Flash Fiction Chronicles

For the week of February 7 through February 14, Flash Fiction Chronicles is  having its second String-of-10 Contest—String of 10 TWO—for the best 250-word story written from a specific prompt: a series of ten words given to you on February 7, 2010. For the seven days between February 7 and February 14  instead of a new prompt each day from Daily Prompts, we are having a contest for the best 250-word story written from the  String-of-10 ( words and phrase) posted below.

PROMPT

STRING OF TEN

SURVIVAL-SKIMMILK*-LOLLYGAG-CRYPTIC-ONLOOKER-LEAK-RAW-FORBIDDEN-RADIO-VERDIGRIS

QUOTATION

 A person usually has two reasons for doing something: a good reason and the real reason. –Thomas Carlyle.

*Note of clarification: “skim-milk” is a hypenated word in the editor’s dictionary.  The hyphen was left out in the first string to clarify that skim and milk belong together.  Here is an alternate way to see the string:

*SURVIVAL/SKIM-MILK/ LOLLYGAG/CRYPTIC/ONLOOKER/

LEAK/RAW/FORBIDDEN/RADIO/VERDIGRIS

GUIDELINES

1. Read the contest’s String of 10 Writing Prompt which will be available at 12:01 on February 7, 2010 here as well as on the FFC Daily Prompt Page and at Gay Degani’s Author Thread at Every Day Fiction. 
2. The contest is open to stories of  up to 250 words. Entries over the word limitation will be disregarded.
3. Submit via email addressed to flashfictionblog@everydayfiction.com.   All entries must be copy and pasted into the body of the email. No attachments will be opened.
4. There is no entry fee.
5. You may enter as many 3 separate and different stories up to 250-words each. 
6. All stories must contain at least four words from the String of 10.  Any stories without at least four words from the string of 10 will be disregarded.  The prompt words may be slightly modified such as tense, number, etc.  (Example: walk can be amended to walks, walked, even walker or walkers)
7. The aphorism that is given doesn’t not need to be found in the story, but rather to be used as an additional source of inspiration.  No story will be judged on its use.  Note may be taken if a story uses the aphorism in an inspired way.
8. What matters most is your story, not the prompt words or quotation.  Seamless integration of any four of the prompt words is the goal. 
9. All entries must be in English, original, unpublished, and not submitted or accepted elsewhere at the time of submission. Flash Fiction Chronicles/Every Day Fiction/Every Day Publishing reserves one-time publication rights to the 1st- through-3rd winning entries to be published at Every Day Fiction and Flash Fiction Chronicles.
10. Entries must be received via email by 11:59 PDT Sunday, February 14.
11. Winners will be notified by March 20.  Publication will follow in April. 
12. The preliminary decision the judges of the top 10 and the final decision by guest judge, Joel Willans, of the top three stories are final.

 Stories from the first String-of-10 Contest can be read at these links.

 1^st Place: The Haircut by Sharon E. Trotter

2^nd Place: The Forever Summer by Mary J. Daley

3^rd Place: Choices Made by Jim O’Loughlin

PRIZES

1st Place: Winner will have his or her story published at Every Day Fiction in April 1010 and be paid the standard payment of $3.00 per story.   A copy of The Best of Every Day Fiction TWO along with a copy of Pomegranate Stories by Gay Degani, the editor of Flash Fiction Chronicles  will also be awarded as well as an “I Write Every Day” t-shirt.

2nd and 3rd Place: Winners will have their stories published at Flash Fiction Chronicles in April.  (NOTE:There is no payment for publication at Flash Fiction Chronicles.)  A copy of The Best of Every Day Fiction TWO along with a copy of Pomegranate Stories by Gay Degani, the editor of Flash Fiction Chronicles  will also be awarded to both 2nd and 3rd place winners.

However at least four words from the prompt must  be used. 

TIPS

1. Do not dash off the first thing that comes to mind and email five minutes later.  READ IT, REWRITE IT, and PROOFREAD IT.

2. Start with a strong first sentence.  This doesn’t necessarily mean the first sentence you write, but rather the best sentence you write after you have a feeling for what the story is about.  Engage the reader with detail and conflict.

3. Words need to be carefully chosen in short fiction.  Your rough draft may use vague imprecise language, but your final draft should shine with specific detail, active verbs, and vivid language.

4. An exact definition of what constitutes a story is not possible because “story” means different things to different readers.  In this case, a story might be best served if it can draw some kind of emotion from the reader with characters who are caught in a moment of internal or external conflict,  the outcome of which can be good or bad or obscure.  If in doubt, send it on.

