Microstory 400: 42 Stories (Introduction)

< > Table of Contents

I’m not sure that you can appreciate the amount of effort that went into the last 100 microstories. For those of you just joining us, each installment contained a count of one more word than the installment before. Microstory 309, for example, had exactly 309 words, while Microstory 353 had 353. What made this endeavor even more difficult was that I tasked myself with expanding Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs from around one, or maybe two, dozen individual parts to a full 97 (some were written across two installments). Furthermore, I didn’t really know what the hell I was talking about most of the time. I’ve always wanted to be famous, and a part of me is scared about fans uncovering that series and criticizing me for it, but another part is just excited about the possibility of being studied by others to such an intense degree. It’s important that you understand what I went through for four months because of what’s going to happen from here until the end of the year. I’m starting a new series in two parts. I’ve not yet worked out the details of how I’m going to handle it, but one thing I do know is that there are 42 Stories to be told. And once those are all done, 42 More Stories will need to be told so that you can learn how things turned out with each of the first ones. I first came up with this concept many years ago, and had intended on it being an experimental film. I still think it would be an interesting thing to watch, and hope one day for an adaptation. Like this past series, I’m going to be delving into concepts that I do not understand to a comfortable level. Give me dimensional physics, terraforming machines, and time travel; and I’ll give you a thoughtful and intricate story. Give me a company that operates out of a single obnoxious tower with a giant atrium that runs up the whole thing and you may very well find yourself disappointed with what I return. I’ve worked for many companies, so I have some idea how they work, but I need more data. In my “free time” I’m studying systems thinking, so hopefully that will help. I’m glad to be done with the restrictive word count requirements, but just to be safe, this one has 400 words. Cool?