Projects

Ad Hoc Fiction Autumn Special
An opportunity to be published in the UK and US in a new high quality magazine

We’re delighted to link up with new quality magazine Project Calm for an Ad Hoc Fiction Autumn Special, scheduled to open Wednesday 21^st September. One winning Ad Hoc story and two runners up will be published in the second issue of the magazine which will have a focus on books and the love of reading.
project-calm
The ethos of Project Calm is one of creativity and mindfulness. This fits with our view of writing. To create very short fiction you need to be present and aware – paying careful attention to every word. It’s often a meditative experience. Alison Wassell, who wrote the winning piece, Just a Crisp was recently interviewed by Once We Were Fiction about her method of writing. Ad Hoc Fiction involves writing a very short fiction to a given prompt word. Alison describes how she lets the prompt word float around in her mind, then “writes” very short stories in her head when she is walking to work at 7.00 am in the morning. She says “the walk takes about 40 minutes, which is plenty of time for 150 words.”

Though our special contest doesn’t launch until Wednesday 21^st September, we’re happy to tell you that the prompt word will be ‘CALM’, so you’ve an extra week to let your ideas form. The three stories with the highest number of votes will be the ones chosen for the magazine. As usual, the winner will get a free entry to Bath Flash Fiction Award.

Issue Two of Project Calm will be published in the UK on the 24^th November and sold in outlets including WH Smith, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose. In the US it will be published on the 24^th December, available in Barnes & Noble among other places.

It’s a wonderful and unmissable opportunity to be widely published around the world. Have a look at a digital sample of the now sold-out first issue. The Issue One focus is not on writing, but it is packed full of creative ideas.

And a video of Issue One can be viewed here on Facebook.

Project Calm can be contacted via Twitter @ProjectCalmMag and via their main Facebook page here.

Our First Evening of Flash
An account and the start of something new

When we learned that Meg Pokrass, our novella-in-flash judge, was in the UK this summer, prior to moving here permanently, we grasped the opportunity to invite her to read and meet some other flash fiction writers in the South West. The evening was a resounding success. The lovely upstairs room in St James’ Wine Vaults in Bath was packed and the audience enjoyed a true feast of flash-fictions – a great mixture of styles, tastes and cultural differences.
Read in Full

All About Flash – Over to You

BathFlash You may have noticed we recently posted a great review by Al Kratz and a really interesting interview by Nick Black.

They’ve both proved very popular, and as a result we are beginning a series of articles focussing entirely on flash fiction – and hopefully you will help us out. We will be interviewing writers and editors and reviewing books, and we would love if you too could contribute to the series.

Reviews of flash-fiction collections, chapbooks, novellas or even single stories are very welcome. Or you might have a favourite flash fiction author you would like to interview, an idea for an article about flash genres or other aspects of the form.

We look forward to hearing from you. Please contact us to discuss your contribution further.

Thank you.

Ad Hoc Fiction Makes Saboteur Longlist

Thank you to every one who voted for Ad Hoc Fiction, our free weekly micro challenge in the Saboteur Awards 2016.

We are very happy to announce that we made the longlist, and with over 1700 nominations we think that’s a brilliant result. Particularly since Ad Hoc has only been going for just over a year.

More Ad Hoc Fiction developments are in the pipeline. This week’s news gives us further impetus to keep creating new opportunities for writers.

Ad Hoc Fiction
Fifty-Two Weeks of Flash

In case you don’t know Ad Hoc Fiction – it’s our free and easy-to-enter weekly micro competition for pieces of up to 150 words. Longlisted stories are published on the website in an ebook and the winners are chosen by public vote. We’re also open to submissions of illustrations for the winning stories.

Nick Black from the UK who has since won the competition again, was our first Ad Hoc Fiction winner on 22^nd April, 2015 with his micro, Positive and Negative. This Wednesday, 20^th April, 2016, we’ve published the fifty second winner Telegraph by Sharon Telfer.
Read in Full

New Year Updates

BathFlash Thank you to everyone who contributed to the three Charity Editions of our micro fiction project Ad Hoc Fiction. Your donations made £47, we topped it up to £50, and sent it to We Stand Together, this year’s Guardian and Observer newspapers’ charity appeal in support of refugees.

We’re going to continue trialling an optional £1 contribution to Ad Hoc Fiction until the Summer. With all the takings going to each weekly winner, our thinking is simple: The more people contribute, the bigger the prize. We won’t be taking a penny. To date, winners have been receiving around £10 along with their usual free entry to Bath Flash Fiction Award. Which brings us rather neatly on to…

This weekend, there will be just four weeks left until we close Bath Flash Fiction Award on February 14th. Why not enter now before the rush and save money by sending in two entries for £15 or three for £18? Our judge, Tania Hershman is selecting from a 50 long short list.

And don’t forget our other project coming later this year – a print and digital anthology of flash fictions selected from our Award entrants.

Ad Hoc Fiction Charity Editions

ad-hoc-charity-edition We’re trying out an optional £1 payment to read our newly designed Ad Hoc Fiction Weekly eBook. For the last three editions of this year, December 16th, December 23rd and December 30th, we’d particularly like you to add your £1 payment. Half the takings will go to the winning author and half will go to the Guardian and Observer newspaper “We Stand Together” appeal – raising money for six charities supporting refugees across the world: Red Cross, Migrant Offshore Aid Station, Doctors of the World, Refugee Council, City of Sanctuary and Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

Your support will be appreciated.

Thank you.

Ad Hoc Fiction

Ad Hoc Fiction is our free to enter weekly mini competition. Running separately from our main Bath Flash Fiction Award, Ad Hoc is a winner takes all deal, selected by public vote. That means we publish your Ad Hoc piece along with all the other Ad Hocs so that people can vote on them.

Should you win at Ad Hoc Fiction, you’ll earn yourself a free entry to our main Bath Flash Fiction Award. Simply put, if the public decides you have the talent, you can take a shot at our £1400 in prizes. Free.

One clause: The piece that wins you Ad Hoc Fiction cannot be the same piece you submit to Bath Flash Fiction Award. You’ll have to write a new one.

You’ll find Ad Hoc on the top of page menu, or use this link.