Thirty-one words, shorter than flash - genuine nanofiction. It's a fun exercise, often challenging, but within the word limit you've managed to hint at a beautiful image.
That having been said, "The Marooned Feather" is only an image, nothing more. Fiction is defined as many things, yet within these definitions is a commonality: narrative. Does it tell a story? Is there movement? A conflict, its resolution (or not)?
This is especially true of nanofiction, which must do more with so much less. In that regard, it's a lot like poetry - every word and punctuation mark is a deliberate choice of the writer. As pretty as your language is, it doesn't do work: For instance, who is the girl in the forest? What is she doing there? What is so significant about this feather, and how does it fall "triumphantly"? Why Norway and not some other wooded country? Even details like the color of this feather, or the season - a great number of elements you can tinker with, all of which will change your narrative.
It isn't to say you can answer all of these questions, or even that you should - it's nanofiction, after all, and you're working within a tight word limit. Still, and if I haven't intruded too forcefully with this feedback, you may want to consider such questions as you play with this piece.
Keep writing, of course!
11 Feb 2016, 7:19 pm
