Entry Form
Flash fiction is a complete story told in a set amount of words, usually 300 to 1000 words. Flash fiction contains the necessary story elements—character(s), story world, plot, dialogue, conflict, and resolution. For more information about writing flash fiction, read Writing Flash Fiction by G. W. Thomas.
My Book Therapy offers you the opportunity to try your hand at writing flash fiction with a short contest. Here are the Make Every Word Count contest guidelines:
- The flash fiction contest runs concurrent with the Voices publishing schedule. For 2010, the flash fiction contest will be open in December 2009, March 2010, June 2010, and September 2010. Details with exact dates will be given as time draws near for that issue’s contest. In 2011, the flash fiction contest will be open six times a year—December 2010, February, April, June, August, October, December.
- Contest is open to My Book Therapy Voices only. In order to participate in the contest, writers must join My Book Therapy.
- Submissions will be accepted via e-mail only. Please submit the completed entry form and your story as an attachment to flashfiction@mybooktherapy.com. Attachments may be .doc .rtf. Please do not send .docx formats.
- Total word count is 300 words. Yes, 300 words. Crazy, isn’t it? Ernest Hemingway told a complete story in six words:
For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.
Please follow proper manuscript format:
- 1” margins all around
- 12-pt Times New Roman font
- Double-spaced
- Story title in caps centered 1/3 of the way down the page
- In the header, type your story title/word count on the left and include the page number on the right. As an example, your header will look something like this:
Let’s Pretend/300 words
- Please make sure the entry form is filled out completely and attached to the e-mail with your story. Do not include your name on the actual story you’re submitting.
- A team of judges will read the entries and determine first, second, and third place winners.
- The first, second, and third place winners will be listed in Voices, but only first place entry will be published in Voices. If your entry is chosen, please submit a headshot and a 25-word bio.
- A discussion thread is available in the My Book Therapy forum for you to ask questions. You can find it here: Flash Fiction Discussion.
- If you have any questions about the contest, please send an email to Amy, the flash fiction coordinator, at flashfiction@mybooktherapy.com.