 That’s it.  Good Luck!

About Joel Willans

Originally from Suffolk in the UK, Joel Willans has lived in Canada, Finland and Peru. A copywriter and travel blogger, he now gallivants between East Anglia, Helsinki and Spain. Joel’s stories have been broadcast on BBC radio and published in more than a dozen anthologies and many magazines. In 2008, he was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and won the Yeovil Prize and Global Short Story Award. “By ma biscuit or kiss ma fish”, his short story collection, is currently shortlisted for the Scott Prize, while his flash fiction can be found at places like Prick-of-the Spindle, Pank, Word Riot and Boston Literary Magazine. His story “One Bright Moment” is Every Day Fiction’s most popular story of all time.

For the week of February 7 through February 14, Flash Fiction Chronicles is  having its second String-of-10 Contest—String of 10 TWO—for the best 250-word story written from a specific prompt: a series of ten words given to you on February 7, 2010.

JOEL WILLANS, nominated for the Pushcart Prize and winner of the Yeovil Prize and Global Short Story Award  is our guest judge for this contest.  Find out more about Joel BELOW.

 GUIDELINES

1. Read the contest’s String of 10 Writing Prompt which will be available at 12:01 on February 7, 2010 here as well as on the FFC Daily Prompt Page and at Gay Degani’s Author Thread at Every Day Fiction. 
2. The contest is open to stories of  up to 250 words. Entries over the word limitation will be disregarded.
3. Submit via email addressed to flashfictionblog@everydayfiction.com.   All entries must be copy and pasted into the body of the email. No attachments will be opened.
4. There is no entry fee.
5. You may enter as many 3 separate and different stories up to 250-words each. 
6. All stories must contain at least four words from the String of 10.  Any stories without at least four words from the string of 10 will be disregarded.  The prompt words may be slightly modified such as tense, number, etc.  (Example: walk can be amended to walks, walked, even walker or walkers)
7. The aphorism that is given doesn’t not need to be found in the story, but rather to be used as an additional source of inspiration.  No story will be judged on its use.  Note may be taken if a story uses the aphorism in an inspired way.
8. What matters most is your story, not the prompt words or quotation.  Seamless integration of any four of the prompt words is the goal. 
9. All entries must be in English, original, unpublished, and not submitted or accepted elsewhere at the time of submission. Flash Fiction Chronicles/Every Day Fiction/Every Day Publishing reserves one-time publication rights to the 1st- through-3rd winning entries to be published at Every Day Fiction and Flash Fiction Chronicles.
10. Entries must be received via email by 11:59 PDT Sunday, February 14.
11. Winners will be notified by March 20.  Publication will follow in April. 
12. The preliminary decision the judges of the top 10 and the final decision by guest judge, Joel Willans, of the top three stories are final.

 Stories from the first String-of-10 Contest can be read at these links.

 1^st Place: The Haircut by Sharon E. Trotter

2^nd Place: The Forever Summer by Mary J. Daley

3^rd Place: Choices Made by Jim O’Loughlin

PRIZES

1st Place: Winner will have his or her story published at Every Day Fiction in April 1010 and be paid the standard payment of $3.00 per story.   A copy of The Best of Every Day Fiction TWO along with a copy of Pomegranate Stories by Gay Degani, the editor of Flash Fiction Chronicles  will also be awarded as well as an “I Write Every Day” t-shirt.

2nd and 3rd Place: Winners will have their stories published at Flash Fiction Chronicles in April.  (NOTE:There is no payment for publication at Flash Fiction Chronicles.)  A copy of The Best of Every Day Fiction TWO along with a copy of Pomegranate Stories by Gay Degani, the editor of Flash Fiction Chronicles  will also be awarded to both 2nd and 3rd place winners.

 ABOUT JOEL WILLANS

Originally from Suffolk in the UK, Joel Willans has lived in Canada, Finland and Peru. A copywriter and travel blogger, he now gallivants between East Anglia, Helsinki and Spain. Joel’s stories have been broadcast on BBC radio and published in more than a dozen anthologies and many magazines. In 2008, he was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and won the Yeovil Prize and Global Short Story Award. “By ma biscuit or kiss ma fish”, his short story collection, is currently shortlisted for the Scott Prize, while his flash fiction can be found at places like Prick-of-the Spindle, Pank, Word Riot and Boston Literary Magazine. His story “One Bright Moment” is Every Day Fiction’s most popular story of all time.

