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Old 05-06-2011, 10:47 PM   #1
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The Flash Fortnight - the Flash Fiction forum challenge!
The Flash Fortnight - the Flash Fiction forum challenge!



Find yourself slacking? Procrastination winning out over motivation? Then this is the challenge for you!

Every month, we will be holding a writing challenge in the Flash Fiction forum. It is open to everyone.

The aim of this challenge is to help you get into the habit of writing stories regularly: stories that can then be polished and submitted for publication while the challenge is not running.

This is how it will work.

The challenge will run for one fortnight (14 consecutive days) each month. Each morning during the challenge, I'll post a prompt to help you spark some ideas. This will either be a generic prompt or one that is tailored to an upcoming themed issue of a specified flash fiction market. You don't have to use the prompt; it will just be there in case you need or want one.

What you do: Take the prompt (or not), and write a flash fiction story (of up to 1000 words) each day.

At the end of the 14 days, you will have a bunch of stories in front of you. Not all of them will necessarily be worth polishing and submitting - but some will be. Pick whichever ones you think hold the most promise, spend some time polishing them - and then send them out.

You can use the challenge as you like. You might want to take the opportunity some days to stretch yourself with a new style or genre, or just write something highly silly for fun. Or you could focus on one target market, and write several stories that would fit its submission guidelines.

When you've polished your stories, you can post them in the Polished and Ready sub-forum, if you wish, for critique.

If you don't manage to get a story draft written every day, don't worry about it. Start again the next day - which could turn out to be the best day ever. You can do it!


Links to the challenge threads and prompts:







Last edited by jvc; 09-14-2012 at 07:57 PM. Reason: Updating challenge links.
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Old 05-07-2011, 05:56 AM   #2
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This sounds like quite a challenge... but also tons of fun.
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Old 05-10-2011, 03:47 PM   #3
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Oh I'm anxious to try this. But not until June? Don'tcha wanna start early? There's still more than 14 days left of May. heh
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Old 05-10-2011, 04:04 PM   #4
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I did originally want to start in May, but because I missed the first of the month, I thought I'd push the start back. But you're right - there's no reason not to start mid-month! So if people are ready, I'll get the prompts sorted out, and make an announcement that the challenge will start on the 15th.
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Old 05-11-2011, 05:35 AM   #5
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That would suit me dandy and thank you for considering it I don't, of course, know about other peoples.
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Old 05-11-2011, 08:40 AM   #6
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Yay! That sounds great.
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Old 05-11-2011, 09:40 AM   #7
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Hmm.
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Old 05-11-2011, 03:16 PM   #8
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I'm keen, too. Might not be able to write stories every day of the fourteen, but there can never be too many prompts!
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Old 05-11-2011, 06:00 PM   #9
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[camps in the forum, ready for June]
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Old 05-12-2011, 12:51 PM   #10
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Ooh, I'm excited about this!
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Old 05-27-2011, 06:00 AM   #11
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It sounds so cool, but I'm lost, how do we know who won???
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Old 05-27-2011, 12:26 PM   #12
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Hi bmadsen!

The challenge isn't a contest, so there's no winner as such. If you end up writing more stories than you would normally write, then that would count as a win for yourself.

We have a couple of people this month who are on target to write 14 stories - that's certainly something to celebrate.
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Old 05-27-2011, 08:39 PM   #13
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Oh, isn't that something. That sounds cool. I'm up for that, sometimes I need that kick to get things started.
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Old 05-31-2011, 08:45 PM   #14
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Last day in May...everyone geared up for June? Here is hoping for success for everyone...keep writing.
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Old 06-01-2011, 03:39 AM   #15
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geared up and ready to go......but I'm going to do a little personal twist. A friend of mine's got reader's block. Every story I write, she reads.
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Old 06-01-2011, 03:39 AM   #16
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BTW, Jill Karg, that is a cool sig.
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Old 06-01-2011, 01:32 PM   #17
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Jill Karg and bmadsen - the next challenge will begin on June 15th. If you'd like to work on stories in the meantime, you might like to take a look at the thread for the May challenge. The prompts that were used for each day are available there, and you're welcome to use any of them.
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Old 06-01-2011, 03:23 PM   #18
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Sounds fair, i'll use those as a guide! thanks!
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Old 10-28-2011, 11:55 PM   #19
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Hi everyone,

The Flash Fortnight is going to take a little break during November and December (for NaNoWriMo and holidays, respectively), but it will return in January. I hope you've enjoyed the challenges this year, and that the break will leave you refreshed and ready to participate anew in 2012.
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Old 10-29-2011, 01:17 AM   #20
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Thanks, Sophia. This challenge has been great for me. I've got loads of stories, sketches and ideas from it.
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Old 12-16-2011, 07:44 PM   #21
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Thanks, Sophia. Though I haven't completed a FFF challenge yet, I have enjoyed the prompts and will try anew in January!
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Old 04-24-2012, 07:14 AM   #22
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As a new member and new writer this is exciting! I just finished my first short story today and am invigorated to keep going and create more.
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Old 04-24-2012, 12:08 PM   #23
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That's great, Trying2Write! Welcome, and best of luck!
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Old 04-27-2012, 11:09 PM   #24
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flash fiction
hello I'm having a lot of fun with this-will be waiting to see what happens next!
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Old 12-17-2012, 03:36 PM   #25
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I've been gone for about 1.5 years and was really happy when I saw this thread today. But it seems like this stops this time of the year. Maybe it could be a weekly thing instead of a daily one?
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