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55 Fiction is a form of microfiction that refers to the works of fiction limited to a maximum of fifty-five words.

Contents 1 Origin 2 Criteria for 55 Fiction 3 Elements of 55 Fiction 4 Development of 55 Fiction 4.1 Variations of 55 Fiction 4.2 Books based on 55 Fiction 4.3 Development in contemporary society 4.4 The 55 Fiction Competition 5 See also 6 External links

The origin of 55 Fiction can be traced to a short story writing contest organized by New Times, an independent alternative weekly in San Luis Obispo, in 1987. The idea was proposed by New Times founder and publisher Steve Moss. New Times, while often mistakenly believed to be part of the New Times chain of papers, is actually part of the smaller, San Luis Obispo-county based New Times Media Group, which also owns the Santa Maria Sun.

A literary work will be considered 55 Fiction if it has:

1. Fifty-five words exactly(A non-negotiable rule)
2. A setting,
3. One or more characters,
4. Some conflict, and
5. A resolution. (Not limited to moral of the story)

Many new versions of the 55 Fiction have started to modify on the rules by either ignoring to include conflict, or basing it on a true incident and dramatising it.

As the limit on words is strictly put, the words of a good 55 Fiction have to be chosen very carefully. The following constitute the main elements of a 55 Fiction:

• Drama: Most 55 Fiction works are dramatised so as to get the effect in limited time.
• Suspense: This is regarded as an essential element of 55 Fiction work. Never until the last sentence, does the actual theme of the story emerge.
• Shock: Most 55 Fiction works incorporate what is known as a Last Sentence Shock. This is usually done carefully by adding double meaning or confusing words throughout the story so as to misguide the reader into thinking about a different theme for the story. This results in a shock for the reader who comes to know about the story's actual theme in the last sentence itself. Mostly, it translates to the reader having to read the story again to convince himself/herself that the plot is consistent.

As an experimental variation of 55 Fiction, 55 Poetry was also experimented by people but it was largely a failure as short poetry had been accepted, and written, for a long time already.

As the 55 Fiction concept is a copyright of Steve Moss of New Times, only two books have been published on the concept. They are based on the submissions for the 55 Fiction Contest organized by the magazine. The books are:

1. The World's Shortest Stories: Murder, Love, Horror, Suspense, All This and Much More in the Most Amazing Short Stories Ever Written, Each One Just 55 Words Long.
2. The World's Shortest Stories of Love and Death: Passion, Betrayal, Suspicion, Revenge, All This and More in a New Collection of Amazing Short Stories-Each One Just 55 Words Long.

The copyright nature of the theme prohibited others to professionally organize 55 Fiction Competitions. As a result, the concept was only propagated through word-of-mouth in its early days. However, with the advent of internet in the 1990s and especially after the popularization of blogging, the spread of 55 Fiction concept was accelerated. People started to write their own 55 Fiction works in their blogs, and many a times inviting others to write one themselves. There were also cases of non-commercial hosting of 55 Fiction Contests on the blogs with reasonably good success.

The 55 Fiction Competition has been continuously organized by New Times ever since it was introduced in 1987. The competition is an annual event with open participation.

• Literary genres
• Fiction writing

• 55 Fiction on New Times
• 55-fiction.org