#Microessay
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tbone.malware-virus.biz
I didn't know David Fair had died. I'm not a musician, but his "How To Play Guitar" microessay has stuck with me for nearly two decades.
August 30, 2026 at 11:49 PM
tadethompson.bsky.social
The thing about Camus' The Stranger is I can't help reading Meursault as neurodivergent rather than sociopathic as some have found him.

When he reluctantly justifies the murder, he tries to explain that he was overwhelmed by the Sun. The sensory overload was described in minute detail.

Microessay?
February 20, 2026 at 2:28 PM
julie.radiantarray.io
i didn't have a lot to do today so in response to a very reasonable, straightforward question i wrote a microessay that functions as a close reading of the narrative voice in the item descriptions of dark souls.
julie.radiantarray.io julie muncy @julie.radiantarray.io · Nov 3
yeah, no, fair. and i know you're not being an asshole. but my answer is, uh, well, it's longer than i can fit so here's what you're getting, because i think you're asking an interesting question and i appreciate this
1/4: well, no-- i don't think you're supposed to assume that the information is diegetic as such (that is, that it exists *in the game world*.) but that to me raises some interesting questions about its role in the narrative of these games, though i will grant that not a lot of them take advantage of those questions. my example of the original dark souls, though, is one that i think *does.* so, we assume it's non diagetic. great. that means it's being imposed upon the game world from outside, presumably for an outside observer-- us, the player. so what, narratively, does this extra-diagetic intrusion signify? i think the generally assumed answer for games is that it's intended to either 1) represent what the player character knows but the *player* would not (ie, in-universe knowledge) or 2) it represents diagetic knowledge translated into a non-diagetic form-- ie, procedural knowledge, things like tutorials-- how to jump, how to run, how to drink the sunny delight. 2/4: but what's interesting to me is that the voice of these descriptions-- as you point out-- does not seem to neatly map to either of those assumptions. as you say, Hollows are ignorant as fact of biology, and forgetfulness is a fundamental part of their whole deal. What's more, these item descriptions seem to operate from an unstable place of knowledge where they, at times, know basic facts about the world and setting that even most *informed* people in it would not know-- like there are a couple item descriptions that spoil the twist regarding Gwynevere and Anor Londo, extremely privileged knowledge. Yet the voice or voices of these descriptions don't seem to *always* know these things. They ask questions they don't have answers to. The knowledge being drawn from is not a stable, unmoving thing. Likewise, they don't neatly graft into the second assumed role, either, as they are, as many people will gladly point out, often *extremely unhelpful for the player.* Lore without context, questions without answers, snapshots of history with no heuristics with which to understand them. People have spent their entire careers as critics and entertainers trying to turn these disparate, barely useful scraps of information into a traditional plot or world, with clear diminishing returns-- gaps that are entirely unfillable. if these are tutorials, they're bad tutorials. and if these are histories, they're written by a maniac. 3/4: so, then, we have text that 1) is not meant to represent the player character's perspective, 2) *does* however seem to largely graft to an in-universe perspective, albeit an unstable one and 3) does not serve a clear utility. a literary reading of this brings us to the idea of something like what some James Joyce scholars call the Arranger in the novel Ulysses-- an unexplained presence, that seems to exist simultaneously inside and outside the story, which regularly intrudes upon the surface level narrative. Sometimes to provide local color, sometimes to provide gameplay hints, sometimes to casually drop massive secrets about the true order of the fictional world. But never in a manner that is easily explicated. was this intended? Hell if i know. But I do think-- at least in this specific text-- it is an incredibly clever and interesting thing. It further enforces the sense of Lordran's instability, both as a place within a fictional world that is falling apart and in its role *as a fiction itself.* As a story, told to us the player, and also perpetuated by systems that exist within the diegetic world. 4/4: and from there, that's a reading you can take to a lot of places. to thinking about the historiography of dark souls' world, to the story's themes of reproduction & rebirth as a fundamentally degenerative process, to a wacky deconstructive reading about the ability of game worlds to create meaning at all. and that's why i'm inclined to define the method as epistolary fiction, at least in this specific instance-- because if you take it seriously as a thing the text is doing, you find a surprising amount of meat on those bones.
November 3, 2025 at 12:16 AM
ashalane.bsky.social
I’ve been thinking about the inner narrators we carry. The ones that shaped us long before we knew we were being shaped.

#writersky #microessay
September 24, 2026 at 4:10 PM
gerdschmidinger.wsocial.eu
#Microessay #Kürzestgeschichte #microstory #Fragekompetenz #Debatte #Politik #Demokratie
July 10, 2026 at 7:29 PM
audreytcarroll.bsky.social
Read my new microessay "Define Neurodivergent" in @themerseyreview.bsky.social!

www.themerseyreview.com/issues/6/def...
Define Neurodivergent — The Mersey Review
'Define Neurodivergent' by Audrey T. Carroll
www.themerseyreview.com
April 11, 2025 at 12:32 PM
slow-lens.bsky.social
Lingering in the blur before meaning appears.

