100 Word Story is a literary magazine that was founded in 2011 by writers Grant Faulkner and Lynn Mundell in Berkeley, California.
The brevity of the form, and the magazine's presentation, allows the writer to "keep a story free from an explanation," in the spirit of Walter Benjamin's philosophy of storytelling.
In a 2014 interview, Faulkner explained:"Writing these smaller pieces was a nice break, and since I could squeeze them into a somewhat-frenzied life as a working parent, they gave me a great sense of creative satisfaction ...
[10] In May 2018, The Millions featured a round table discussion on flash fiction with the book's editors and authors.
Its stories are also routinely included in Wigleaf's annual long- and short-lists of best flash fiction.
It challenges both the reader and the potential writer to choose carefully images and words brought forth while reading and creating.
The writer also faces this challenge by working in a backward manner to extract parts of the story that do not move it to a conclusion in an effort to meet the 100-word count.