I’m really happy to have a short story, Two weeks after the world ended, make the long list for the Flash 500 competition. If you scroll down to the bottom of the results page, you’ll see my name!
Like many writers, I occasionally take a chance and enter my short stories into competitions. And, like many writers, results day passes by and I realise I haven’t been successful. It’s been a while since I entered a competition, partly because I came to believe it was a hopeless cause, so it was a lovely surprise to make the Flash 500 long list.
Flash fiction is a style of short story that I enjoy writing. Different competitions and publications have rules about the length for a flash fiction story. With Flash 500 the limit is, as the name suggests, 500 words. Some competitions have even shorter lengths, such as 300 or even 100 words. With so little room, when writing flash fiction every word really has to count and pull its weight. Sometimes writing something so short can be more challenging than writing a 4,000 word story.
This success with Two weeks after the world ended has given me a needed boost, especially in relation to my short story writing. Maybe I’ll start entering some more competitions. After all, you have to be in it to win it…
Caroline Butterwick 