Sometimes, the best stories come from surrendering to the ridiculous.
This micro-fiction piece comes from the writing prompt of “He built without experience or knowledge, but with limitless passion.”
There’s something fascinating about that idea—the notion that raw passion can be enough to create something extraordinary, even in the absence of skill or understanding.
It made me think about the kind of character who wouldn’t just try, but who would succeed in ways that defy reason. And, of course, once I leaned into that, the absurdity took on a life of its own.
That’s what I love about creative fiction: the freedom to explore an idea without worrying about whether it makes sense in a logical world. Sometimes, the best stories come from surrendering to the ridiculous.
So, with that in mind, here’s my micro-fiction piece, The Architect of Nowhere.
Emory had never built anything before. Not a birdhouse, not a bookshelf, not even a sandcastle. Yet one morning, with the sun hanging like an overripe peach, he declared himself a master builder and began.
With no plans, no measurements, and no regard for gravity, he stacked bricks atop soup cans, welded doorknobs to windowpanes, and constructed archways that led nowhere. Townsfolk gathered, at first to laugh, then to gasp, then to worry. His creation twisted toward the sky, defying logic, held together by sheer will and the occasional glob of marmalade.
“Do you even know what you’re making?” someone asked.
“No,” Emory grinned, brushing sawdust off his trousers. “But it’s magnificent, isn’t it?”
And somehow, impossibly, it was.
(c) Eric Montgomery
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