So unless you’ve been living on the moon for the last few months, you’ll know that National Flash Fiction Day was on Wednesday. To re-cap – this was an event that celebrated flash fiction, i.e. very short stories, usually written quite quickly and generally focussing on a brief moment in time (that’s my definition, but there’s nothing set in stone). There were events online and all over the country (and international events too) – you can read more about it on the website and blog. When I saw the first announcement about it on twitter, I immediately jumped in with both feet.
Once Upon A Time
My first port of call was to contact Anna Meade at Yearning For Wonderland and ask if she’d like to collaborate on a competition. ‘It’s not just for UK writers,’ I begged her… and after her recent success with The Fairy Ring contest, I was keen to run something similar. An open competition where writers post their stories on their own blogs and link them all together. The lovely thing about The Fairy Ring was the way that everyone supported each other, read each other’s entries, and generally caused a Twitter frenzy. After lots of time-zone limited discussions with Anna, we came up with Once Upon A Time (#ouatwriting) and started madly promoting using our alter-egos… she, #fairyqueen and I, #darkfairy. Sometimes these personas switched. The result was a whole sheaf of fabulous prizes, including books, t-shirts and general adoration. We exceeded expectations and received 88 fantastic entries. It was very difficult to choose the winners. I had a rather long shortlist, as did Anna, and guess what? They were almost completely different! After a few painful discussions, we both did another re-read and came up with a much shorter list, and finally, the winners.
Oliver Barton’s ‘Pink Bells‘ was just the perfect, poignant tale. Angela Readman‘s ‘A Mermaid in Texas’ was just so completely raw and stunning, it stuck with me from the very first time I read it. McKenzie Barham‘s ‘I can show you the world’, felt so unbelievable real, it just blew me away. Then there was the gorgeous fan favourite, ‘Three Simple Words’ by Cory Eadson… There were many, many others worthy of a mention too, and I realised I had to do something about this – we couldn’t just celebrate the winners…
So I had the bright idea of putting them all together into an anthology… I wanted to celebrate the competition, but I underestimated the difficulty and time-constraints of putting a book together. It turned into a logistical nightmare, trying to coordinate 88 entries into a book, when each one was formatted according to individual taste on everyone’s own blog… everyone’s editing style was just ever so slightly different: single or double quotes, curly or straight, short or long hyphens, double spaces at the start of sentences, breaks between paragraphs, and my personal favourite – using spaces instead of tabs! Writers, PLEASE don’t so this – it makes editing a complete nightmare :) As for typos, everyone does the now and again – how many times have you read a published book and find them? The odd one isn’t an issue, but if there are a lot, it does look sloppy (Note: this doesn’t apply to any of the entrants!) Then, of course, I had to contact everyone to ask for their permission, to make sure I had their link details for the author info, and to chase up people with missing information… My email decided to cause me a few problems there, but I got in touch with everyone in the end! Anyway, it’s almost done and I’ll be posting details of where you can buy it soon :)
FlashFlood
Then came my next activity (note: I have not even mentioned writing anything myself yet…) I volunteered my services and was very pleased to be chosen as one of the 7 editors for the FlashFlood Journal (I also chose the name *ahem*). This involved us all taking a stint on the accept/reject and posting schedule. I’m not telling you which day I was on, but it was non-stop until midnight, then actually a fair bit past that, tidying up the inbox etc. It was a crazy experience (especially towards the end when the emails started bouncing back for no apparent reason)… Stories were flying in quicker than I could read them. I managed it by giving each one a quick read, then moving on, then going back to each one again – then a lot of the time, filing it for a third read. Some stories didn’t make it to the third read, and it wasn’t because they were bad. Mostly it was because they just didn’t grab me, even if the writing was beautiful. Others didn’t make it because I just didn’t understand them! That might’ve just been me though… the whole selection process is very subjective and each editor has their own likes and dislikes. FYI – some of my ‘not sure’ stories got 4or 5 reads – it was that difficult.
However, a few stand-out things that led to my third read (and remember this is only my opinion)
- A great title (seriously – if I have to pick from a pile of similar stories, the best title will win)
- A great opening line/paragraph
- A quirky subject that I haven’t already just read in similar forms in 20 other stories
Funnily enough, these three elements are things that I try hard to think about with my own writing. That, and a good ending. It doesn’t have to be definitive, but it has to be satisfying. I like twists too, but they have to work well. I won’t tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t write, but if you use your twist to tell us that ‘and all along the main character was an animal’ then you better write it well or else it leaves me disappointed! Again, just my opinion. My last thought on this (and some, but not all of the other editors agreed) is that don’t write stuff TOO depressing. It doesn’t have to be funny or crazy, that doesn’t always work either unless it’s written well; but after you’ve read a few miserable tales about funerals and cancer and break-ups, you get a bit fed up with them, even if they are beautifully written (before anyone says anything, yes, I am guilty of the odd bit of misery myself, that’s not the point here – we all do it!) I also learnt something else – as tempting as it might be to email the editors when you’ve received a rejection – don’t. They really and truly don’t have time to give feedback, especially on a project like this where the submissions came in over a short period of time and were being set up for posting on a schedule. I think we all tried our best to respond to everyone, but now having been on the other side, I appreciate how frustrating it must be for anyone hoping for feedback.
