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#230 In a Flash

I’ve been reading a lot of flash fiction recently. It’s a great format for close study, as its compression forces writers to question the function of every sentence.

Since there are many lessons to be learned from reading, writing, and thinking about flash fiction, I thought we could make it the focus of this week’s contest. To be clear, this contest accepts stories between 1,000 and 3,000 words, but this week, I’m inviting you to try and stay as close to the lower limit as you can. Our usual word count range is still the official guideline, and stories that are closer to 3,000 words will not be disqualified — but I hope that with flash stories in mind, you’ll feel inspired to be as economical with language as possible.

Not sure how to begin? Check out our best tips for writing flash fiction.

🥇 Winner

The Lop-it-off-a-me List

Ethan Zimmerman

Winner of Contest #230 🏆

The Lop-it-off-a-me List Count money in the envelope one more time. Make sure Marcel has his itinerary. Ask Alex if she will come by to feed Odin. Buy extra cat food and litter so Alex doesn't have to. Give her the spare key next time I see her. Kiss Odin and tell her she is the best cat in the world, even if she has always been destructive like her namesake. Fill out the final paperwork and mail it to the surgeon. Go to the post office on Tenth Avenue and put a stop mail hold in place. Stop worrying about the pain. Stop thinking about th...

86 likes

⭐️ Shortlisted

Last Words

Derrick M Domican

Shortlisted for Contest #230 ⭐️

On the last day of my life, as I prepare to breathe my last, you summon me from my deathbed to once again write.But this time to write something different.Something I have never written before, composed of words that are my own, from my own heart and life, not from your head or your tongue.Which, if I’m honest, I’m finding difficult.For I am not used to this kind of freedom.It feels wrong, somehow, writing these words of my own volition, being allowed to record my own truth, rather than transcribing words spoken.And Heaven knows I’ve transcr...

69 likes

112 comments 112

The Fork

Suma Jayachandar

Shortlisted for Contest #230 ⭐️

When faced with a fork, look for the twig.We had missed the twig and were staring down a deep chasm. It didn’t help that we were not talking to each other. After the boisterous cultural evening put up by fellow campers, we had fought over which bottle to drink water from, back in our tent. Our sabre-rattling was loud enough for other campers to give me extra sweet smiles at breakfast. Trekking was not something we had done before in our twenty years of marriage. It was supposed to be an exercise in bonding after our only child left for ...

37 likes

20 questions younger me should have asked my mother

Claire Marsh

Shortlisted for Contest #230 ⭐️

1. If Santa is magic, why does he need a budget?2. If human babies come from storks, where do stork babies come from?3. When you say, ‘all vegetables,’ qualify exactly what you mean? Follow up queries:a. Are vegetables weighted equally? (Two brussels sprouts must be worth at least thirty peas. That’s just rudimental cruciferous equational-modelling mathematics.) b. What is your stance on potatoes? Do they count as a vegetable? (...

30 likes

Sarcasm and Sorrow

Shortlisted for Contest #230 ⭐️

"You signed the divorce papers last week. Tell me about that."Anne rolled her head back to look at this ceiling, knowing this question would arise in therapy. "There's not much to tell. We went, we signed, it's finished.""That seems very business-like,” Dr. Flynn mentioned, setting down her tea from the table between the two women."Well, that's me, Doc. All business, no fluff.”"Oh, I know. My self-assured, dare I say, cocky patient. With a chip on her shoulder.""Sounds right.""And an empty life she fills with busy, busy work.""You know for a...

22 likes

A Different Perspective

Jed Cope

Shortlisted for Contest #230 ⭐️

Bill looks up at the sky and he smiles. That smile is worth a thousand words, the depth of emotion hanging from it is everything and more. He feels that sky in a way he never knew was possible. Until now. “I’ve never taken the time…” he whispers to himself as a cloud creeps silently over him. He has. He knows he has, but that was am impossibly long time ago. So long ago that it may as well have been in another life. He marvels at all he has lost and then he wonders how it is that he carelessly discarded so much. To dwell under ...

17 likes

Groceries

Mara M

Shortlisted for Contest #230 ⭐️

Black ink on yellowish paper, careless scribbles; my mother would have turned it around and decided it to be art, paper raw but somehow still too soft for my own hands, they had started growing thorns lately, even my neighbour’s cat was not willing for me to touch her anymore.FROZEN VEGETABLES. Christmas eve. I was eleven years old and she allowed me to help make dinner for the first time. Explosion of colours in the pit of my stomach, excitement only a child was able to feel, something that gotten lost somewhere between that first bad maths...

