Prize: £200 |Entry: free |'Show, Don’t Tell’ Flash Fiction Competition

*This contest has been added to our schedule of contests at the bottom of our homepage. You can find all the details of all current and previous contests there.

Words: 500 (or fewer)

Deadline: 23:59 (UK time) Sunday 24th April, 2022

We recently ran a ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ challenge in our Love to Write! Facebook group. It’s now time to put your ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ skills to the test in our ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ Flash Fiction Competition.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR A COMPLETE STORY OF NO MORE THAN 500 WORDS.

This competition is brought to you by our NEW 100+ Flash Fiction Prompts!

There is no theme or assigned genre for this competition. Instead, we would like you to use a prompt from our database of 100+ Flash Fiction Prompts.

There will be 2 rounds of judging for this competition. In the first round, all stories will be judged according to our usual criteria. In the second round of judging, the finalists will be judged solely on how well they have mastered ‘Show, Don’t Tell’.

There will be a feedback exchange for this competition on Monday 25th April in our Love to Write! group. You can exchange your story with as many other participants as you want to receive feedback on your entry.

You do not need to be a member of our Love to Write! group to participate in this competition. Simply submit your story using the instructions below.

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Make sure you understand what we mean by ‘Show, Don’t Tell’. We’ve put together a blog post that explains it quite well, however, you can also use google to do your own research.

2. Take a look at our 100+ Flash Fiction Prompts. Choose a prompt you feel inspired by. Feel free to adapt the prompt!

3. Write a complete story (beginning, middle, and end) inspired by the prompt. You can write your story in any genre or style. It must be a story and it must be fiction. No poetry, please.

4. Although this is a ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ challenge and you’ll be judged on how well you’ve mastered this skill, be careful not to overdo it! You only have 500 words, don’t forsake other important story components in favour of too much ‘showing’. Mastering ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ means knowing when to ‘show’ and when to ‘tell’. It also means knowing how to ‘show’ without your writing becoming too bloated and dense.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:

Submissions should be Word Doc or Docx sent as an attachment.

1. Make sure your entry is 500 words or fewer (excluding title).

2. Ensure the title of your piece is written at the top.

3. Personal information of any kind should not appear anywhere in the document.

4. Save your file as the title of your entry.

5. Send your entry as an attachment (Word Doc or Docx) by email to:

globesoup.flashfiction@gmail.com

6. Use ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ as the email subject. In the body of the email please include the name you would like us to use if you are named as a winner, finalist, honourable mention, or you make it on the longlist. If you have an author website or author social media pages and you would like us to hyperlink to those, please include links.

7. If you find any errors after submitting, you can fix them and send again. The last version you send will go to the judges.

8. Only attach one document with each email. You may only submit ONE STORY for this competition.

9. The closing time for the competition is 23:59 (UK time) 24th April, 2022. Do not wait until the last minute to send your entry. Any entries received after the closing time will not be sent to the judges. There is a countdown clock on our homepage.

10. You should receive a confirmation email within 2 days of submitting. If you submit on the final day of the competition, expect a confirmation almost immediately.

11. We’ll send an email out on 25th April with details about the feedback exchange. In this email we’ll also let you know how long judging will take. This will depend on how many entries we receive.

If you have any questions about the contest or submitting, please get in touch via Facebook or by email: info@globesoup.net. Never use the submission email address to contact Globe Soup. This email account is managed by a third party.