Showcasing today's best flash fiction writers. $5000 awarded between 20 finalists. Submissions are open for The Fractured Lit Volume 2 from December 20 to February 19, 2023. This year stories will be selected by Peter Orner, who will choose 20 winners from a shortlist of 40 stories.
Peter Orner, a two-time recipient of the Pushcart Prize, is the author of six books, including the novel LOVE AND SHAME AND LOVE and the collection ESTHER STORIES, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. His memoir AM I ALONE HERE? was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His fiction has appeared in The Atlantic, The Paris Review, Tin House, and Granta and has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories. The recipient of the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Fullbright to Namibia, Orner holds the Darmouth Professorship of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College.
Fractured Lit is looking for flash fiction that lingers long past the first reading. We're searching for flash that investigates the mysteries of being human, the sorrow, and the joy of connecting to the diverse population around us. We want the stories that explode vertically, the flash that leaves the conventional and the clichéd far behind. Fractured Lit is a flash fiction–centered place for all writers of any background and experience.
Good luck and happy writing!
guidelines
- Your $20 reading fee allows up to two stories of 1,000 words or fewer each per entry—if submitting two stories, please put them both in a SINGLE document
- We allow multiple submissions—each set of two flash stories should have a separate submission accompanied by a reading fee
- Flash Fiction only—1,000 word count maximum
- We only consider unpublished work for contests—we do not review reprints, including self-published work
- Simultaneous submissions are okay—please notify us and withdraw your entry if you find another home for your writing
- All entries will also be considered for publication in Fractured Lit
- Double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12 pt font
- Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history (if applicable)
- Submissions are not limited to writers in the US. All English-language submissions are welcome.
- We do not read blind. The judge will read anonymously from the shortlist.
20 PUBLISHED AUTHORS WILL RECEIVE
- $250 award
- Publication in the print edition of our 2023 Anthology
- 5 Contributor’s copies
All writers are part of an exclusive mailing. We send our anthology to editors, writers, and literary institutions across the country. The deadline for entry is February 19, 2023. We will announce the shortlist within 8-10 weeks of the contest's close. All writers will be notified when the results are in. The book is published 10-12 months after the announcement of the winners.
Some Submittable hot tips: - Please be sure to whitelist/add to contacts, so notifications do not get filtered as spam/junk: notifications@email.submittable.com- If you realize you sent the wrong version of your piece: it happens. Please DO NOT withdraw the piece and resubmit. Submittable collects a non-refundable fee each time. Please DO message us from within the submission to request that we open the entry for editing, which will allow you to fix everything from typos in your cover letter to uploading a new draft. The only time we will not allow a change is if the piece is already under review by a reader.
OPTIONAL EDITORIAL FEEDBACK: You may choose to receive editorial feedback on your piece. We will provide a global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. Our aim is to make our comments actionable and encouraging. These letters are written by editors and staff readers of Fractured Lit. Should your story win, no feedback will be offered, and your fee will be refunded.
Good luck and happy writing!