11.01.2019 31 Ways to Say ‘I Scare You’: The Collected 100-Word Drabbles of October

A hundred words is not very much.

Especially if you want to tell a whole story.

But a fantasy publication put out a call, looking for 100-word drabbles with a Halloween/scary theme, and I gave it a shot. The five I spat out fairly quickly were all rejected. And yet … I was not deterred.

I thought: I could send these elsewhere. Even better, I could publish them on Medium (as Jonathan Carroll had recommended when we met)!

Then a wild (or totally insane) spirit seized me and I thought, What if I did one of these every day for October?

And so it came to pass.

In the end, it was all a learning experience. Among the things I learned:

1) That 100 words is deeply unforgiving.
2) How to cut all the way down to the bone. Nothing frilly. Everything compact.
3) That I could do this thing.

Some ended up being prose, some doggerel, some funny, some gross. Some terrible, some good, some just OK.

Another thing I noticed: That some of my friends went out of their way to boost the signal (for of course I posted each story on social media) with retweets, shares and likes. My heart glows like a candlelit pumpkin for those who helped throughout the month. I love all my friends, but at the moment I love those friends just a little bit more. Thank you.

And now, for anyone who missed the original drabbles, or who really wanted them all in one place, I’ve collected them in this web post. But wait, there’s more: If you sign up for my mailing list, I’ll be providing an e-book of all 31 drabbles for your downloading and reading pleasure at the end of the year.

Here’s to learning new things every day, at least for a month. Allons y!

October 1: Happily Ever After
October 2: True Story
October 3: Release and Catch
October 4: Skin in the Game
October 5: Everything You Love Will Be Taken From You Tomorrow
October 6: The Price of Beauty
October 7: Main Course
October 8: Snakes No. 1-3
October 9: State Bird
October 10: Earworm


October 11: Deep End of the Pool
October 12: On a Dark Desert Highway
October 13: Heart of Darkness
October 14: Love Horror
October 15: First Fetching
October 16: Haunted
October 17: Continental Drift
October 18: Harvest Season
October 19: Head of the Class
October 20: The Candy Mob Can


October 21: Out of Your Gourd
October 22: Mary Janes Are Candy, Too
October 23: The Grannies
October 24: Tell Them Boris Sent You
October 25: Inner Demons
October 26: Ghost Story
October 27: 6 Halloween Laws You Never Knew Existed
October 28: Skin & Bone, Pt. 1
October 29: Skin & Bone, Pt. 2
October 30: Sound Affects
October 31: All Hallow’s Eve

Have a favorite? Really hated one? Would love to hear from you about it. Let me know in the comments!

xo,
R