What’s the Seedling Challenge?
A writing exercise to develop your fiction writing.
“From little dribbles, mighty stories grow.”
Okay, so maybe that’s not quite how the quote goes but it’s the same idea. This is a writing challenge aimed at developing, and strengthening, our storytelling skills by starting small and gradually growing the world, characters, and narrative to something far grander.
If you’ve been on Medium for a minute, odds are you’ve come across Zane Dickens the Instigator’s 💯 Story Challenge. If you haven’t already taken on that hurdle it could be a good first stop to get a feel for what ideas people like the most and work on your own consistency before committing to this challenge.
Challenge Rules:
Maybe you’re a rule breaker so these could just be a list of suggested guidelines. Either way, just make sure you’re having fun!
Start small and grow upwards.
Keep things simple and short in the beginning. Start with a 100-word drabble. If you’re feeling adventurous try your hand at a 50-word dribble but don’t worry about feeling pressured to take on that constraint.
Remember, you only have 100, or 50, words to work with in the beginning so make every word count! Establish your vision and lay out your plot. This is when you need to deliver the core of your message. Your story should end just as strongly as it started. Less is more!
Once you’ve published that story to the world it’s time to grow. If you started with a dribble then move onto a drabble, or onto microfiction (101–300 words) if that’s the next step up for you, and so on. Expand on the character you’ve given us but try to limit it to only one, you only have 300 words to use after all.
Eventually, you’ll grow the same world you’ve created in the first publishing into a mighty short story of up to 2,000 words! By now you’ve expanded the world, introduced more characters, and really given us someone to root for. There should be conflict, some subplot elements, and maybe some backstory. Regardless of which stage of this challenge you’re in remember this:
“Write, write write, and then edit until it hurts!”
Stage Breakdown:
Try not to skip around and start at the beginning. Grow and develop your story in stages but remember, have fun! Also, we’re only counting the story bits. Title, subtitle, and any closing text don’t count toward your word restrictions.
- Dribble: 50 words (Optional start)
- Drabble: 100 words
- Microfiction: 101–300 words
- Postcard Fiction: 301–500 words
- Sudden Fiction: 501–1,000 words
- Short Story: 1,001–2,000 words
- Novelette: 2,001+ words (Optional hardcore ending)
Publish Wherever Is Convenient:
- You can keep things easy and self-publish.
- JF Danskin at The Fiction Writer’s Den accepts stories of 50 to about 1K words of any genre.
- Bradan Writes Stories at The Kraken Lore accepts stories of 50 to 2K words of any genre and word length.
- May More 💜 Tales at Tantalizing Tales accepts stories of 100–750 words on Mondays, and pieces of 2K+ during the rest of the week. They allow any genre, including erotic fiction.
It’s Not A Race:
You could dump some miracle grow on your stories and pump them all out in a week but don’t worry, it’s not a race. This challenge is all about developing your writing and improving your fiction. Quality or quantity!
It may even be beneficial to step away from a story for some time and work on other projects. Then, when you’re ready, you can return with a fresh mind and continue to grow. Take your time.
All the flowers of tomorrow are in today’s seeds.
But if you do need a swift kick in the butt to get things done then consider this time constraint. Complete the challenge within 3 months. (Optional and hardcore stages included!)
Tag Other Writers:
Maybe you like to poke the bear and want to pull your friends and loved ones into something grand they cannot refuse. Perhaps you read a great Seedling Challenge response and want to draw more attention to it. Great, tag ‘em!
It’ll be a great way to keep the community together and help us build momentum. We might even inspire someone to write something brilliant along the way.
Tag me, @ bradanwritesstories
It’s up to you but it’ll help me find your stories and give me an idea of who all is joining the challenge.
Tagging Your Stories:
I recommend starting with “Fiction” as your first tag. Maybe you’ll pick up the Top Writer badge along the way.
Other useful tags include “dribble”, “drabble”, “microfiction”, “postcardfiction”, “suddenfiction”, “short story”, and “novelette” depending on where you’re at in the challenge.
Then use “Seedling Challenge” to join the community. It’ll help us find your stories!
Seedling Challenge Community Lists:
There are two lists as of now.
- To get on the New Seedlings list, tag Bradan Writes Stories in your first story.
- To get on the second list I’ll be watching the “Seedling Challenge” tag and looking at which stories have the most fans.
Other Resources:
- Microcosm has plenty of great writing prompts you can draw inspiration from.
- Or your stories can be unprompted. The choice is yours!
- Feel free to use the Seedling Challenge divider. Just right-click, and select “Save Image As”. Now it’s yours!
- The same can be said for the Tree divider. Use it on your last story in the challenge when you complete it!
- The best part though? You can partake in this challenge as many times as you’d like.
Plant the seeds and grow yourself a mighty forest of stories! 🌲🌲🌲