Congratulations to Mary J. Daley for her story “The Forever Summer.” 

She placed second in The Flash Fiction Chronicles String-of-10 Contest held in August.  The challenge was to write a piece of short fiction, 250 words or less, using at least four of the following prompt words: 

 STRING OF TEN: BLOW BACK-STORM-JAUNDICE-STEAM-TATTOO-SENSE OF FUN-CANTALOUPE-STREAKED-UMBER-DRIPPING SWEAT

 QUOTATION: And when is there time to remember, to sift, to weigh, to estimate, to total? –Tillie Olsen*  

THE FOREVER SUMMER
by  Mary J. Daley

He had seventy-nine tattoos from his ankles to the nape of his neck. All declaring the same thing, “Wanda Forever.” Wanda’s sense of fun had started it. On the twenty-first day of June she approached him and said,  “I’ll let you bed me on one condition.”

He happily left her bed two hours later for the tattoo parlor.

He loved her immediately.  She stood four foot four and had long golden hair streaked with black that she refused to touch with clip, elastic or brush. She smelled of ripened cantaloupe during sex, ate only steam vegetables, and liked her whisky neat.

Wanda blew his summer into all shades of happy, and only asked that he mark each bout of love making with his confirmation that it was forever.
But when autumn came, Wanda refused his touch, even when he stood naked in front of her pointing to her name and his promise that encompassed his body.  She just shook her head and said nothing, and he stood there with seventy-nine tattoos, hoping somehow they would blow back the best summer of his life.

Mary J. Daley lives in Toronto, Canada with her husband and  two daughters. Her short fiction has appeared in Allegory, The Harrow, Gryphonwood ,and Gemini Magazine. 

Third Place was published here at Flash Fiction Chronicles on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 and First Place will be published at Every Day Fiction on Sunday, October 25, 2009.

 *The quotation was also part of the prompt, but there was no requirement to use it in the story.

Congratulations to Jim O’Loughlin for his story “Choices Made.” 

 He placed third in The Flash Fiction Chronicles String-of-10 Contest held in August.  The challenge was to write a piece of short fiction, 250 words or less, using at least four of the following prompt words: 

 STRING OF TEN: BLOW BACK-STORM-JAUNDICE-STEAM-TATTOO-SENSE OF FUN-CANTALOUPE-STREAKED-UMBER-DRIPPING SWEAT

 QUOTATION: And when is there time to remember, to sift, to weigh, to estimate, to total? –Tillie Olsen * 

CHOICES MADE
by Jim O’Loughlin

Later, he would be able to consider all that he had left behind and never saw again: the wedding album, the birth certificates, the kids’ favorite toys, even the laptop.  In the moment though, with the storm surging and blow back peeling off the roof like masking tape, he only had time to grab what he could on the way out.  

Still, even as he ran to the car, dripping sweat and bleeding from the gash in his forehead, with the river already up to the wheel wells, he realized that the choices he had just made said something about who he was.  In his arms, he held a phone book, the cantaloupe that had just turned ripe, and a gallon of milk. And he had made sure to lock the front door.

Jim O’Loughlin’s flash fiction has appeared in Quick Fiction, The Pedestal Magazine, and North American Review.  He is the publisher of Final Thursday Press  at http://www.finalthursdaypress.com.

Second Place will be published here at Flash Fiction Chronicles on Friday, October 23, 2009 and First Place will be published at Every Day Fiction on Sunday, October 25, 2009.

 *The quotation was also part of the prompt, but there was no requirement to use it in the story.

Sharon E. Trotter (pictured) won First Place in our 1st String-of-10 Flash Fiction Contest with her story, The Haircut, to be published in Every Day Fiction in the month of October.

 This is the first time Flash Fiction Chronicles has sponsored a flash fiction contest, and for being a first-time thing,  it went fairly smoothly.  We had 49 entries from about 42 different authors.  So cool to have such variety and participation first time out.

What I did to make certain I came fresh to reading the entries was to set up a system so that I would not know who the authors.  I did this by assigning each submission with an entry number and then, copying and pasting each story without author names into a Word document .  I then set the stories aside and didn’t read any of them for a week.

Once I started, I read every piece twice.  First making comments about what worked for me and what struck me either as unclear or awkward or trite, etc.  Then I read the stories again to select my favorite 23 and a third time to narrow it down to 10.  I decided there really were 11 that I wanted to have on the short list. 

