Beta readers wanted — 250 word short SF story “Grinding Time”

Yes. I mean 250 words. Contractually required to be that short. Really. Here’s the first paragraph as a teaser.

Albina sat crosslegged on the polished reclaimed bamboo floor of her condo, with the SmartMortar gripped between her thighs. Leaning into the motion, she ground the pestle over the corn with soothing clockwise motion.

Want to offer some feedback? Just drop a line in the comments and I’ll send you the password. I’ll probably have folks go through this in waves as I make adjustments to the text. Flash at this length is sometimes hard to make clear.

Did you know you can support Mary Robinette on Patreon?
Become a patron at Patreon!

47 thoughts on “Beta readers wanted — 250 word short SF story “Grinding Time””

  1. Oooh! I’ve overcome transatlantic time differences to be one of the first responders to this one!

  2. Would love to offer some assistence, and get to preview some of your work! Long-time fan of Writing Excuses.

  3. I’m a newbie at this, but if that won’t be a problem then I’d be happy to help.

  4. Mary, can I “borrow” this post? I am teaching short story writing on the 1632 conference at Baen’s Bar, and I would like to show this to the denizens and see how they do at coming up with a 250 word story in the 1632 universe. Let me know.

    Thanks,

    Walt Boyes

  5. Love to help, though certainly realize I am late tothe table and perhaps you already have enough help. As a poet, I am comfortable with compression and conscision, so 250 words doesn’t sound too scary.

Comments are closed.

Scroll to Top