We’re thrilled Sara Hills has joined Sharon Telfer and William Davidson in winning first prize in Bath Flash Fiction Award on two different occasions. Sara’s writing goes from strength to strength. Below, read how ‘Like Dynamite’ came into being and how Sara used punctuation so effectively in it, her latest exciting writing news and stories forthcoming.The picture shows Sara reading at last year’s Flash Fiction Festival and we’re grateful for her recommending this year’s festival in Bristol, where she’s a member of the team, at the end of this interview.

Interview

• ‘Like Dynamite’ is your second first prize win in the Bath Flash Fiction Award. ‘A Cock Among the Bathers’ won in June 2024. I believe this story, like your other win also began life in a SmokeLong Fitness Workshop? Can you tell us more about what prompted it and its journey to completion?

Thanks so much! I wrote ‘Like Dynamite’ in the first week of the April 2023 SmokeLong Quarterly workshop intensive ‘Going There: Sex and Intimacy in Flash’ taught by Christopher Allen, Meg Pillow, and Nancy Au. This was one of my all-time favorite workshops with SmokeLong because it pushed me waaay out of my comfort zone and netted some of my most successful stories to date. Allen had us focusing on metaphorical foreplay that week, and the directive that inspired this story was to continuously ramp up the active tension while delaying the climax. I tend to think literally, so I thought about the edges of things, the brink of disaster and death, which naturally led me to adolescent boys and the wild risks they take when they’re together, something called young male syndrome. The mom voice in my head was saying, ‘These boys are going to get themselves killed,’ and I had to keep writing to find out why. And what were they seeking deliverance from? And where were their parents? Who are these boys when you strip away societal expectations and the culture of toxic masculinity?
The story came out mostly intact in that first draft, although with a poorer title and in need of both more concision and more specificity. I revised it a few times, naming both the boys and the river, but I wasn’t quite sure it was ready so I filed it away to let it steep. I’ve gotten into the habit of letting my stories steep, sometimes for a year or more, before I know what to do with them. In the final revision, I refined the ending slightly and added the description ‘the sweet rot of earth’.
I wasn’t planning to enter this round of Bath Flash Fiction Award. I wasn’t actually planning on sending this story to Bath at all, but I got completely swept up in the excitement of an impending deadline. Bath Flash is one of the best contests running, and I love Sarah Freligh’s work. When you admire not only the contest but the judge of a contest, it’s hard to hold yourself back.

• Sarah Freligh, our judge, wrote interestingly about your piece, pointing out that although it is one long sentence only, it isn’t a “breathless’’ paragraph with no punctuation, it uses semi-colons skilfully to show the starts and stops of the characters’ relationship. Is the use of punctuation something you consider a lot when you are writing short pieces?

One of my life goals is to learn how to properly use semicolons; I keep sticking them into stories and editors keep questioning them. I’m very pleased to have gotten away with it this time, and I’m thrilled that Sarah Freligh saw so clearly what I was trying to achieve with the punctuation: building up a series of moments between these boys that exploded into one final ‘time’.
I do think about punctuation quite a bit. A well-placed comma can add so much clarity to a sentence, and the absence of punctuation can connote certain emotional states. I’m also a huge fan of the em-dash—who isn’t!?—and love breaking the “proper rules” as set out by who I can only imagine as a starched-shirt pedant behind an oversized desk, steaming like a tea kettle every. single. time I make a playful punctuation choice. I don’t always get it right, but punctuation is part of the writer’s toolbox—so why shouldn’t we play around with it?

• You were also recently awarded an Arts Council grant to complete a writing project. Congratulations! Can you tell us more about the project?

Thank you! I’m thrilled and so incredibly thankful to Arts Council England for believing in my work enough to want to invest in me. The wonderful thing about DYCP grants is that they are geared toward development of the artist’s creative practice or potential as they explore outside their comfort zone. I’m looking forward to spending this year experimenting with a longer narrative form, benefitting from much-needed mentorship and workshop opportunities. Stay tuned!

• Our Earlybird discounted period for this round ends this coming Sunday, April 6th. Are you a last minute entrant to this and other competitions or do you sub stories with plenty of time to go?

I would love to be an early submitter, but I’m nearly always submitting at the last minute because I’m so deadline-driven. I’m usually tinkering with word choices, removing and replacing punctuation, and that sort of thing down to the wire. When it comes to Bath Flash, I do love to purchase early bird entries because they give me that extra push to get something ready, a light in the distance to aim for. When I forget to purchase the discounted entries (like this time), I kick myself a bit. I’ve also learned from experience that for any given contest you always want to send in at least two entries, if you can, as it increases the chance that one of them will spark interest with the contest readers. And as other writers attest, I’ve also found it’s sometimes the entry I’m least sure about that makes it through the gate.

• Have you any more fiction forthcoming that we can look out for?

Yes! I’m delighted and relieved that my story ‘Peak Season’ was accepted for the 2025 National Flash Fiction Day antholog forthcoming in June and launched in Bath on 14th June. . I love being in the NFFD anthology. Competition has grown so fierce for a spot in that, and it always feels a bit miraculous to make it through. I’m also pinching myself to have two stories forthcoming at Flash Frog this year: my humorous micro ‘Gorilla gorilla gorilla’ should be up soon, and ‘The Bright Jars of Our Bodies’, which was a Blue Frog finalist, has been accepted for publication later this summer. Additionally, I have new stories forthcoming in both the 2024 Bath Flash Fiction Award anthology and the 7th Flash Fiction Festival anthology.

• Finally, you are a team member and a panelist in a session looking at writing micro stories, chaired by Sharon Telfer, for the Flash Fiction Festival In Bristol taking place in July. I’m so appreciative of your work in helping everything run smoothly. What would you say to a flash writer thinking of coming?

I’m delighted to help out and give back to the Flash Fiction Festival, as I feel it’s given me so much. I’ve been coming to the festival since 2019, back when I was still relatively new to flash and didn’t know many flash writers, and that weekend changed my life. I had the best time—so much chatting and laughing and, yes, crying (thanks to an amazing Kathy Fish workshop). By Sunday, I had literally lost my voice, but I had found so much more—my confidence as a writer and my people. Flash writers are the most welcoming bunch of folks on the planet, and how fantastic is it to be in a community of people who not only understand what flash fiction is, but who share the same passion for it. Plus, in addition to inspiring workshops, there’s a bookshop, catered food, and karaoke! In short: Drop everything and come! You won’t regret it!