#slowlens #poetry #slowliving #quietude #microessay
May 31, 2025 at 8:24 AM
andydibble.bsky.social
My microessay "Orality and Respawn" about how oral traditions can address a problem in game storytelling is out in @crepuscularmag.bsky.social. It's one of the few works I've had two absolutely bomb titles for, the other being "Retold and Replayed"

www.patreon.com/posts/microe...
Microessay: Andy Dibble | Crepuscular Magazine
Get more from Crepuscular Magazine on Patreon
www.patreon.com
June 7, 2025 at 12:32 PM
riverteeth.bsky.social
✨Every year, during the month of July, we revisit some of our favorite Beautiful Things essays. Today we come back to “Dottie & Coco & Me.”

Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-th...

✨Submissions to Beautiful Things will open again September 1.

#MicroEssay #OnlineLitMag #Submit
July 20, 2026 at 4:08 PM
ashalane.bsky.social
The link came — reflex rose. The past didn’tget to decide. Instead — I breathed.

#writersky #microessay
August 6, 2026 at 5:00 PM
weramamuna.bsky.social
kinda in the mood to write a lyric microessay
April 30, 2025 at 12:01 PM
positivelaser.bsky.social
MICROESSAY

1) If open world game offers horse, I do not take.
2) if open world game offers car, I do

Horse-Games you can miss things zooming by. Car-Games you get a radio & can hit sweet jumps.

Car-games add value when moving fast, horse-games take it away.

/MICROESSAY
July 28, 2025 at 2:06 PM
ashalane.bsky.social
Been thinking about how one well‑timed rant can reset your whole mood. I’m still laughing about mine. Wild how friendship keeps handing you tiny course corrections.

#writersky #microessay
August 20, 2026 at 4:34 PM
riverteeth.bsky.social
✨How Was Your Summer?
“I played a lot of pool. I had near-constant epiphanies. Colors melted in my mouth and I ran in the dark.”
-from “How Was Your Summer?”, this week’s Beautiful Things essay by Jo Rzepiejewski

Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-th...

#BeautifulThings #MicroEssay
March 16, 2026 at 2:02 PM
ashalane.bsky.social
I didn’t realize how much clarity I’d gain once I stopped mocking my past and started witnessing it.

#writersky #microessay
July 30, 2026 at 4:26 PM
reachyourapex.bsky.social
You've heard of flash fiction. Well, here's a microessay, "A writing exercise (or, how I wrote my story)," that packs more craft info into a few hundred words than many do using thousands.
Microessay: Sam Ruhmkorff | Crepuscular Magazine
Get more from Crepuscular Magazine on Patreon
www.patreon.com
April 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
lescribbler.bsky.social
And suddenly fall is here. Like every previous autumn, cold morning air slipping spindly fingers down the back of my shirt. Cold toes on wooden floors. Cold noses during the morning walk. Autumn, like every previous autumn since time began, cold and a warning, fresh as hell.

#microessay
#autumn
October 8, 2023 at 12:06 PM
riverteeth.bsky.social
✨“To write while buried in a human warehouse you must free your monkey brain and swing from forgetting to imagining.”
-from “Convict Crónicas: {branch},” this week’s Beautiful Things essay by Leo Cardez

Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-th...

#BeautifulThings #MicroEssay #Submit
January 12, 2026 at 3:05 PM
nora.zone
i don't mind the minor factoids when they come from people i am interested in enough to follow but it's so weird that people think the replies to every post that hits discover are open ended microessay prompts
December 28, 2024 at 8:13 PM
riverteeth.bsky.social
✨“Yesterday, my artist friend stopped by with eggs still warm from her hens—pink, olive, green, brown.”
-from “Basil in the Afternoon,” this week’s Beautiful Things essay by Helaine Fiedler

Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-th...

#BeautifulThings #MicroEssay #GetPublished #Submit
August 10, 2026 at 4:04 PM
escribescribe.bsky.social
This microessay by Ocean Vuong always hits me hard. And my students!
www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
Immigrating Into English
“The trouble began when I decided to be dangerously ambitious. Which is to say, I decided to write a poem.”
www.newyorker.com
November 25, 2024 at 12:17 AM
riverteeth.bsky.social
✨Submissions for Beautiful Things are still open!

✨Want to challenge yourself this weekend? Write a Beautiful Thing and submit through the Submittable portal.

#RiverTeeth #CreativeNonfiction #BeautifulThings #MicroEssay #OnlineLitMag #WritingCommunity #GetPublished #Submit
October 17, 2025 at 4:04 PM
ashalane.bsky.social
I’m paying attention to the space between what I used to do and what I’m learning to do now. That tiny gap has a lot to say.

#writersky #microessay
August 13, 2026 at 3:44 PM
placidcreates.bsky.social
Day 20: Why is there an “if” in life?

Read today’s piece on the blog.

#OnePromptADay #Day20 #CreativeWriting #WritersOfInstagram #WritingCommunity #MicroEssay #Life #WhatIf #BlogWriting

open.substack.com/pub/placidwr...
Day 20: One Prompt a Day
Some words become questions. Some questions become homes we never leave.
open.substack.com
July 2, 2026 at 5:56 PM
riverteeth.bsky.social
✨Every year, during the month of July, we revisit some of our favorite Beautiful Things essays. This week, we take a second look at “How Was Your Summer?”

Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-th...

✨Submissions to Beautiful Things will open again September 1.

#MicroEssay #Submit
July 13, 2026 at 4:09 PM