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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#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.

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 – 90 stories

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

Character – 57 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 – 101 stories

Write a story in the form of a list.

Narrative – 62 stories

Stories

“I Want to Forgive” by Paulette Lundy

Submitted to Contest #230

Sensitive Content: Language, sexual violence“I want to forgive my mother for making me get my own switch for spanking me. I thought a thin willow branch would be easier on my backside, but it hurt worse than a big one as it sped through the air at flogging speed.”“I want to forgive my parents for spanking me after church every Sunday. I always talked and laughed during the sermon. It was so predictable that the three of us kids would be lined up for our punishment, I wore extra underwear under my Sunday best.”“I want to forgive my siste...

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“Things I Hate About Aeneas” by Maria Nulot

Submitted to Contest #230

By Dido TW: Mentions of Suicide, Physical Violence He’s not Sychaeus. He left me. He decided he would leave me, then pretended like he didn’t marry me in the woods with all of nature as our witness. The leaf-wreathed dryads and stream-clothed naiads sang out our wedding hymns. For heaven’s sake, the very lightning bolts were our wedding torches! Once, he had set my heart on fire with love, but after he left, I burned like I myself was that torch, dipped in pitch. He decided he would leave me, and then claimed, “Oh, the gods are forcing ...

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“Don't Give Up” by Catherine Tally

Submitted to Contest #230

Lily looked up at the grocery list dangling from a thin magnet on the fridge. Milk Bread Granola bars Coffee Creamer Ray would have to take care of those things. He almost never did the shopping, but she had other plans this week. She couldn't be distracted with trivial things. She could hear her daughters playing in the next room. She closed her eyes. Were they actually playing nice? Talking Giggling Stomping Running Screaming Shrieking Fighting Crying No. Of course they weren't. “Please stop. Mommy has a headache.” She called...

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“THE LIST” by Glenna Agnew

Submitted to Contest #230

THE LIST Pick up Instant coffee, bologne, bread Go to Temp Office Pay Cell Phone Bill Drug Store Kill Kenny I checked my list for the umpteenth time this morning. I probably memorized it by about the fifth time I read it, but yet I found myself rechecking it. It hadn’t changed, the same six items still were on the list that I had written down as I finished off my morning coffee, sitting in my dilapidated old van. I had hesitated over # 6. Not hesitation about completing the task, but I hesitated about actually writing it down...

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“I promise” by Valentina Nigrinis

Submitted to Contest #230

I, Veronica, take you, Alejandro, to be my lawfully-wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, I promise to love and cherish you.I promise:I promise to fill your days with sunshine, and do everything in my power to ensure your daily happiness. -- Like when I learned the theme song of your favorite video game on the piano and played it for you on your birthday -- which you said was the best gift you’d ever received.I promise to be by your side, ...

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“Reasons I love you” by Iniya A

Submitted to Contest #230

Reasons I love you1. You feel like the wind. I didn’t even notice it at first. The first time I saw you was like an August breeze. It felt nice, but I didn't think about it again. And then I saw you everyday. And the feeling grew the way the breeze grew warmer towards spring. It was the small things that made me fuzzy inside. When you kicked a stone off my trail. When you called me no matter how late it was to make sure I reached home safe. When you let me win that game of cards. When you picked a ruffled bougainvillea off the road instead o...

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“New Year Steve” by Billy Green

Submitted to Contest #230

Now. ‘The problem is you don’t want to work,’ Eddie slurred, zipping up his flies. ‘Here, here, here…I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you this dollar,’ he unrolled one from a gold clip, ‘if you can tell me why you don’t have a job, eh?’ He waved it back and forth slowly in front of the man’s eyes. Eddie pulled the collar on his Burberry cashmere car coat further up around his ears, a barrier against the harsh bite of the winter sleet falling steadily onto him. And the man sat silently at his feet. He held a cardboard sign, on it was handw...

