Hit 500 words on a short story and realized that's all it needed

I've been forcing myself to write longer and longer pieces trying to make things feel complete, but yesterday I finished a flash piece at exactly 500 words and it just clicked. No extra backstory, no filler descriptions. The whole thing worked because I stopped adding stuff. Has anyone else had a story tell you it was done way earlier than you expected?

2 comments

2 Comments

troy_gibson4313h ago

Yeah exactly. I spent like two months trying to stretch a 400 word piece into something novel length and just ended up hating it. Once I let go of the idea that "longer = better" it felt like a weight lifted. That story was done at 400 words and that was that. There's something really freeing about trusting your own gut on when it's finished. It's like the story knows better than you do sometimes.

mark_nguyen956h ago

Kinda makes you wonder though, how do you actually know when to trust that gut feeling? I've been wrong so many times thinking a piece was done, only to come back a week later and realize it was basically just a draft. Like, was there a specific moment where you just felt it click, or did you have to kill your inner editor to get there? I'm asking because I still struggle with that part. Sometimes I wonder if the story really knows better, or if I'm just lazy and want to be done with it. It's hard to separate the real finish line from just wanting to move on to the next thing, you know?