At this point I asked for help judging to winners.  They were Camille Gooderham Campbell,Managing Editor of Every Day Fiction; Sarah Hilary, distinguished short story writer and frequent EDF contributor; KC Ball, Editor of 10Flash and slush reader for EDF, and distinguished short story writer, Robert Swartwood, editor of  W.W. Norton’s Hint Fiction Anthology, distinguished short story writer, and EDF contributer; Hillary Degani, slush reader for EDF, and myself, editor of Flash Fiction Chronicles. Thank you, judges for all your time and effort.

The judges received the anonymous entries and a work sheet on which they ranked each story from 1 to 11.  From these rankings, I was able to determine each story’s RANK, the lowest score resulting in the highest ranking, The Haircut, The Forever Summer, and Choices receiving the three lowest scores and therefore the rank of 1st, 2nd, 3rd.  (I’ve been told Future Writers of America and Football rankings are similarly determined).

It was interesting to see how all the writers incorporated the prompt words into their stories.  They had to use at least four of the prompt words in their stories.  Many people were able to use the words so skillfully that it was not evident which prompts were used.  Kudos to you.  I also gave them a quotation.  This was to serve as more inspiration than anything else, but several were able to imply in their subs something related to the quotation.  Here is the String-of-10 Flash Fiction Prompt.

STRING OF TEN: BLOW BACK-STORM-JAUNDICE-STEAM-TATTOO-SENSE OF FUN-CANTALOUPE-STREAKED-UMBER-DRIPPING SWEAT

QUOTATION: And when is there time to remember, to sift, to weigh, to estimate, to total? –Tillie Olsen  

Actually KUDOS to all of you who entered.  There were some fabulous openings that drew me right in, voices that felt unique, and many characters that I enjoyed meeting.  I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with next time.

Here are some of the comments offered by the judges on Sharon’s submission.

From Camille Gooderham-Campbell, Managing Editor of Every Day Fiction & Writer. Website: Copy. Edit. Proof.

Nice sparse prose and a pair of excellently drawn characters. The prompts were well blended in, and the last paragraph wrapped the piece up perfectly. Terminal illness makes a fairly direct interpretation of the prompt quote, but the tattoos and the subtle delivery take it to the next level for me.

From Sarah Hilary, Award-winning Writer. Website: Crawl Space.

I felt as if I’d known these ladies all my life, just excellently done. The obligatory words (umber etc) didn’t yell out at me at all here, the only story where they didn’t, but mostly it was the character dynamic that grabbed me from the first sentence and held me to the last. Head and shoulders above the others, for my money.

From Gay Degani, Editor of Flash Fiction Chronicles and Writer. Website: Words in Place.

Smooth, excellent writing with a good opening and strong voice.  The last paragraph is excellent. There is growth shown in the narrator.  My favorite.  Definitely.  Thoroughly professional.

THE WINNERS

 HONORABLE MENTION

 THE FINALISTS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

CONGRATULATIONS to Sharon E. Trotter and her story, “The Haircut,” for placing FIRST in the 1st String-of-10 Flash Fiction Contest sponsored by Flash Fiction Chronicles  and Every Day Fiction.   Sharon’s story will be published in October at Every Day Fiction.  Mary and Jim’s stories will be published in October at Flash Fiction Chronicles.  Exact publications dates to follow.

Here are the final results:

 THE WINNERS

 HONORABLE MENTION

 THE FINALISTS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

PRIZES

1st Place Winner will have his or her story published at Every Day Fiction in October and be paid the standard payment of $3.00 per story.   A copy of The Best of Every Day Fiction, 2008 will also be awarded to the winner as well as an “I Write Every Day” t-shirt.

2nd and 3rd Place Winners will have their stories published at Flash Fiction Chronicles in October.  There is no payment for publication at Flash Fiction Chronicles.  A copy of The Best of Every Day Fiction, 2008 will also be awarded to both 2nd and 3rd place winners.

When I was asked, recently, to assist in the judging of a flash fiction competition, I thought — no problem! After all, it’s essentially the same task as what I do every day, or so I assumed.

But…

Making an editorial decision means judging a story only against itself and against the standards of the publication it’s being considered for: does it meet our definition of a story, will it appeal to our readers, is the prose up to our standards, does it have a theme and an impact on the reader — does it achieve what it sets out to do?

Notice that those are all yes/no questions. Each story is either a yes or a no for the magazine. It’s not always easy, exactly, especially in borderline cases, but the practice and habit of it are simple.

