Nicole Sune Sbitani (she/her) is a diplomat by day and speculative fiction author by night. The views expressed in her newsletter or on her website are her own and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of State or the United States.
New fantasy story out now
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Hello! I'm excited to share I have a new story out called "Get Your Fix" in 100-Foot Crow. This story's an ode to service workers and the million small, daily interactions that impact us in unseen ways. You can read it for free on the 100-Foot Crow website. I love 100-Foot Crow because all they publish are speculative fiction drabbles. In other words, they publish science fiction and fantasy stories that are exactly 100 words - no more, no less. One of the reasons I love reading and writing microfiction like drabbles is because I can always make time for them no matter how busy I am. These short pieces come with their own set of challenges, too, like: how can you tell a complete story with so few words? How can you use the reader's assumptions to fill in what's left unsaid and fill out a very short story? How do you land a satisfying ending that doesn't feel like a cheap twist, when you have so little time to build up to it? If you're interested in the craft of drabbles and very short fiction, I recommend perusing the 100-Foot Crow blog and joining the subset of the #WritingCommunity on Bluesky that regularly writes microfiction. My favorite resource is the hashtag #vss365, which stands for "very short story, 365 days a year" and provides a daily microfiction prompt. If you try it out, please tag my Bluesky account so I can enjoy reading your work, too! Thanks for reading! Nicole Disclaimer: The views expressed in my newsletter or on my website are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of State or the United States. |
Nicole Sune Sbitani
Nicole Sune Sbitani (she/her) is a diplomat by day and speculative fiction author by night. The views expressed in her newsletter or on her website are her own and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of State or the United States.
Hello! You may know that Brandon Sanderson is one of the most prolific and successful fiction authors of all time. Did you also know that he regularly lectures on the craft of speculative fiction writing and the business of publishing, and then kindly makes that content available online for free? I listened to his previous Brigham Young University (BYU) lecture series from 2016 on YouTube and have recently been working through an updated 2025 version of the same lecture series in podcast...
When I was in college, some of my friends and I exchanged handwritten letters. It was a nice way to stay in touch when we scattered to different universities, and I remember how exciting it felt to receive a letter in the mail - completely different than a text or email! There's something similarly special about reading my words on published paper instead of just on a screen. I'll forever be grateful to Exponent II for being the first to publish my adult fiction in this way, and I still keep...
We took a family trip to Chincoteague, an island in Virginia famous for horses. This fame comes from Misty of Chincoteague, a children’s novel written by Marguerite Henry. As a testament to how impactful this novel is, I read it in the early 2000s as a kid even though it was originally published in 1947! (Did any other readers go through a horse girl phase as a kid? I know there must be a few.) Although I didn’t have time to re-read the book before our trip, we did watch the 1961 film...