Contest closes June 15, 2020
FLASH FICTION CONTEST
Whether you’re cooped up at home and need a project, or working during this frightening time and need to express your dark side, we’d love to read your original flash fiction of 1,000 words or fewer.
Your story should be based on either the image or the written image description prompt below.
"PLAGUE" BY ARNOLD BÖCKLIN
Image Description
A monstrous grey being sitting backwards astride a bat-winged dragon strikes down people in a medieval street with a white lash. The victims include three people in the foreground: a man in a red cap, slouched against the wall, a woman in white prone on the ground, and another woman in red who weeps over her body.
Contest Rules
- You don’t need to interpret the scene literally, or use the setting or the characters, but your work should be in some way inspired by the painting or its themes.
- Deadline to submit is June 15, 2020 (11:59pm CST)
- The story must have a horror element and be based on the provided image, image description, or theme.
- It must be previously unpublished.
- Submissions must be in English, but authors from anywhere in the world are welcome to submit.
- A minimum of ONE winner will be announced on or before July 15, 2020. The top flash piece will be produced for audio narration on Tales to Terrify and receive $25 (USD).
- Authors retain the rights to their submitted stories.
Submission Format
- up to 1,000 words
- Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format
- Double spaced
- 12 pt. Courier New or Times New Roman font
Please include author, title and word count on first page.
Stories pasted into the body of an email will be rejected without being read.
For further details on submission criteria and what styles/topics of horror fiction we look for, please check out our standard Submissions page.