So – to sum up – being involved in both of these competitions was a great experience and a great insight, and (being a glutton for punishment) I would love to do it again.
Stuff that I wrote
As for my own writing… *Beware – I am blowing my own trumpet here*
- ‘Shed’ was published in the National Flash Fiction Day Anthology, Jawbreakers
- ‘Message’ was published on 1000 Words
- ‘Sweet Sixteen’ was published in the Raging Aardvark Twisted Tales Anthology
- ‘Nightcrawler’ was published in Chris White’s Photocopier Press Pamphlet
- ‘The Rock’ was published on the FlashFlood Journal (note: subject to the editing process, like everyone else!)
- ‘Uncle Charlie’ was written and posted on the Write-in Blog on National Flash Fiction Day
- ‘Beware: Swans’ will be included in the Once Upon A Time Anthology
I also posted a flashpoint that I wrote in a pub :)
What’s next?
And now that it’s all over, I’m reverting back to my *To Write* list… which is ever growing (and includes getting back on with ‘the novel’)…
Thanks to everyone who’s been involved in the above, and a big big thanks to King of Flash, Calum Kerr for the excellent work he put in to creating and executing National Flash Fiction Day… someone buy that man a cake!!
In the drawer lay an array of broken watches. Everything from an old fashioned Casio sports watch to a chunky leather strapped thing with a face as big as a digestive biscuit. They were all broken in the same way, cracks splintered across each face like an intricate spider’s web, thin fractured lines spreading out in all directions.
His favourite was a delicate gold ladies’ watch with a stretchy band instead of a strap. He often took this one out and stared at it, turning it over in his big, meaty hands. Wondering how they’d made the band stretchable, so it could be worn like a bracelet. He’d tried it on himself, but the band wouldn’t stretch wide enough to pull over his knuckles. He hated his hands; the knuckles like pebbles worn smooth by a river, the skin tough and wrinkled like an old work boot. He banged the drawer shut and ambled out of the kitchen. Enough now.
He’d been collecting the watches for a long time. Years. He couldn’t remember how many. The Casio had come from a hitchhiker he’d picked up in a lay-by off the M3. The watch wasn’t old fashioned then. He remembered noticing it as the kid plonked his little rucksack into the foot well. He noticed it because it was on his right wrist. That’s unusual, he’d said to the kid. The kid had misunderstood. Oh no, these are all the rage now, mate. He’d said. He’d called him mate, and for a moment that had made him happy, but then he realised it wasn’t really a term of endearment, just a throwaway phrase. Mate. Pal. Geez. Son. It was the last one that grated the most.
No one called him Son any more. He was no longer someone’s son. He remembered the startled look on the kid’s face when he pulled into the lorry parking bay. The look turned to fear, then nothing, once he’d squeezed the life out of him. His big meaty hands round his neck. Afterwards, he carefully removed the watch from his wrist. He turned it over in his big meaty hands, curious at the mechanism. Numbers glowed out at him and he suddenly felt afraid. He squeezed the watch tight, until his pebbly knuckles glowed white, until eventually: time stopped. He drove the kid home and took him down to the basement, sat him in the corner. Then he’d gone back upstairs and thrown the watch into one of the kitchen drawers. It had been empty then, except for the delicate gold ladies’ watch with the stretchy bracelet band. His mother had loved that watch. Thank you, she’d said. Son.
The day she died, he’d carefully removed the watch from her limp, wasted wrist. He cried as it fell to the floor, his big meaty hands too clumsy to hold it. The face had smashed to pieces. Cracks splintered across it like an intricate spider’s web.
Time stopped.
At last – it’s 16th May and it’s finally here: National Flash Fiction Day 2012 – whoohoo!
I’m keeping this short and sweet, I don’t think any of us can cope with the suspense any longer…
The winners of #OUATWRITING are HERE!
Picking 3 out of the fabulous 88 entries was very, very hard – please don’t be disheartened if you are not one of the 3, but you should definitely pop over and give them all a pat on the back via Twitter, or by commenting on their blogs… but don’t forget to give yourselves a big pat on the back too – you all ROCK!
