Yes, More About Drabbles
There have been a few posts about drabbles recently which made me think not about the writing of drabbles, but what function they serve. I’ve come to the conclusion that in a lot of ways drabbles are fandom’s little in jokes. In a different way than “teh love” (which I still don’t get) or Justin’s Magical Heart Shaped Ass Day, drabbles operate on assumptions of knowledge – about the show and the characters.

Drabbles are not for casual fans. I know this from experience. It took me a long time to become interested in drabbles partly because the first drabbles I read were for fandoms where my canon knowledge was rather weak. I thought they might be a good way to get introduced to the dynamics in a few new pairings I was interested in. But that is not the function of a drabble. While we often encourage new writers to try drabbles as a way to start writing, I wouldn’t recommend reading them as a way to try out a fandom.

By necessity, drabbles require a bit of short hand. One hundred words leave little room for explanations or backstory. I read in fandoms where I am not familiar with canon sometimes simply because a fic was recced. Most of the time I can figure out character relationships and histories through context. You can’t do that in a drabble. I mentioned in another post, I like to write drabbles where you are dropped into a moment. If a reader doesn’t already know the characters, what they are to each other, and how they interact, that moment means nothing. Or a drabble can be built from the emotion of a scene from the show where understanding of that emotion might come from a one word reference. noteverything has a favorite drabble of mine that takes place during Stockwell’s GLC appearance. If you don’t know who Marguerite Lopez is or if you’ve never watched that scene, the drabble is basically meaningless.

Someone could read on of my longer fics or one of many longer fics in QAF without ever seeing the show and probably enjoy them despite not getting the subtleties. The same is not true of drabbles, and I think that leads to a more intimate feel. There is a level of trust between reader and writer required. When I’m trimming words in drabbles, the first thing to go are physical descriptions of dialogue. “Brian smirked” “Debbie laughed” “Justin glared” etc. The success of the drabble depends on two things-my ability to write dialogue in character enough that the reader can see what the character is doing without my saying it, and a reader who knows the characters well enough to recognize what they are doing.

There is something magical about reading a drabble and being completely in that moment because I know exactly what they characters look like, sound like, and feel. With only 100 words, a complete story is opened up for me. As an author, nothing makes me happier than knowing I’ve been able to do that for someone. This type of bond between reader and author isn’t unique to drabbles, but essential to a drabble’s impact.

Do you feel that connection when you read a really good drabble? Do you appreciate how only a few tiny details can place you completely in a character’s head? What are some of your favorite drabbles?