Writing Short Fiction for Challenges

It’s crazy to think, the first Flash Fiction Live episode where Natalie and I streamed together was October 30, 2021. Although this wasn’t my first foray into writing flash fiction, I’d already made a few attempts on my own in 2015 back in my Wattpad days, this was when I started writing short fiction consistently.

Since then, I’ve written over a hundred flash fiction stories and more recently, started submitting do different publications.

Without getting into too much of the backstory for the 1,000 Word series all of which contributed to its creation, 1,000 Words to Get Started, is what prepared me to start submitting my stories.

The key features that have helped are: writing with a short deadline, using a specific challenge, and having a specific word or words to include.

The short deadline, the 1,000 Words series does not have a set timeline for the prompts, however when Natalie and I do our livestreams, we aim to complete our first draft within thirty minutes, and there are other time related challenges included in the books, because the words, prompts, and challenges are not repeated. This is something you can apply to any or all of your practice, but it is optional.

The specific challenges included in the series are often represented in submissions as the theme of the challenge. These can be anything from the genre to a specific action that must take place on the page. The beauty of the challenges is, since you usually don’t know what it will be, it’s helpful to be able to write for anything. This is where practice comes in.

Challenge words are in a lot of writing contests as well and since the 1,000 Words series includes ten challenge words for each prompt, it includes plenty of opportunities for practice.

So how does this apply to submitting fiction for publication in different writing challenges, with different magazines?

When submitting to different competitions, I’ve had anywhere from forty-eight hours up to seven days to complete my story. While the length of the story has varied significantly for each of those, there is a lot happening in that short amount of time.

When signing up for one, I knew what genre the contest was in and when it would begin, but did not get my assignment till the start of the challenge. For another, I did not know what genre I would be writing in, I only knew when the challenge would begin.

Once you get the challenge specific information, this means you have very little time to think about what you actually want to write and every moment counts. If you’re interested in submitting to short fiction competitions and challenges, the only way to prepare is to practice. If you would like to join us for Flash Fiction Live and try fast drafting, follow us on social media for schedule updates or watch some of our old videos and you can order our books here.

Click here to watch my 2025 presentation.