Called flash fiction, quick fiction or nano fiction, literature in miniature has been around for decades.  Depending on the author or the editor, flash fiction can be 100 words, 250 words, 55 words, or even six words. Hemingway wrote flash fiction. Although she’s well known as a novelist, Margaret Atwood is also a flash fiction writer. I like the discipline of creating a complete story and finishing with precisely 100 words.

Here again is a crime drama in exactly 100 words. 

                                                            Detective Sergeant’s Wife Problem

“Tired this morning?” asked homicide detective Jones.

“We fought all night, again. Jennifer’s cruel when she drinks.”

“Well, there’s good news, Sarge. Remember your theory about how Wolinsky could have killed his wife?”

“Uh huh.”

“Forensics went back to check. Her fall wasn’t an accident. They found traces of hair conditioner like you said. We leaned on the husband. He admitted spreading the stuff all over the shower floor before his wife used it. Spent the evening at a neighbor’s for an alibi. Conditioner is slipperier than snot, the lab says.  How’d you guess?”

“I thought about doing it myself.”