The Birth of Ultra-Short Stories: Achieving Surprising Brevity with Long Explanations!

Do you know about the #directorscut (#DCversion) of a movie? It is a kind of magic where the director takes a vision they felt needed 'more, more!' but had to settle for 'just a little, just a little!' due to budget or theater constraints, and turns it back into 'more!'. For example, a 120-minute movie might be shortened to 90 minutes, only for a 120-minute 'more!' version to appear later on DVD.

'More, a little, cut'

More, more!
A little, a little!
More, more!
Cut, cut!
Mottotto? (This means 'Do you have it?' in the Hakata dialect)

#eighttwo It feels like I've been influenced by...

Sometimes, a DC version is born in response to an encore from fans who 'want to see more.' Movie companies strategize for further #monetization (influenced by #KurosakiNao-tan?) with these DC versions. This can lead to #collectorsitems (influenced by #Kinokomiya @ whose birthday is today?), or the work may be 'more appreciated' as time passes. With the restoration of cut scenes and the addition of new ones, the story becomes 'deeper'.

Actually, novels also have methods similar to the DC version, such as #extendedversions, #revisedversions, #editions, #neweditions, #expandededitions, or #newlywritten, which allow authors to fulfill their desire to 'express more.' This can include additional chapters, scenes, text revisions, reconstruction of characters or plots, and author commentary.

My #shortstories often have long prefaces with terminology explanations and idle chatter, so it seems readers rarely reach the main text. That is where the 'Shortened Version Series' comes in! The long explanations until now were necessary because I needed to explain 'little-known concepts,' but from now on, I will write #shortenedversion at the beginning of short stories and start directly with the main text.

Usually, novelists do not explain their own work, but in my [Shortened Version], I will provide a 'self-explanation' after the short story. This is a bit embarrassing, like a comedian whose joke fell flat explaining afterwards where the punchline was supposed to be. However, since I have already sufficiently exposed my ignorance and embarrassed myself, it won't make much difference if I embarrass myself a little more.

From next time, if you see [Shortened Version] before the title, it is a continuation of this story.

To be continued...