I write for a Living

Laura Stanciu
I reconciliated them both. Father wanted me to marry someone desirable, meaning a rich husband. He should drive a proper family car, but he has to buy me one too, to drive it in the city. Checked. Mother with her romantic side, after thirty years of marriage, she confessed that only words and embracement mattered, the money didn't bring her any happiness. Dănuța, choose a poet for yourself, we will support the both of you, she told me. I lead myself towards Neluțu because writing keeps him alive. He has a chain of stationeries and office automation shops. 

Vlad Pasencu
It wasn't my choice. In this period of time you won't find a job that easily, therefore, I chose the first ad that I saw in the newspaper. It's a routine job, but I'm trying to put a little more spirit in everything that I write. It's six o'clock in the evening and I've already been typing for ten hours. I'm finishing the letter. I'm sorry for the tragedy you're going through. Your son's memory will always be cherished by the 506 Infantry Regiment. I continue to type and I ask myself if I'll ever receive a letter about my Thomas.

Carmen Tot
It wasn't my choice. In this period of time you won't find a job that easily, therefore, I chose the first ad that I saw in the newspaper. It's a routine job, but I'm trying to put a little more spirit in everything that I write. It's six o'clock in the evening and I've already been typing for ten hours. I'm finishing the letter. I'm sorry for the tragedy you're going through. Your son's memory will always be cherished by the 506 Infantry Regiment. I continue to type and I ask myself if I'll ever receive a letter about my Thomas.

(Translated by Maria-Ilinca Darie / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)


Real Fiction is a collective project started in 2013 by Florin Piersic Jr. The concept of Real Fiction continued to exist as a Facebook group, after a volume of stories was published at Humanitas Publishing House. (In May 2024, the group has 13,000 members.) The authors write ultra-short stories, with the texts limited to 500 characters (in Romanian, so the length of the English translation might be a little different) - a flash-fiction exercise on a topic that changes every few days. The group's coordinators are Florin Piersic Jr., Gabriel Molnar, Răzvan Penescu, Luchian Abel, and Vlad Mușat. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)

Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.