Talking About Microfiction with Sci-Fi YA Author Sophia Hanson

Today I’m talking with Sci-Fi YA author and fellow columnist here on Almost an Author, Sophia Hanson, about microfiction. I reached out to her after noticing her microfiction on Instagram. I have a love-hate relationship with microfiction. Fitting a piece of writing into the limited perimeters is hard enough, but toss in a time constraint and it requires some major flexing of those writing muscles!

DJS: Was the month-long Instagram challenge the first time you’d tried microfiction? 

SH: I’d tried microfiction once or twice in response to Instagram contests. Cassandra Hamm holds prompt contests quarterly. They are tons of fun. I’d never done a month-long challenge before, but wanted to push myself to do the next hard thing. Thirty-one days of posting new content to prompts was definitely out of my comfort zone, and I decided to learn how to include images in the posts. I learned about Canva, tagging, and writing even when I didn’t feel inspired.

DJS: What was the hardest thing about producing microfiction? 

SH: Including a whole idea/world within those fifty words, but sometimes it was just as hard to land on fifty, not forty-seven or forty-nine.

DJS: I can certainly agree with that! The exacting word count of microfiction had left me blinking at my computer screen a time or two.

In what ways did writing microfiction affect and benefit your writing?

SH: I love learning how to write tight, and I love writing to prompts. It’s a great challenge, especially when you’ve been working on a larger piece, because it helps to reset your brain and refresh those creative juices.

DJS: If someone wants to try out writing microfiction, what is your best advice before they start?

SH: I totally recommend following hashtags like #50wordfiction, #50wordstories, etc. on Instagram. It’s a great learning lab and you’ll find out about the various prompt contests there. 

DJS: After the challenge, Sophia made use of her work in a unique way. She printed and bound her Thirty-One Days in October and gave it out as gifts, like a book of poetry! Now that’s a wonderful and clever idea. I’d love to get such a gift, wouldn’t you?

Sophia Hansen is an organic author—using no hormones, antibiotics, or pesticides in her writing unless absolutely convenient. She’s lived on a tiny island in Alaska, the bustling cities of New York and Boston, and now resides in the Southeast where she writes between fresh(ish) cups of coffee and slices of bacon. After 30+ years of marriage, seven children, and numerous pets, Sophia can still fit into her high school earrings.

Water’s Break, Sophia’s debut YA Sci-Fi novel is scheduled to be published by Enclave Escape in January 2024.

Find out more about Sophia and her writing at her website, SophiaLHansen

Sophia is a flash fiction author, and is also an editor with Havok Publishing. You can find some of her stories in the Havok archives and anthologies at GoHavok. She writes the A3 genre column for Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

Donna Jo Stone writes YA contemporary novels about tough issues but always ends the stories with a note of hope. She blogs at donnajostone.com.