Monday 3 August 2009

Hint, Hint, Hint

Well I'm sure that by now most of you will have heard of Robert Swartwood's Hint Fiction anthology, well unless you come from South Dakota. :D

Going off on a tangent for a second (and only making sense if you've checked out Robert's blog), I am soooooooo sad, I used to collect postcards of the United States and was proud (I kid you not) to have cards from every state. Hangs head in shame and remembers they're all in the house somewhere, and probably covered in dust. Guess who's going to find another reason to procrastinate today.

Anyway, here's a snippet from the Hint Fiction guidelines:

It’s possible to write a complete story in 25 words or less — a beginning, middle, end — but that’s not Hint Fiction.

The very best Hint Fiction stories can be read many different ways.

We want stories we can read again and again and never tire of. Stories that don’t pull any punches. Stories that make us think, that evoke some kind of emotional response.


You can enter two (check the above link for the full guidelines) stories up to 25 words, or if you blog or twitter about the anthology, you can enter three stories. You're grasping hold of my evil plan now, aren't you?

You have until August 31st, get scribbling.

22 comments:

Tuonela said...

I'm from Down Under... is that nearly as bad? Oh well, I've heard of it now. Thanks!

Cate Gardner said...

The antho made me think of our old 60 word fiction group...

Rebecca Nazar said...

Thanks! I'm always on the lookout for itty-bitty challenges.

Cate Gardner said...

Good luck.

Aaron Polson said...

Good luck all who plan to enter. 25 words is a bit to succinct for me. I've tried...lord knows.

Cate Gardner said...

I have two possibles, letting them brew for a week or so.

Jamie Eyberg said...

that sounds hard. I might have to procrastinate (I mean try, try is what I was planning on saying.) ;)

Cate Gardner said...

I thought it would be a good excuse to procrastinate - staring at the screen to encourage my muse to vomit up 25 words.

K.C. Shaw said...

Surely even I can manage a 25-word story. :)

Katey said...

Stupid South Dakota, always behind the times!

Well, me too, and I live in Virginia. But let's ignore that for now.

Really cool contest-- I'd never hack it, but I can't wait to see who does. (Like, for example, you!)

Doug Murano said...

Hey! I'm from South Dakota! I visited the site and left a comment. Wouldn't want the "Land of Infinite Variety" to let the poor guy down.

Cate Gardner said...

KC, your 25 words will rock. Ooh, just thought, do a weredeer one.

Katey, I demand that you try.

Doug, I'm not certain but don't you get a prize for visiting...

Anonymous said...

Good luck, everyone! :D

I love ultra-short contests. They're quite challenging but a lot of fun. Hooray!

Fox Lee said...

So tempted : )

Anthony Rapino said...

Thanks for the heads-up. I'm always up for a challenge. The shortest flash fiction story I ever wrote was 100 words long.

Will you be submitting?

Cate Gardner said...

Most definitely. :D

Jeremy D Brooks said...

I'm still thinking on it...I played around with it when Robert did the contest in the spring. I may try something...it's definitely a different kind of challenge.

Adam said...

Beckett used to have what he called micro-plays. His whole career made a shift to make everything more spare, shorter plays with no dialogue. I am not Samuel Beckett and thus am a full believer in word-vomit...getting it down to under a 1000 is hard for me. Haha.

Cate Gardner said...

Good luck, Jeremy, and Adam give it a try.

Rabid Fox said...

Ah, yes. I had one idea for this one, but it just didn't pan out. I'm in the midst of taking a second shot at it.

Cate Gardner said...

I'm going to try and hold off sending mine until closer to the closing date. Good luck.

Anonymous said...

that sounds fab. need to do it.