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“The world’s Rebirth” by Marwa TA

Submitted to Contest #230

The world was crumbling. It was the end.Monsters have existed since the dawn of history. They’ve always been here, accompanying humans in all their miseries. But they had never been as numerous, as vicious as in these recent days. They were everywhere, killing relentlessly. Something had shifted in them. They were beginning to coordinate, showing more unity in their quest to decimate humanity.A disheveled individual stood facing a monster with a swollen face, whiter than plaster, and long hair blacker than ebony. Its eyes were simple black d...

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“Stripped” by Yvette Okeke

Submitted to Contest #230

I walk into the salon and gingerly take off my sunglasses crinkling my nose to the pungent smell of hair dye and nail polish remover. The combination does nothing to mask the stench of athlete’s feet, much as the sound of hand driers blasting away at clients’ hair cannot compete against the conundrum of chatter that is very typical at 1st avenue F’ close house 20 Festac Town. The posh little hair salon called “Dina's Hair Secret” is a lot more like a market place than beauty parlor really. I own this place and yet sometimes I feel like ...

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“Basketball As An Assumption” by Gregg Voss

Submitted to Contest #230

0:10.3 left Rising heat billowed from the collection of huddling men-children. Coach knelt in front of his five chosen players who leaned forward on red-padded folding chairs awaiting instruction, ignoring the heat and the blaring “Cotton-eyed Joe” and the juvenile multi-syllable chants of, “Overrated!” and “Season’s over!” Braden Cowley was one of the five seated and stared down at the blond h...

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“Just One Kiss?” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #230

She is beautiful. Almost too beautiful. The peace of her slumber transforms her into an otherworldly being. She is a goddess. And she is everything Dave Charming has ever, ever wanted. She is all he has ever dreamt about. This woman has visited him in his dreams. She has haunted him in every moment of his life, both sleeping and wakeful. She has invaded every fibre of his being until there’s nothing left but the desire to be with her. Forever and ever. Happily ever after. They are one. This is Dave’s destiny. He has given eve...

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“Diamonds and Pearls” by Elizabeth Ruth

Submitted to Contest #230

I’m greeted at the car door by an over eager assistant to producer, clearly in her first 90 days. She is opening the door, hoisting me from the interior, ‘we’re just a wee bit on the late side’ she admonishes. We break into a trot rounding onto 7th Avenue from W57th, and she practically pushes me into the elevator, yanking me out a bit later only to shove me down the hall and into a room with a few sofas and a table. Not late at all, I have time to sit and consider the painting they’ve chosen to adorn the wall. It has muted blues and soft br...

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“Only a Memory” by Jim Brosnan

Submitted to Contest #230

Only a Memory by Jim Brosnan I decided to check one item off my bucket list—climbing the Rockies. I decided to take advantage of some free time after devoting over sixty hours a week working on a grant project. It was a recent award for which I had received state funding. The week of hiking had been seasonably warm. Near the summit I began to feel the need for a jacket even though it was mid-June. On the last morning I learned first-hand what a snowfield was by dropping knee-deep into a crevice. From a distance, the landscape l...

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“Silver Threads” by Hannah Leigh

Submitted to Contest #230

The dusty gray morning sky was the same shade as the tip of one of Sarah’s fingers. Her eyes drifted open from a night of restless and painful sleep, and the color and numbness in her right ring finger caused her eyebrows to furrow. Dusty is better than black, but until this point the cold of the nights at Auschwitz hadn’t caused this particular color change. She woke most mornings to red and white, but never this hue. It could be worse. Most women in the barracks had lost at least a toe by this point in the harsh winter. Sarah had all twent...

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“The Reality of Fantasy” by Ava Reid

Submitted to Contest #230

I tried not to look lost as I made my way through the lounge, passing two bars and numerous tables that had groups of people who varied from appearing to be bored, to hanging off their chairs with excitement. I didn’t want to sit at a table by myself, so I continued walking, surprising myself when I got as close to the stage as possible. I was almost exactly in the center and likely to be one of the first people the performer saw when they came out. People started to surround the stage as a digital sign above the curtain counted down the sec...

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$250

Prize money

362

Contest 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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