Entering a Flash Fiction Contest
I made some good progress on my novel on Saturday, but yesterday and today I’ve been working on a different project. There’s a flash fiction contest sponsored by Editor Unleashed, and I think I’m going to enter. I’ve been writing my story the last couple of days. It will probably take me another day or two before I’m ready to publish it.
The contest has a $500 grand prize. I doubt I’ll win that, but maybe I’ll win one of the 39 honorable mention prizes worth $25.
I face a couple of problems, though. First, I’ve never written flash fiction before, so I’m not really sure what I’m doing. Yes, I’ve written short short stories, but I don’t know if those qualify as flash fiction.
The other problem is the form of the story that I’m writing. Apparently, contest submissions are supposed to be posted in the Editor Unleashed forum, which would be fine for most stories, but I’m using an experimental — although possibly cliche — form for my story (you’ll have to read the story backwards for it to make sense).
Writing the story has reminded me of the degree to which I’m a writer who is more concerned with the form of a story rather than the content. Leah and The Spring are both rather traditional in terms of form, but Juvenilia is different. It’s slightly “experimental” — a blending of multiple genres of writing. That’s the kind of writing that I like to read, and it’s what I like to write.
But can something be both experimental and cliche?
Good luck with the contest. I’ve never tried flash fiction before.
Oh, I think so. My story used the format of a series of Twitter posts. In that sense it’s “experimental” because it is using a format that one doesn’t necessarily associate with short stories. On the other hand, it’s a bit of a cliche because lots and lots of writers have used the formats of blogs, IMs, websites, emails, and probably Twitter, too, for their stories.
If you haven’t entered the contest yet, you ought to. They’re accepting submissions until June 14. Give it a shot!
If you write a story that’s less than 1,000 words, you’ve written flash fiction, simple as that. I don’t see why something experimental OR cliched (or both) shouldn’t do well. It’s all about the quality of the writing and the idea.
I’ve entered the comp at Editors Unleashed too. I had a 2,200 word story that wasn’t quite working. What it really needed was editing. So I edited it down to 967 words and entered it in the Flash 40 comp.
Good luck with yours – you’ve got to be in it to win it!
Thanks! I read your story in the EU forums. I’ve seen a lot of familiar names there.