Craft Chat A Very Short Story Contest - prize is a class with Gotham Writers

[LJ Beck]

This is a contest with Gotham Writers - a writing school in NYC who also does online classes. I've taken 6 online classes with them, and they've all been great. Not a bad prize really... 10 words for a free class.

Here's the contest from their site:

It may be apocryphal, but the story goes that Ernest Hemingway won a bet by writing a short story that ran fewer than ten words. One version of the story places the bet at the famed Algonquin “round table.” Whether true or not, there is an actual bet-winning short story attributed to Hemingway:

For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.

You have to admit it’s pretty good. It builds, and there’s a whole world of background and emotion lurking beneath those words.

We would like to make a similar bet with you. Write a great short story in ten words or fewer. Submit it to our contest. Entry is free. Winner of the bet gets a free Gotham class.

• Entries must be submitted online by 11:59 pm Eastern Time, Friday, May 30, 2025.
• Entry is free. Limit one entry per person.

A Very Short Story Contest - Gotham Writers

v2.writingclasses.com

It might be fun for us to do this here in Litopia. Do you have a 10-word short story?

 

[LJ Beck]

Oh, I just thought of one. It was really fun to come up with something. Bit grim though, but here it is...

His tenth birthday wish came true, making him an orphan.

 

[Rich.]

His tenth birthday wish came true, making him an orphan.

Oh, that's good. Grim and dark and good.

--

He held the mighty shield, but had forgotten why.

 

[LJ Beck]

He held the mighty shield, but had forgotten why.

Oh, I like it!!

 

[Pamela Jo]

The wedding was in the cemetary, the obvious choice considering.

 

[LJ Beck]

The attempt to delete AI came too late for humanity.

 

[Rich.]

Intelligence was proven uncomputable, so the tech bros went extinct.

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

The glass slipper fit. The prince didn't.

 

[LJ Beck]

She drank the elixir of immortality. Regret would last forever.

 

[LJ Beck]

I don't know why mine are all so grim!!??

She refused the elixir of immortality and died with love.

That's better.

 

[Rich.]

She quietly sold the elixir of immortality to her enemies.

 

[LJ Beck]

She quietly sold the elixir of immortality to her enemies.

haha!!! That's beautifully evil.

 

[Pamela Jo]

He died laughing then realised the joke was on him. Grim is in the air, Lyse.

 

[Pamela Jo]

They loved well, raised happy children, died old and peacefully. Doesnt make the most compelling story.

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

They loved well, raised happy children, died old and peacefully. Doesnt make the most compelling story.

But the children weren't theirs. Death brought truth.