What e-reading means to writing: the iStory

In celebration of its forthcoming iPhone/iPad app, Narrative Magazine is heralding a new genre: the iStory. After indulging in several iStories, it seems that normal challenges of storytelling are greatly intensified inside the 150-word genre.

Challenge 1. Maintain the narrative. With such small space to convey a fully developed narratives, some texts slip into a territory that is more poetry than fiction. While lovely, these texts do not "give readers a strong sense of having read a full and complete story." Certainly, poetic texts have an (e)audience, much of which cross-pollinates with consumers of fiction, but their delivery as fiction to fiction readers could yield an unsatisfying experience, not because of the quality of work but due to a mismatch of text to reader.

Challenge 2. To detail or not to detail. This is not a genre for the descriptive. Too many details suffocate the story line, yet none at all may render a story limp, naked, or worst of all, generic. The potent use of thoughtful details is the strong suit of this genre. Timely, poignant details speak to an author's mastery of the craft. With one well-crafted line, the story suddenly blooms, and we understand Mark Twain's idea that "the difference between the almost right word and the right word...'tis the difference between the lightening bug and the lightning."

Challenge 3. The End. Perhaps the common issue is how to end...cleanly. Some closings are abrupt; others feel gimmicky (read M. Knight Shyamalan's expected twist). While opening and moving the iStory occur fairly successful, a natural close is tough to deliver. Tougher than normal. If this form fosters new techniques, I believe they will occur in this arena as authors look for effective ways to resolve and end a narrative.

Beyond singular creation and publication, the iStory brings new considerations to collecting work into a book. A writer who is organizing an iStories book/collection becomes akin to a poet. Both need to deeply consider the harmony/discord between pieces as a reader transitions from one to the next.

If 150 words still feels roomy or if you don't believe in its possibilities, consider Narrative Magazine's section of 6 word stories. I leave you with one written by the king of literary minimalism Ernest Hemingway: "For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn."