It’s not long (under one month) until our 28th Award judged by the amazing writer, editor and teacher, Matt Kendrick closes on Sunday 6th October at midnight GMT. For up to 300 word flash fiction. £1460 prize fund. The 50 stories longlisted are offered publication in our 2024 anthology. Results out, in our quick turn around, at the end of October.
To get you inspired, if you haven’t written anything for the competition and have no idea what to put on paper, do read my interview with him. I also asked Sara Hills the first prize winner from the June 2024 round of Bath Flash to give us a prompt when I interviewed her.. Here it is again:
Drop a character into a public space and have something wildly unexpected happen in the first sentence, bringing the conflict front and center. What does your character observe? What’s at risk—both externally and internally—and what do they do about it? Try to use all the senses if you can and zoom between the overall scene and smaller details that evoke emotion. Don’t get bogged down by rules; let yourself play on the page. But do think about agency and action, and make something happen. If you’re feeling stuck, throw a dog into the mix (figuratively, of course!).
If you are a subscriber to her Substack you could also read the newly published article by Kathy Fish on The Art of Flashh where she goes through the process of how she found an old story that was ‘a bit flat’ which she boldly altered in just an hour to submit to a deadline at Wigleaf. It ended up being called ‘Chicago’, was published in Wigleaf and selected for Best Small Fictions. I thoroughly recommend signing up for Kathy’s substack. It is always packed with excellent writing tips, instructions and examples.
Finally for more last minute inspiration, if you are nearby and want to attend a face to face event, do come to listen to flash writers reading their stories at St James Wine Vaults, Bath on Saturday 28th September from 7.30 pm to 10.00 pm. Free with snacks and a late bar. Diane Simmons and Flemming George will be reading a few stories from their new novellas in flash and I will be reading from my new collection. And we have lots of others reading a story each. In no particular order, Abigail Williams, Alison Powell Jupiter Jones, John Wheway, Grace Palmer, Mark Barlex, Deb Tomkins, Cole Beauchamp, Sara Hills, Kathryn Aldridge-Morris, Kevlin Henney, Andy Lavender, Anna Wang, Katja Sass and Nick Havergal These evenings are always really good fun with a fantastic variety of stories And there is a raffle and we sell books, many discounted.
Jude, September 10th 2024