Judging stories against each other is hard. Stories aren’t meant to be judged against each other, just as different fruits aren’t meant to be ranked on a scale; I like plums better than pears, say, but that doesn’t make plums better than pears in general — unless the plum in question is perfectly ripe and the pear it’s being held against is a bit too soft or hard.

Picking out the poor fruit is easy enough. This one is overwritten and exploding with purple prose, that one is flavourless and doesn’t present much of a theme. But once the list has been narrowed down to the real contenders, ranking them is the devil’s own job.

I didn’t know that before, and now I do.

This post by Camille Gooderham Campbell is reprinted here from her blog, Copy. Edit. Proof. Camille is an editor of Every Day Fiction.

These observations about the submissions received in the String -of-10 Contest sponsored by this site are more about me and my reading experience than about any one entry. However, I am sharing them with you so that if and when we sponsor a fresh new contest, those who read this and enter will be at a distinct advantage.

1)Titles
All fiction stories benefit from a well-thought out title. A title should reflect the overall story if possible. One classic rule says that a title should be the character’s name (Antony and Cleopatra, Ethan Frome, Moby Dick) or the setting (Howard’s End, Mill on the Floss, Our Town), both character and setting (The Old Man and the Sea, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), or they reveal theme, in abstraction (Sound and the Fury, War and Peace, From Here to Eternity) or suggest theme in a specific object or event (The Golden Bowl, Light in August, The Sheltering Sky), or character or setting that reflect theme (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Paradise Lost, The Grapes of Wrath).

Titles should enhance the story, add to it in some way, yet not telegraph so much that there is no surprise left at the end. Specific ambiguity? Is that possible? I think so. This is even more important when writing short fiction. Whenever there is a word limit as in this 250-word contest, every word MUST count. The title gives the writer another way to set up, entice, and pay-off the reader, and title words are FREE, above and beyond the word count of the work itself. So use a title. Writing isn’t just random thoughts. It’s thinking carefully about all the ways you can help the reader have an emotional response to your story.

2. Surprise
Many stories lack surprise and surprise is what jolts a reader into having an emotional response. I don’t mean just a twist ending either. Surprise is more than that.

First, surprise comes to the reader when a setting is specific and interesting. When there is no setting established at all, the reader is left in a blank empty space, and readers, like Mother Nature, abhor a void. A writer can engage a reader with a few small details that create a unique place in which the story can exist.

Second, surprise comes to the reader when a character is unique. When there is something different than we expect about the person, his attitude, his way of speaking, even his appearance. A wise teacher once told me (and our class) to always do something unique to a character, give him a headache, a limp, a funny haircut that reflects in some way who that person is. Actually he used “a toothache” as an example, and I watched a movie in which the character had a toothache throughout and that toothache paid off in the end in his own behaviour. I thought aha, Gordon’s toothache! Dang. I can’t remember what it was, something by Russell Banks I think.

Third, surprise –and delight–happen when the language is full of vivid specific detail, images that pop off the page, clear and precise and visual.

Fourth, surprise happens when an ending provides both the unexpected and a sense of the inevitable. The reader might guess from the title, the specific character traits of the hero, the dangerous setting, that the story may end badly, but the reader should not know the exact details of that ending (I am thinking here of The Old Man and the Sea here or Of Mice and Men).

It is in the details that the reader will be surprised and satisfied because though the writer may have promised an unhappy ending, he ends it with epiphany or an unthought-of-sadness. The twist must NOT be the pulling out of a gun that the reader didn’t know a villain had, but rather the pulling out of the gun the reader knew he had, and then decides not to fire.

So yes, twist the ending, but don’t create surprise with a non-sequiter. Classic rule from Master Chekov: If there is a gun on the mantle in the beginning, use it by the end. And the reverse is also true, if you are going to use a gun in the end, put it on the mantle in the beginning, but do it all subtly because…

The real surprise should come with the revelation of the human spirit. We need to know the person, the character a little before we can appreciate the surprise. Can it be done in 250 words? Yes.

3) Cliched story plots
Third and last observation for today. It’s hard for a new writerto know what a cliched plot is. Everything feels new to him because he hasn’t written before. But what’s new to the writer isn’t necessarily new to the reader, especially an editor. Therefore if you are going to write about illness, revenge, execution, suicide, dead mothers, boy meets girl, Martians landing on the earth, and football quarterbacks, etc, then it is important to pay attention to the details of your story and create unique characters, unusual settings, screwy attitudes, a strong identifiable voice, anything that lifts the cliched plot above the mundane. Most of the time this means a lot of writing practice and thoughtful revision. Reading every line, every word, and doing the revision without overworking it. Not easy, but it comes with working at it every day, just like playing the basoon.

