Akademik

n.

An extremely short literary work, typically no more than twenty-five words, that hints at a longer, more complex story.

Excited by the possibilities of the hint fiction form, the staff of "Any Other Word," Penn State York's online literary magazine, is running its own hint fiction contest now through the end of March 2011.

—" 'Any Other Word' Hosts 2011 Hint Fiction Contest: http://yk.psu.edu/30327.htm," Penn State York, March 8, 2011

Students participated in two workshop sessions based upon their interests. Available workshops included music composition, multi-modal creations, hint-fiction writing, acting, advertising/marketing/ expressive color, digital photography, and musical emotions.

—Nicole Shaw, " CAL high school students participate in Humanities Day 2011: http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/tabid/100/view/frontpage/articleid/416797/newspaperid/3958/CAL_high_school_students_participate_in_Humanities_Day_2011.aspx," The Cadet Gazette, February 23, 2011

Me, I want to coin a term, so I'm going to do it here and now: those very, very, very, VERY short stories should be called Hint Fiction. Because that's all the reader is ever given. Just a hint. Not a scene, or a setting, or even a character sketch. They are given a hint, nothing more, and are asked — nay, forced — to fill in the blanks.

—Robert Swartwood, " Hint Fiction: When Flash Fiction Becomes Just Too Flashy: http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/hint-fiction-when-flash-fiction-becomes-just-too-flashy/," Flash Fiction Chronicles, April 20, 2009

I read a while back that the author Graeme Greene wrote "The Shortest Story in the English Language", presumably following some sort of challenge. It is:

"For Sale. Pram. Never Used."

Presumably this is an example of Hint Fiction.

StephenActually, it was Ernest Hemingway, and he wrote "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."I think Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may be the originator of "hint fiction". He delighted in having Dr. Watson make oblique references to adventures that he sometimes promises to write about in the future, or are of such a delicate nature that they can never see the light of day. For example: "The giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared"My favorite variation of this: For Sale: one parachute, never opened, small stain