A mini-saga is a short story, invented by Brian Aldiss.  There are two rules you have to follow when writing a mini-saga: the story must NEVER be more or less than 50 words-exactly 50 with adding the ‘a’ and all the prepositions- and the title can be no longer than 15 words.   Our English teacher asked us to write one, so here is what I wrote………..

                                                          A Lonely Night in Bed

  She was in bed trying to sleep.  But she couldn’t.  Voices were passing through her ears.  She didn’t know where they were from.  Footsteps were coming closer and closer.  It was dark, but suddenly the lights of her room were on.

All her friends and family said:

“Happy Birthday Mary!”.

I also wanted to share with you some of the mini-sagas I like.

                                                           A Moment in Venice

  They collided in St Mark’s Square.

 As they apologised, in their different languages, he sensed that something  had passed between them.

 His heart had been touched.

 In that second something almost magical had occurred.

 He watched her vanish amongst the gathering of  people and pigeons.

 She had stolen his wallet.

   Paul Talman

I simply love this mini-saga because of many different things.  First of all there is that twist, at the beginning you feel that this is a romantic story and they may even ”get married”!  But when you come to read the last sentence everything turns upside down and it’s kind of funny.  Paul Talman really gives that atmosphere when you read the mini-saga by using words such as collided, sensed, heart, touched, magical, vanish and pigeons that contribute to the elements that give us the first that it’s a love story.  He also used the active voice for the sake of clarity which made things clearer to the reader and set him in the mood.

Here is another mini-saga by Margaret Hodgson.

                                                 The Canal Path Murders

  She could hear the sound of heavy footsteps as she hurried down the lonely  canal path after dark.  A man’s hand grabbed roughly at her sleeve and she  spun round, her legs weak with fear.  He was  holding a gun and stared  stupidly at her.

 ”You dropped this,” he said.

At the first sight when you read the title, you get curious to know about this mysterious story.  When you go on reading, you start to think  that the woman is the victim and she may be killed or kidnapped.  But when you finish reading, everything changes and it seems that she is not the victim but she is a murderer!  Mini-sagas don’t have to build such a twist, but it gives a taste to the story.  If you still didn’t get it,  here are some advices which will help you get it right..

• First write a draft. Don’t think much about exactly 50 words but estimate how many lines of writing could make 50 words.
• Focus  carefully on particular phrases and words.  Try to add stuff that catch and hook the reader by using the  active and passive  voice and choosing vocabulary carefully and make sure you use variety of sentences.
• Now you make sure you wrote 50 words exactly.
• Finally, try to work out a hooking title to your mini-saga.

You will not get it perfect at the first time, just keep trying.  It’s a different kind of writing which I love….What about you?