty Python’s Big Red Book, where it was used to describe a writing contest making a winner the first person to write a novel.

The Birmingham University SF Society brought the format into the real world, limiting the stories to 100 words. A theme or keyword is offered to participants along with a time limit.

Drabbles are quite popular on Medium despite their brevity. Bonus: You don’t have to write a novel!

It is best to write a Drabble in a Word document or other application where word count is shown as you compose. Although it’s doubtful readers count the words, writers of Drabbles are quite honorable concerning their allotted one hundred. It’s a matter of pride, being able to format a short story in a limited format.

Do you write Drabbles? Are you game to try?

Write for Word Herding and submit your Drabbles here. We also accept poetry, articles about the writing craft, and explorations into word histories and etymology.

This was my first Drabble, although I didn’t hit publish on it first.

Runa Heilung is an Old Soul Alchemist, mystic, and dream archaeologist. She works with dreams, oracles, and the imagination to help people rediscover their Inner Wisdom.