In March author Tim Austin began a “Brilliantly Insane” project: to write a brand new 100 word short story every single day for 365 days. It has since been viewed thousands of times by readers from across the globe – from Sri Lanka to Canada, India and Australia.
With just under 300 more days to go, we talk to Tim about the project, celebrity contributors and what writing fiction means to him.
What is One Word, One Story?
It’s a project where members of the public suggest single words and I use those words as titles for flash fiction short stories. I read each word, an image forms in my mind and I take that image as inspiration for what I write. I never, ever know what’s going to come next! And I’m writing a new story every day for a year over at onewordonestory.org.
It sounds crazy. What made you do it?
A friend of mine suggested the notion of word association as a way of exploring my imagination and practicing my writing. I started doing that as a hobby. At first it was single paragraphs but I enjoyed it so much that I turned it into entire short stories. Taking it public and doing it every day for a year seemed like a fun next step.
You have a strange idea of fun,….
Haha! I enjoy taking things too far and I like a challenge. I think this counts for both.
Why just a hundred words?
I wanted to create something that people could read on the go. People have little time if they’re on a lunch break or travelling to work and I wanted to write something bite-sized that they could enjoy. Maybe read two or three in a go. The other reason was the challenge of condensing a whole narrative into so few words – it really makes every word count. It’s very pure and I like that very much.
Where did the idea of approaching other authors and celebrities come in?
Yeech, I hate the word “celebrities”! It sounds so contrived and pat. I want everyone to be able to suggest words and titles but I thought it’d be fun to approach a few writers and actors I admire. I’ve been honoured that many of them have been kind enough to donate words.
Such as?
Danny John-Jules (“Cat” in the Sci-Fi classic “Red Dwarf”) suggested “SmegForBrains”. I’ve also had suggestions from screen writers and authors including Mike Wells, Jonathan Maberry, Eddie Robson (Doctor Who) and Robert Shearman (also Doctor Who – writer of the acclaimed Season One story “Dalek”). I’m keeping quiet about future contributors. But I’m always asking. And I’m always looking for new words – anyone can suggest their own. Hint.
Did you expect it to become this popular?
To be honest, I thought it’d get a couple of hits a day. I started the site as a hobby, after all. But within two weeks I was getting hundreds of visitors a day and thousands of hits a month. It’s been wonderful to connect with people and hear that they’ve enjoyed each story. That’s been the greatest pleasure.
You can read, contribute to and support Tim’s One Word, One Story project over at onewordonestory.org now.