The classic belief in storytelling is that there are only 5-12-24 actual plots in the world, and that’s true on some levels. It’s what the writer brings to a cliched story that makes it good. This has been proven over and over by Will S, Charlie D, John S, Edith W, Charlotte B, Tommy Hardy, Margaret A, Carole S, Willie F, and even Stephen K.

This post by Gay Degani is reprinted here from her Words in Place Blog.

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, AT 12 AM PDT. This extension is due to a server malfunction that occurred during the first two or three days of the contest.  We apologize to those who may have had their emailed submissions returned. 

For the week of August 8 through August 16, instead of a new prompt each day from Daily Prompts,we are having our very first contest  for the best 250-word story written from the  String of 10* ( words and phrases) posted below.

PRIZES

1st Place Winner will have his or her story published at Every Day Fiction in October and be paid the standard payment of $3.00 per story.   A copy of The Best of Every Day Fiction, 2008 will also be awarded to the winner as well as an “I Write Every Day” t-shirt.

2nd and 3rd Place Winners will have their stories published at Flash Fiction Chronicles in October.  There is no payment for publication at Flash Fiction Chronicles.  A copy of The Best of Every Day Fiction, 2008 will also be awarded to both 2nd and 3rd place winners.

GUIDELINES

1. Read the contest’s String of 10 Writing Prompt posted below*, on the FFC Daily Prompt Page, or at Gay Degani’s Author Thread at Every Day Fiction. 

2. The contest is open to stories of  up to 250 words. Entries over the word limitation will be disregarded. There is no entry fee.

3. Submit via email addressed to flashfictionblog@everydayfiction.com.   All entries must be copy and pasted into the body of the email. No attachments will be opened.

4. You may enter as many 3 separate and different stories up to 250-words each.  All three must contain at least four words from the String of 10.  Any stories without at least four words from the string of 10 will be disregarded.

5. All entries must be in English, original, unpublished, and not submitted or accepted elsewhere at the time of submission. Flash Fiction Chronicles/Every Day Fiction/Every Day Publishing reserves one-time publication rights to the 1st- through-3rd winning entries to be published at Every Day Fiction and Flash Fiction Chronicles.

6. Entries must be received via email by midnight PDT Sunday, August 16.

7. Winners will be notified by September 20.  Publication will follow in October. 

Keep in mind:  What matters most is your story, not the prompt words or quotation.  However at least four words from the prompt must  be used. 

*PROMPT

STRING OF TEN

BLOW BACK-STORM-JAUNDICE-STEAM-TATTOO-SENSE OF FUN-CANTALOUPE-STREAKED-UMBER-DRIPPING SWEAT

QUOTATION

And when is there time to remember, to sift, to weigh, to estimate, to total? –Tillie Olsen  

TIPS

1. Do not dash off the first thing that comes to mind and email five minutes later.  READ IT, REWRITE IT, and PROOFREAD IT.

2. Start with a strong first sentence.  This doesn’t necessarily mean the first sentence you write, but rather the best sentence you write after you have a feeling for what the story is about.  Engage the reader with detail and conflict.

3. Words need to be carefully chosen in short fiction.  Your rough draft may use vague imprecise language, but your final draft should shine with specific detail, active verbs, and vivid language.

4. An exact definition of what constitutes a story is not possible because “story” means different things to different readers.  In this case, a story might be best served if it can draw some kind of emotion from the reader with characters who are caught in a moment of internal or external conflict,  the outcome of which can be good or bad or obscure.  If in doubt, send it on.

1) Don’t post your entries here at Flash Fiction Chronicles.

2) Email entries to hint.fiction@gmail.com

3) Read Robert Swartwood’s guidelines.  As with all submissions in the writing world, failure to follow the guidelines will lead you down the hopelessly dark road to not being read and appreciated.  Guidelines are here:  HINT FICTION GUIDELINES

4) Send your best work:  It’s August 2, only the second day after the editor began accepting submissions, and Rob has received over 150+. 

5) Attention: South Dakota residents.  Gleaned from Robert Swartwood’s TWITTERAGE:

What does hurt my feelings is that STILL nobody from South Dakota has visited my site. I’m going to start a campaign to fix the situation.