Head over to Yearning for Wonderland too, see what Anna’s got to say about all this… :)
As for the anthology – it’s nearly finished, and as soon as I’ve checked the proof, I’ll be posting details about where you can get hold of it!
In the meantime – keep writing… we love your stories :)
Writers of flash fiction – you don’t want to miss this…
I’m delighted to be one of the editors of the National Flash Fiction Day FlashFlood Journal – which is accepting submissions of 500 words or less until midnight on 15th May… then for 24 hours, your stories will be posted continuously in a lovely pop-up journal to mark the day…
All the info is here: http://flashfloodjournal.blogspot.co.uk/
Don’t miss out! Submit now :)
Yup, you read it right… but I’ve kind of given it away now, haven’t I? ;)
So, some of you who follow my ramblings on twitter may have picked up on the fact that I have been working on a TOP SECRET PROJECT… and maybe if you’re one of those detective-types, you might have guessed that it has something to do with the Once Upon A Time writing competition that Anna and I have been working on… well, you’d be right!
It became apparent as the entries began to come in that we were getting some seriously good stuff. Then we got more. And more. AND MORE. But there can only be 3 winners… 3 out of 88 is practically impossible. Seriously, the standard of entries was extremely high. We had lots of new takes on the old classics, we had modern adaptations, we had some very original new fairytales, we had an instruction manual, we even had a rhyme. I can’t speak for Anna, but in my humble opinion, there was not one bad apple in the whole box – yes, I had some strong favourites, and these were not necessarily the same as Anna’s – which is what made collaborating on this such a great experience for me. I really enjoyed reading all the stories and I love the way that everyone has been enthusiastically reading and commenting on each others’ – culminating in the FanFav mini-comp and the resultant fame of our lovely winner, Cory Eadson.
SO, without further ado – I announce the ‘Once Upon A Time’ anthology, which will contain all the stories from the competition, plus mine and Anna’s.
The collection will be available in both eBook and REAL PAPER format and I will post the details when available. It will be ready soon after National Flash Fiction Day on 16th May (when the WINNERS will also be announced).
Now for the technical bit: I am still working on the running order of the stories, and I need a couple of things from you…
(1) Copyright remains with the individual authors, but you need to tell me if you DON’T want your story published in the book.
(2) Some of you didn’t give your story a title, and some of you don’t have a full name on there – I need titles and names, folks. Also, if you don’t have a blog, you need to confirm that you are happy for your twitter name to be added into the ‘bio’ section (essential this is a list of blog addresses – there is no space for anything more than that)
I will be sending an email to everyone soon with more details of what I need from you…
…and that’s it for now… hopefully I have now brightened your day ;)
Questions, comments etc – you know where to find me!
Remember that girl from school? The one with the braces and the stringy hair, the long gangly legs; the flat chest. She was never quick nor funny enough with her comebacks, so in the end she just stopped trying and retreated into her oversized shell.
You meet her again; years later.
Technically, you’re middle-aged. Boys are receding and paunchy. Girls are all dark roots and whatever-fits clothes.
You all trundle along to the reunion hoping for cheap booze; memories of fumblings behind the bike shed and the day that Jonny Parker set Mindy Collins’s hair on fire in the science room.
You don’t recognise her at first.
‘Who’s that with the tight dress and the smooth legs and the big hair?’
‘She’s talking to Old Beaker, the science teacher. Is she at the wrong reunion?’
‘She’s looks too young to have been in our year – we’d remember her, wouldn’t we?’
Salivating men gravitate like bees to nectar; bitches huddle
‘Maybe she works here. I don’t recognise her, do you?’
‘Who does she think she is, dressing like that? Showing us up…’
You look down at the identical glittery tops you’ve bought from the same High Street store, only difference being some have bought the red and some the blue. No one’s bought the black because you’re all wearing same style black trousers; cheap polyester-mix straining over inactive rumps.
‘Whatever happened to Mindy Collins?’
‘Wonder if that bald patch ever grew back?’
You cackle.
You ladle punch from a bowl the size of a wash-basin, refilling your little plastic cups more often than you take breath.
The woman walks away from Old Beaker and you hear him say: ‘Nice to see you again, Mindy. So glad to hear you’ve done well for yourself.’
Your mouths hang open.
‘Catching flies, ladies?’ she says, smiling.
You don’t know that she’s tipped a little packet into the punch bowl; the crystals dissolved in an instant. Mindy was always good at science.
One by one, you collapse.
In the end, the whole tragic event will just get blamed on the dodgy prawn vol-au-vents.