17 likes

The 3-Way Conversation

Christine Boyce

Shortlisted for Contest #230 ⭐️

Once upon: 1) a time 2) a fork in the road 3) a frozen river I came across: 1) royalty 2) a traveler 3) an Olympic skater Who told me: 1) "Kneel down." 2) "Which way?" 3) "Don't fall." And I replied: 1) "Yes, sir," while whispering, "to tie my shoe." 2) "No road is without potholes, but..." 3) "With ice, there are no guarantees, except that you are bound to feel something while you are skating." The person transformed in that instant to: 1) a butterfly 2) a dinosaur 3) a sparrow 4) a mermaid 5) a wizard 6) an hourglass 7) a prophetes...

16 likes

This week's prompts

Write a story framed by a single scene: something happens, a flashback or inner monologue intervenes, and then the story ends with the rest of the original scene.

Narrative – 89 stories

Write a story in which a character achieves a new level of clarity about how they’re really feeling.

Character – 56 stories

Start your story with someone uttering a very strange sentence.

Dialogue – 52 stories

Write a story that hides something from its reader until the very end.

Mystery – 100 stories

Write a story in the form of a list.

Narrative – 60 stories

Stories

The Lop-it-off-a-me List

Ethan Zimmerman

Winner of Contest #230 🏆

The Lop-it-off-a-me List Count money in the envelope one more time. Make sure Marcel has his itinerary. Ask Alex if she will come by to feed Odin. Buy extra cat food and litter so Alex doesn't have to. Give her the spare key next time I see her. Kiss Odin and tell her she is the best cat in the world, even if she has always been destructive like her namesake. Fill out the final paperwork and mail it to the surgeon. Go to the post office on Tenth Avenue and put a stop mail hold in place. Stop worrying about the pain. Stop thinking about th...

86 likes

How to win a Writing Contest in 2027, in 199 Easy Steps

Michał Przywara

Submitted to Contest #230

Log in to Windows. Wait for things to load. Wait more. Click HumanWrites icon. Double-click HumanWrites icon. Give it admin privileges. Give it camera privileges. Give it microphone privileges. Give it keylogging privileges. Give it mouse tracking privileges. Wait for it to connect. Wait for it to crash. Frown. Look online for help on crash. Find the official forums. Get swept up in forum drama. Witness Godwin’s Law in action. Find interesting but off-topic discussion. Follow link to Wikipedia. Click around. Stumble onto French rococo archit...

70 likes

Last Words

Derrick M Domican

Shortlisted for Contest #230 ⭐️

On the last day of my life, as I prepare to breathe my last, you summon me from my deathbed to once again write.But this time to write something different.Something I have never written before, composed of words that are my own, from my own heart and life, not from your head or your tongue.Which, if I’m honest, I’m finding difficult.For I am not used to this kind of freedom.It feels wrong, somehow, writing these words of my own volition, being allowed to record my own truth, rather than transcribing words spoken.And Heaven knows I’ve transcr...

69 likes

112 comments 112

Stolen Belonging

Submitted to Contest #230

The sheriff arrived with the locksmith before nine to change the locks and enforce the eviction order. Eve Weider was chain-smoking Marlboro 100 cigarettes in her kitchen and pacing. She had found an ashtray in the cabinet from the ‘90s, which was the last time Roy had let her smoke in the house. It was ironic that they had paid off the mortgage on the house, but got so far behind on property taxes in the process that they lost a lifetime’s investment anyway.Roy got the door and was affable as always. “Is it really that time, sheriff?”“Afrai...

40 likes

The Perfect Birthday

J. D. Lair

Submitted to Contest #230

Oh boy, today’s gonna be great! Mama and Papa planned a nice trip for us to the big city of San Fracisco. I know there’s an “n” in there somewhere, but I always forget where. Anyways, it’s for my birthday. I’m gonna be four! One, two, fwee, now four. See my fingers?Jack from preschool told me his family went and it was awesome! He said it was just like in the movie Inside Out, which we both love and have watched lots of times. My Auntie Mel lives down there and she promised to show us all the cool spots. We live in Oregon where it rains a lo...

39 likes

The Gumshoe's Grocery List

Story Time

Submitted to Contest #230

What I Need from the Supermarket A pineapple so beautiful it’ll make a man mad. Drive him bonkers. Send him right over the edge. The kind of pineapple that shows up in your life one day when you least expect it. Places itself right on your counter and dares you to carve it up for all that delectable nectar that’ll have you at church the next day asking for forgiveness. A pineapple you can make a smoothie with or an upside down cake. Your choice. But be careful. Choices have consequences. You know that all too well. Two onions. One’s for ...

38 likes

The Fork

Suma Jayachandar

Shortlisted for Contest #230 ⭐️

When faced with a fork, look for the twig.We had missed the twig and were staring down a deep chasm. It didn’t help that we were not talking to each other. After the boisterous cultural evening put up by fellow campers, we had fought over which bottle to drink water from, back in our tent. Our sabre-rattling was loud enough for other campers to give me extra sweet smiles at breakfast. Trekking was not something we had done before in our twenty years of marriage. It was supposed to be an exercise in bonding after our only child left for ...

