Flash Fiction Contests!

If you've taken any creative writing workshops at JSC, chances are that you have lying around somewhere a notebook or two full of writing exercises.  Some of these exercises may have turned into full-length stories or poems, while others sit waiting to be rediscovered.

One very satisfying way to put these exercises to use is to try to turn them into short short fiction (or "flash fiction") -- stories ranging from 100 to 1,000 words.  The fun thing about writing short shorts is to discover how narrative redefines itself under compression, or dissolves altogether, allowing the writer to explore more associative or lyric modes that at times approach poetry.  Part of the power of such pieces lies in their strangeness and suggestive power.

So try to put together two or three short shorts to submit to one of the following flash fiction contests, which are posted at NewPages.com.  Next to each link is the submission fee and deadline:


Our Stories. Flash Fiction. $10. 1/16 - 4/15 (annual)


American Short Fiction. Short Shorts. $15. 2/15 - 5/1 (annual)


Glimmer Train. Very Short Fiction. $15. 5/1 - 5/31 (annual)


WOW! Women On Writing. Flash Fiction. $10. 5/31 (annual)


Indiana Review. Prose Poem, Short Short. $15. 6/15 


Literal Latte. Short Short. $10. 6/30 (annual)


Glimmer Train. Very Short Fiction. $15. 7/1 - 7/31 (annual)


Gemini Magazine. Flash Fiction. $4. 8/31/10


Gulf Coast. Prose Poetry, Short Story, Micro-Essay. $15 (postal), $18 (online). 8/31 (annual)


NANO Fiction. Prose Poetry, Flash Fiction, Micro Essay. $15. 8/31/10

WOW! Women On Writing. Flash Fiction. $10. 8/31 (annual)

Southeast Missouri State University Press. Short Story, Flash Fiction. $15. 10/1 (annual)

CutBank. Prose Poetry, Flash Fiction. $9. 10/1 - 11/1/11

River Styx. Micro-fiction. $20. 12/31 (annual)

In addition to these contests, there are a number of print and online literary journals that feature or even specialize in short short prose pieces -- all of which you can learn about and find links to on NewPages.com:

Bateau / Black Warrior Review / Brevity (nonfiction) / BULL:  Men's Fiction / Burnside Review / Caketrain / Curly Red Stories / CutBank / failbetter.com / Fiction Fix / Glossolalia / Green Silk Journal / Harpur Palate / Hobart / matchbook.com / Mud Luscious Press / NANO Fiction / New York Tyrant / New Ohio Review / New Orleans Review / New South / Ninth Letter / Noon / PANK / Passages North / Phoebe / Quarterly West / Quick Fiction / Sentence (prose poetry) / Sleepingfish / SmokeLong Quarterly / Southeast Review / South Loop (nonfiction) / storySouth.com / subTropics / Unsaid