Esquire’s Napkin Project

Lately I’ve been really into reading the fiction stories on Esquire’s Napkin Project. It’s sort of old at this point, but basically, Esquire mailed out square napkins, like you’d find in a restaurant, to authors or various levels of experience, asked for some kind of fiction, and posted what they received back.

It’s crazy how much engrossing some of these are given the space constraints. Some of my favorites include this one, this one, this one, and this one.

I wish this had been an assignment for one of my English classes in school. Even though I didn’t take any creative fiction writing courses, I think this would’ve been so fun. If I ever become a college professor of English 100, maybe I’ll make it part of the curriculum.