37 likes

Pen Thief

Hazel Ide

Submitted to Contest #230

I liked to think other people viewed the six of us as Knights at the Round Table—if knights wielded keyboards, notebooks, and expansive imaginations in favor of swords and metal armor. My armor couldn't be seen by the naked eye. It lived, breathed, and pulsed beneath my skin, a sparkling amalgamation of cosmic horror, fantasy, romance, and science fiction, unable to take any one single form, instead a constantly shifting, living thing I fed upon with each written word.I glance at the others, my five knights, as they laugh and bicker. Ca...

35 likes

For My Classroom

Allan Bernal

Submitted to Contest #230

#1 = More crayons #2 = More pencils too while you’re at it, they never return them #3 = Actually a new sharpener too since the classroom one is still broken. Probably a non-electric one. Kids like Dom will probably sharpen their pencils when you’re in the middle of a lesson #4 = A new little trash bin too. You have to remember to stay vigilant. Last thing you need is for Tommy to push Beth into the trash bin again and break the new one #5 = Little chair for the timeout table. Current one still wobbly, as Dom and Tommy so pleasantly r...

31 likes

20 questions younger me should have asked my mother

Claire Marsh

Shortlisted for Contest #230 ⭐️

1. If Santa is magic, why does he need a budget?2. If human babies come from storks, where do stork babies come from?3. When you say, ‘all vegetables,’ qualify exactly what you mean? Follow up queries:a. Are vegetables weighted equally? (Two brussels sprouts must be worth at least thirty peas. That’s just rudimental cruciferous equational-modelling mathematics.) b. What is your stance on potatoes? Do they count as a vegetable? (...

30 likes

Ally or Adversary?

A. M. Conger

Submitted to Contest #230

I could not bear to look at her. Not again. I knew she was there, in front of me, waiting to be seen, but I could not bring myself to do it. “Why?” she asked me, like she always did. Slouching, I stared down through my dark, stringy tresses. I don’t know why. “I think you do know,” she returned. “You just don’t want to face it. Do you?” Continuing to hide, I shrugged to acknowledge her question, her presence, and her concern, but I could not, would not, make eye contact. Her judgment weighed down on my skull, boring into my brain. Sh...

29 likes

She Lives in Michigan

Chelsey B

Submitted to Contest #230

I hate packing. It doesn’t matter if it’s loading up a whole house for a move, or filling a small suitcase for a fun trip, I always leave it for the last minute. I’m not a very organized person, and packing requires me to admit to the chaos of my life. This time, I was going to travel over the holidays. That adds a whole new level of stress to an already messy existence. Needless to say, I, as usual, had nothing prepared. I was booked on a plane that was scheduled to take off in just over three hours, and I had nothing packed. I needed to ...

28 likes

Why Bother...

Kevin Marlow

Submitted to Contest #230

“Those bastards and bitches are so delusional they would ride their horse out of town hitched to the latest TikTok snake oil salesman's circus wagon.”I am already sick of all the glad-handing pukes on Facebook congratulating me for what I haven't even accomplished yet. What? Vomiting a bunch of words onto a page and breaking my arm patting myself on the back? I'm garbage, it's garbage. When I hand a friend a chapter of my manuscript, edited and printed with over-priced ink, they give me a bored look and eye roll pretending to read for a few ...

27 likes

Scarlet Guilt

Jack Kimball

Submitted to Contest #230

“I should have read the warning label,” he said with a grimaced smile, bringing two fingers to his mouth as if inhaling a cigarette. With a heart rate monitor calling down the time, the man lay in a hospital bed. Both wrists were taking in fluids from a drip hanging in suspension, and his wife Martha was across from him in a chair. The room was institutional green.Martha stood and walked to the window. A drizzling gray rain. “Please don’t joke. Not now.”Yes, a joke, he thought to himself. On both myself and this woman. This woman with flawle...

26 likes

Grammar Schooled

Submitted to Contest #230

“I never said she stole my money.”“You never said she stole your money? But isn’t that why we’re here, Mr. erm...?”“Goldstein. Em Goldstein.”“You have accused the cleaning lady of stealing your money.”“No, I never said she stole my money.”“Yes, you did. It’s here in my notes. Quote: Victim was asked who the perpetrator was. To which he replied, the cleaning lady.”“No, I never said she stole my money.”“I’m confused.”Detective Inspector Syme had been on his way home from a long shift tracking down petty criminals, when he received a phone call...

24 likes

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Contest #231

This contest has ended. Thank you for your submissions.

$250

Prize money

357

Entries

108

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 29, 2023 EST

Won by Ethan Zimmerman 🏆

Title: The Lop-it-off-a-me List

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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