This is Matt Reilly‘s entry for the Once Upon A Time Contest – so far the only one in rhyme :)
Once upon a time
When flash fix did rhyme
A tale did unfold
Needing to be told
*
This simple story’s
Not one of glories
But fighting what’s wrong
And just staying strong
*
No dragon awaits
Beyond castle gates
Our heroes won’t save
But they are still brave
*
A long road ahead
A hospital bed
This is a long quest
To fight for what’s best
*
The evil to kill
Requires a strong will
And strength to abide
The demon inside
*
For when cancer came
No-one was to blame
No sword was unsheathed
No object retrieved
*
Heroes are lucky
Strong-willed and plucky
Through treatment will stay
To fight a new day
*
And many do fight
By day and by night
In hope of mending
And happy ending.
Thanks Matt!
You can still enter your story until midnight 29th (EST)
Check out the other entries here:
Can we have a little drum roll please?
I am very excited to have one of my flash fictions included in the National Flash Fiction Day Anthology: Jawbreakers :)
This is the cover…
There are so many brilliant writers in here, I still can’t quite believe I’ve made it. All the story titles are one word long and mine is called “Shed”. That’s all I’m giving away for now ;)
The book will be out very soon, and when it is I will post details of where you can get it from :) Meanwhile, there are still lots of other things you can get involved in for this years National Flash Fiction Day on 16th May – keep checking the website for updates!
***UPDATE 26th April***
You can pre-order the book now, via this link :)
Once Upon A Time writing contest entry:
Unexpected Fairytales by Miranda Kate (@PurpleQueenNL)
Lori stroked her hand over the cover of the book; a special edition copy of Cinderella. It had signs of age; the edges of the dust jacket were worn and the spine faded. But when she opened it and saw the inscription inside, her heart lifted; “I’ll be your Prince any day of the week!”
He had known how much she’d loved the story from the first evening they’d met, and how it had inspired her to become a children’s author. And when he had given it to her the night before she had left his country, it had encapsulated so much of how he had healed her. He had listened to her, considered her, thought about what she might like and acted on it. No one had ever done that before. That’s what had made him so special. And despite the fact her visa had run out, and that he was far too young for her, they had made a deep connection.
So it was no real surprise some 12 years later, while she was suffering again in a marriage where there was no one listening or considering her, that he appeared again. Serendipity put him just a two hour drive away, heart broken from his own marriage failure. This time she had done the healing; validating him as a person, and reminding him that someone cared. And then they had helped each other navigate the rapid waters of divorce, so they could live the life they both dreamed of together. It had been the ultimate fairy tale ending, just like in the book.
But the Happily Ever After had been short lived. Lori closed the book and hugged it close to her chest, looking across at the hospital bed. He had been so brave, her Prince, having fought the terminal liver cancer for more than two years when they had only given him 6 months. And looking at him now, with his beseeching eyes locked on hers, he made it clear he wasn’t ready to give up on their fairy tale ending just yet.
Thanks to Keith B Walters, I’ve finally been tagged in the Lucky 7… God, I was starting to feel like the last one to get picked for the rounders team or something (to be fair, I wasn’t that good at rounders anyway…)
Here is the challenge as presented to me:
The Rules
- Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript,
- Go to line 7,
- Post on your blog the next 7 lines, or sentences, as they are – no cheating!
- Tag 7 other authors to do the same.
Ok – well this was a useful exercise for me as I realised that I write lots of short sentences. They make sense in the bigger picture, mixed in with longer sentences, but they’re a bit lacking on their own… plus, I have two current *long* works-in-progress, so I decided to post 7 sentences from each. Two for the price of one, eh? Also note that these are working titles and remember they are first drafts, not edited, so probably not very good! :)
The first one is from the first draft of ALONE
‘Right. So he goes into the woods, and he’s gone for a long time and the girlfriend starts to worry, so – fuming of course – she gets out of the car and goes to look for him. She finds him standing in a clearing, his jeans soaked from where he’s just pissed himself. He doesn’t say a word to her, just points at something near a tree…’
Sheila doesn’t like where this is going. The Forrester had bound his victims to trees with cable ties. The first two he just left there to die.
The second one is from the first draft of MORNING AFTER
The phone rang in her hand.
Well, rang is the wrong word. The theme from Ghostbusters started up and the collection of suited customers in the coffee bar all swivelled round to look at her. She rolled her eyes and checked the caller display. Withheld.
She didn’t answer withheld numbers. Not in this line of work.
* * *
You can let me know what you think, if you want… :)
I’m now passing the baton to the following 7 (and I just hope they haven’t ALL been tagged already!)
Disclaimer: you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. It’s not like a chain that will bring you 7 years of bad luck or anything ;)
