[1][2][3][4] The purpose of the drabble is brevity, testing the author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in a confined space.
The concept is said to have originated in UK science fiction fandom in the 1980s; the 100-word format was established by the Birmingham University SF Society, taking a term from Monty Python's 1971 Big Red Book.
French writer Félix Fénéon may be considered as a precursor with his nouvelles en trois lignes (three-line short stories), inspired by news items.
[8] 100 Word Story is an online literary journal that was co-founded in 2011 by Grant Faulkner and Lynn Mundell.
[11] The origin of 55 Fiction can be traced to a short story writing contest organized by New Times, an independent alternative weekly in San Luis Obispo, California, in 1987.