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fractured lit flash fiction OPEN

May 11 to July 13, 2025

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What we love about this contest is that there are no themes or restrictions on style. We want your most innovative and resonant flash and microfictions. Send us those pieces that lift us up, that take us down, that make us feel alive. Write that story you have been obsessing over, that has you by the throat or the heart, that needs to find its readers. We love stories that reveal their characters in unique and soulful ways, that put us into the middle of the action, that make us feel something more than our usual realities. Take us through realism, fabulism, and everything in-between.
Fractured Lit publishes flash fiction with emotional resonance, with characters who come to life through their actions and responses to the world around them. We’re searching for flash that investigates the mysteries of being human, with the sorrow, and the joy, of connecting to a diverse population.
We're thrilled to partner with Guest Judge Gwen E. Kirby, who will choose one grand-prize winner and fifteen finalists from a shortlist of forty stories curated by our editors. The first-place winner will receive $2,000 and publication, while the fifteen finalists will receive $100 and publication. All entries will be considered for general publication.
Good luck and happy writing!
Gwen E. Kirby is the author of the collection Shit Cassandra Saw. Her stories appear in One Story, Tin House, Guernica, Mississippi Review, SmokeLong Quarterly, and elsewhere. Guest editor Aimee Bender selected her story “Shit Cassandra Saw But Didn't Tell the Trojans Because at That Point Fuck Them Anyway” for Best Small Fictions 2018. It also appeared in the Wigleaf Top 50 and was anthologized in Flash Fiction America from Norton. She has an MFA from Johns Hopkins, a PhD from the University of Cincinnati, and teaches creative writing and literature at Carleton College.
Here’s what Gwen looks for in a flash fiction story:
My favorite thing to find in a story is the thing I am not expecting, and I think it's doubly true with flash! I love to read a flash story and think, wow, that could only be pulled off in 1,000 words. That conceit, that voice, that moment, it's too big and wild and bright to last a moment longer, it had to come to life on flash's knife's edge. So I am looking for stories that surprise me and that use the form to its limits and to its strengths.
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 be a separate submission accompanied by a reading fee.
  • Please send micro/flash fiction only—1,000 word count maximum per story.
  • Writers from historically marginalized groups may submit for free until we reach a cap of 25 submissions in this category. No additional fee waivers will be granted for this contest.
  • We only consider unpublished work for challenges—we do not review reprints, including self-published work (even on blogs and social media). Reprints will be automatically disqualified.
  • 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 general publication in Fractured Lit.
  • Double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12 (or larger if needed).
  • Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history and a third-person point-of-view bio (if applicable).
  • We only read work in English, though some code-switching/meshing is warmly welcomed.
  • We do not read anonymous submissions.
  • Unless specifically requested, we do not accept AI-generated work. For this challenge, AI-generated work will be automatically disqualified.
The deadline for entry is July 13, 2025. We will announce the shortlist within ten to twelve weeks of the challenge’s close. All writers will be notified when the results are final.
Some Submittable Hot Tips:
  • Please be sure to whitelist/add this email address to your 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 nonrefundable 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 two-page 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.

flash & micro

always open

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Fractured Lit publishes Micro and Flash Fiction from writers of any background or experience. Both Micro and Flash categories are open year round and we do not charge any submission fees. We accept simultaneous submissions but ask that you inform us immediately and withdraw your work if your story is accepted elsewhere.

Editorial Letter – If you’re interested in knowing a little bit more about what we thought of your flash or micro, utilize this option. When we’ve reviewed your piece we will include 1-2 pages of feedback on your story including suggestions for revision, where it might be a good fit for publication, and other comments about ways it can be improved. Our editors are paid a significant portion of the fee, to meet the rates the Editorial Freelance Association recommends for developmental editing.

guidelines

  • We pay our authors $50 for original Micro Fiction and $75 for original Flash Fiction.
  • Micro Fiction for Fractured Lit is 400 words or less.
  • Flash Fiction is 401-1,000 words.
  • We will also consider previously published fiction, as long as the writer retains the rights or second-publication rights can be obtained. We do not pay for reprints.
  • Writers may submit up to two stories in the same document. You may submit again as soon as you have heard back about your current submission.
  • Cover letters are optional, but it's nice to know who is submitting to us. Please refrain from describing your stories. The work needs to speak for itself.
  • Including the title and word count of each story is helpful for more efficient consideration of your work. Please include a brief third-person biography statement. An optional content warning in the cover letter will better protect our readers and provide them a safe reading experience of your submission. This will provide us a chance to make sure the right reader receives your submission.
  • Please allow us up to three months to inform you if we have accepted your work for publication. You will usually hear from us much sooner.
  • We consider submissions sent via Submittable. We are not open to email submissions. For mail submissions, please see our faq.
  • Fractured Lit holds first serial publication rights for three months after publication. Authors agree not to publish, nor authorize or permit the publication of, any part of the material for three months following Fractured Lit’s first publication. For reprints, we ask for acknowledgment of its publication in Fractured Lit first.