It’s time for the last flash fiction challenge before NaNoWriMo (and Halloween)!

It’s almost time for NaNoWriMo and Halloween; get in the habit and take an hour to write with us this weekend!

Several of us have started our own, self-hosted, flash fiction challenge over at a website we’re calling Obsidian Flash.  It’s on a forum behind a password, so that anything you write and submit is considered unpublished.  Registration is quick, free, and pretty painless.

Seriously, this thing is the perfect thing for you to do if you think writing is hard (or finding time for writing is hard), and especially if you haven’t been writing for a while.  It’s also great if you have problems with getting past ideas that "you suck" (every first draft sucks, face it) or self-doubt.  Here’s why:

  1. Challenges like this are great for stimulating creativity.
  2. You’re supposed to write for an hour (ish); you can make that time.
  3. You don’t have the time to critique yourself.
  4. You’ll get helpful feedback from published authors and editors like myself, Donna Munro, Anton Cancre, and more.
  5. We are friendly, despite all appearances to the contrary.  🙂

The next challenge is scheduled for THIS weekend.  The prompt will go up this Friday (THAT’S TODAY, FOLKS) at 8pm EST.  Anton is our flashmaster!

Go sign up now at https://obsidianflash.com/forum and we’ll see you writing this weekend!

Here are the rules:

  1. All stories should be complete, written and posted within 24 hours of the prompt being posted, and can be anywhere from one sentence to 1,000 words in length.  Typically the prompt is posted by 8pm EST on Friday, and stories are posted by 8pm EST on Saturday.

  2. You may choose to write your story in any genre.

  3. Your story must be built around the restrictions—words, themes, photo prompts, word limits, etc.—provided by the Flashmaster at the beginning of the challenge.

  4. Once the participants’ work is posted, the voting and comment session begins and continues until all votes are in. Time limit for voting will be determined on the spot, depending on how many people finish the challenge.  Typically this is within 24 hours of the end of the writing portion, or 8pm EST on Sunday.

  5. The winner becomes Flashmaster and chooses the prompt(s) for the next contest.  Also, you get all the Internet Bragging Points you think you can get away with.

Don’t wait – get going and register at https://obsidianflash.com/forum right now and join us!