Guidelines for Flash Flood Entries
FLASH FLOOD WILL RE-OPEN FEBRUARY 1st
Tired of waiting months to hear back about a submission? Our Flash Flood contest is open for submissions on a rolling basis of the 1st – the 15th of each month (excluding December, January, May, June, July, and August).
Check our Instagram for this month’s open dates. We accept flash fiction, flash nonfiction, and prose poetry under 1000 words. At the end of each two-week submission window, we’ll read your submissions and decide on a winner by the following week! The winning story will be published on our website shortly after acceptance.
Flash Flood is the place for stories, essays and poems that use economy of form to express the possibility in the unstated. We’re interested in stories that feel like they’re using the compression of the form to elevate the narrative. For poetry, the lyric is important: a prose poem should not have dead music just because it has bucked its lines. What is the relationship between shortforms and parable or figuration? What is said and how is what is left unsaid greater? Flash Flood is also a place to highlight pieces which embrace the hybridity of these forms—where does a prose poem end and a flash essay begin?
Check out these previous winners for examples of what we’re looking for:
How to submit:
- Submit to editor Dylan Jahn at alrflashflood@gmail.com with the subject line [Story Name] – [Date of Submission (M/D)].
- Submissions should include only one piece of flash fiction, flash nonfiction, or prose poetry. Submissions containing more than one piece will not be read.
- Attach your entry as a .doc or .docx.
- Please only send one submission per submission period. Multiple submissions will not be read.