You’ve seen it before: the #vss365 at the end of tweet. If you’re new to Twitter or the Writing Community, you may not be familiar with what VSS is (or what it stands for).
VSS stands for Very Short Stories and was created by @FlashDogs in 2016. Each month, there is a new host responsible for daily prompts. For August 2020, the host is J.D. Blood (@49JDBlood).
How do I get started?
To find the day’s prompt, go to your search tool in Twitter and type in #vss365 #prompt. This will bring the host’s prompt to the top of the results, making it easy for you to find the word of the day.
You can write in any genre, on any topic, with or without dialogue. The sky’s the limit! Some writers choose to hashtag the word in their story, others don’t.
Can’t participate every day? No worries. vss365 is meant to be a daily dose of inspiration for writers, a way to jump-start your creative juices and find new ways to use familiar words.
If you check out the hashtag, you’ll notice some writers post more than one story with the prompt each day–that’s fine, too! Write standalone shorts, tie them together, use a recurring character, experiment with different genres, or include an excerpt from your WIP (work in progress).
Do what works for you.
What if I need some examples?
One prominent writer of vss is DeRicki Johnson. His short form vss poems are sometimes comical, sometimes serious, but always enjoyable.
Another writer whose work you may see is Kelvin Rodrigues. He uses two characters from his books, Haskins and The Commander, in most of his vss, almost always in a hilarious way.
A favorite of mine is Jana Lynn Jenkins, who explores a variety of genres and topics. She recently published a book with all of her vss365 stories called “Tiny Tales.”
I’m ready to write. What are the rules?
The only “rule” of vss365 it to be courteous to and supportive of other writers.
Liking and retweeting is encouraged and a great way to show a writer how much you loved their work. This isn’t a place to correct grammar, spelling or point out flaws in someone’s writing.
How to write VSS
Writing is hard. Anyone will tell you that, loudly and on repeat until you feel trying is futile. Crafting a short story is harder, and composing a piece for vss is harder still.
With only 280 characters, you have to create a compelling MC and share her story with the Twitterverse. Writing short is a muscle that you can develop through practice.
Be mindful of glue words
Glue words are what hold a sentence together, but too many can bog down your writing (and take up precious space). Take a look at some of the most common ones.
And there are hundreds more. Look at your sentences and see if any of these words can be cut or replaced with a more precise and sensory-orientated word or phrase. Take a look at the following sentence.
I decided to go over to my grandma’s house for a bit after school so we could bake some cookies together and maybe drink some lemonade.
Out of breath? No wonder. While the meaning of this sentence is clear, it’s weighed down and dragged out by glue words.
I decided to go over to my grandma’s house for a bit after school so we could bake some cookies together and maybe drink some lemonade. [135 characters]
41 characters are taken up just by glue words — that’s nearly 15% of your story. Imagine what you could do if your story or poem could be 15% longer. Here’s the same sentence, revised.
After school, I visited my grandma. We baked snickerdoodles and drank freshly squeezed lemonade. [94 characters]
Now there’s only one glue word and the reader is left with a more vivid image, all with less characters. This technique is just one way you can get more out of your vss stories.
Keep your focus as narrow as possible
It can be tempting to throw a lot into your vss to make the story feel full. Instead, focus on a single moment. Maybe your character just lost their job, or is about to get married. Readers can (and will) fill in their own backstories, so it’s up to you to leave the right breadcrumbs to shape your piece.
If this feels overwhelming, take a scene from your WIP. Find the pivotal moment in that scene, and adapt it to a tweet. Or maybe your character has a great call-to-action or sense of empowerment, or a moment when they feel like all is lost.
What if I don’t like writing short stories?
If very short stories isn’t your thing, why not do poetry? @VSSPoem posts a daily prompt for poets.
To participate, check out their page to find the word of the day and include #vsspoem so others can find it. In this hashtag, the VSS stands for Vivid Slices of Soul (poetic, don’t you think?).
If you’re not sure where to start, take a stanza from a longer piece and find a way to make it stand alone. Drawing from work you already have can be a great way to write a vivid, focused vsspoem.
There are many places you can go for all-things poetry on Twitter. Here’s some of the most popular hashtags.
· #poetry
· #poem
· #poet
If you’re new to any of these hashtags, spend a few minutes perusing them to see what people like to post with each. Generally speaking, writers use them to:
· Share poems
· Tag their vss365 or vsspoem tweets
· Share photos of longer poems
· Link to places their poetry can be found online
· Share when a poem is picked up by a journal
You can also use these to find your fellow poets and start building your community. Don’t be afraid to like people’s poems or leave positive comments about what you liked in their piece. These hashtags can also be a great way to find new literary journals to submit your work to.
vss365 and vsspoem are two great communities for both aspiring authors and published writers who are looking for a new way to connect with their creativity. Who knows, one of your ideas for these might one day spark a new novel or collection.
Like with any kind of writing, you get out of this what you put in. Make sure you spend time reading and supporting the work other writers do, and they’ll do the same for you.
*This post originally appeared on Medium*