CLOSED. Thank you for coming to celebrate flash fiction with me! The 25 stories moving on to Round 2 will post on Monday, Dec 9.
WELCOME, dear ones, to YOUR celebration! This Flash! Friday anniversary party is in honor of YOU, the international family of flash writers who have adventured and worked with me to build this spectacular community. The stories you’ve spun over the past year are wild and surprising and powerful and unforgettable. Thanks to your efforts and enthusiastic support of each other, writers and readers around the world can (and do!) know, love and appreciate you. Thank you so very, very much for being the wonderful writers you are, and for sharing yourselves with the world for a few words every week. NOW LET’S PARTY!!!
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JUDGES: Serving as Flashversary judges today are four writers whose weekly flash fiction contests, now retired/handed off to others, launched my love affair with the genre. Wakefield Mahon (Motivation Monday), Stevie McCoy (Tuesday Tales), Cara Michaels (Menage Monday), and Nicole Wolverton (5 Minute Fiction) continue to inspire writers everywhere with their work and support of the writing community. Read more about them here, and leave them love & warm fuzzies. Thank you, noble judges!
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SPECIAL AWARD
Haunted Waters Press Award. Captained by the fabulously talented duo of Susan Warren Utley and Savannah Spidalieri, HWP is the home of the stunning lit mag From the Depths. Susan also serves as one of the masterminds behind Shenandoah Valley Writers, and it is impossible to overstate the debt Flash! Friday owes her. THANK YOU, Susan, for your faithful support of writers and the enormous and invaluable part you have played in making FF what it is today. I love you dearly, respect and admire you deeply, and will be indebted to you forever. ❤
The Haunted Waters Press editors will read all Flashversary entries and choose their favorite to award publication. The selected story will be showcased online at Haunted Waters Press as part of their online literary content. To learn more, please visit Haunted Waters Press; join them on Facebook & follow them on Twitter.
GIVING BACK
Also partnering with Flash! Friday today is 826DC, a nonprofit group whose mission is to develop and nurture young writers. These kids represent the literary thinkers and dreamers of tomorrow. Discover more at their website and by following them on Twitter.
Give back! If Flash! Friday has been a help to you on your writing journey, please consider making a donation to 826DC in honor of Flash! Friday. They have a special donation page set up for this purpose. (Note: you’ll get a special sneak peek at the new FF logo…) And thank you!
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FLASH! FRIDAY PRIZE BOX
Grand Dragon Champion: One poster, eight flyers, and eight postcards of your winning story with the new FF logo (to be formally introduced on Dec 11 with the winners) as well as a FF commemorative poster, and (paper) copies of E. M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel and John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction. 1st Runner Up: One poster and eight postcards of your story, a FF commemorative poster, and (paper) copies of Strunk’s The Elements of Style and Brian Kiteley’s The 3 A.M. Epiphany. 2nd Runner Up: Eight postcards of your story and a FF commemorative poster. Honorable Mentions: 1 Flash! Friday commemorative poster.
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FLASHVERSARY TIME! (Questions? Tweet @FlashFridayFic or email Flash! Friday here.)
Word Limit: 350 words, no more, no less. (Er, make that no fewer.)
How: Post your entry (one per writer) here in the comments. Include your word count (350 words exactly, exclusive of title/byline–a title is not mandatory but strongly encouraged) and Twitter handle if you’ve got one (if not, be sure to link your email address or some way for us to contact you).
Entry window: From 7:30am Monday, Dec 2, until 11:59pm Friday, Dec 6, Washington, DC time.
Judging/results:
*Round 1: The Flashversary judge panel will collectively select the top 25 entries to move on to the 2nd round. The top 25 entries will be posted Monday, Dec 9, at 7:30am Washington, DC time.
*Round 2: From the top 25 stories, the Flash! Friday team will select the top 10 entries moving on to the final round. The Top 10 finalists will be posted on Tuesday, Dec 10, at 7:30am Washington, DC time.
*Final Round: From the Top 10 entries, I, yes I, Rebekah Postupak!, will choose the Grand Dragon Champion, two runners up, and two honorable mentions. The winners (including the Haunted Waters Press award) will be announced on Wednesday, Dec 11, at 7:30am Washington, DC time along with the new FF look and logo.
And now for your prompt! It’s been a marvelous, miraculous, wonderful year here at Flash! Friday–let’s see what you, in your own genre and style (see the guidelines for content restrictions), can do with dragons (literal or figurative). And thank you, dear Flash! Friday family, from the bottom of my heart.
Dragon of Halong Bay (Vietnam). Photo by LoggaWiggler.
Flash! Friday 