My first ever publication was a 99-word story ‘Big Brother’, which was a finalist in New Zealand’s National Flash Fiction Day MicroMadness competition in June 2018. I thought 100 words was a pretty tight limit but when I finally joined Twitter in October that year, I discovered a whole new world of Micro in the form of Twitterature.
For me, Microfiction is a bit like sudoku for my writing brain. It’s a mental puzzle to fit the essence of a complete story into so few words. It’s the perfect break from longer fiction and it’s fun! It’s also great practise for query and blurb writing.
I’ve found a few markets I particularly enjoy over the last year or so. If you’re interested in reading or writing Micro stories, go check them out. And please let me know if you have any other favourites!
Paid MicroFiction Markets
MythicPicnic describe themselves as “A hybrid cross between a literary magazine and twitter — a twitterary magazine. A picnic of literary snacks and twitterary bric-a-brac.” They release a quarterly collection of stories. To enter, you just tweet a story during the submission period using up to three threaded-tweets (around 150 words, depending on how long your words are) and include the hashtag on the last one. The current submission period is 7-14 July. They pick a winning entry to award $100USD and other selections get $25USD and inclusion in their collection thread.
The Arcanist is a flash fiction literary magazine specialising in fantasy and sci-fi. They still publish a flash fiction story up to 1,000 words every week, but they now publish a Microfiction story up to 100 words as well. Payment is $10USD. Submission call details are here.
Black Hare Press-Dark Moments: Monthly Drabble Challenge
Black Hare Press launched their first Drabble anthology in June 2019. Drabbles are stories that are exactly 100 words. Their anthologies are beautiful and are listed in unpaid markets below as payment is a contributor copy. They also run a paid monthly themed Drabble Challenge. July’s theme is “Only when I laugh” (Any genre, dark humor). Payment is $4USD per drabble. Submission call details are here.
Other MicroFiction Markets
New Zealand Book Council’s weekly #RāmereShorts competition
Every Friday morning, the New Zealand Book Council tweet 6 prompt words to include in a 140-character tweet story. A winner is announced a little after 5pm Friday NZ-time. I participate most weeks. Come join in!
National Flash Fiction Day MicroMadness Competition
Every year, alongside the 300-word flash fiction competition, the National Flash Fiction day organisers run an international MicroMadness competition. Finalists are published daily in June, with the winning entry published on 22 June - the shortest day of the year. Entries usually open around April. My story ‘Big Brother’ was a finalist in 2018 and my story ‘See Me’ was a finalist in 2019.
Black Hare Press Dark Drabbles Anthologies
In June 2019, Black Hare Press launched their first dark drabble anthology Worlds: A Science Fiction MicroFiction Anthology. My story ‘Indenture is a Nervous System’ features in it. Worlds is the first of at least eight planned drabble anthologies of different genres available in digital, paperback and hardback. The next release is Angels coming out at the end of July. Submission calls are for future anthologies will be here. Payment is a digital contributor copy and eligibility to submit to other paid anthologies.
Blood Song Books- Curses and Cauldrons: Drabble Anthology
Blood Song Books will be releasing their standalone drabble anthology Curses and Cauldrons later this year featuring three of my stories: ‘She was no witch’, ‘Green is more than skin deep’, and ‘Break glass in case of emergency’.
Ad Hoc Fiction weekly competition
Ad Hoc Fiction is a free-entry weekly competition. They post a word prompt every Wednesday and stories can be up to 150 words. Selected entries are put online anonymously the following week and the public vote for their favourite. The winner receives a free entry to the Bath Flash Fiction Award (Paid-entry competition, 300-word limit, £1,000 prize).
Twitter fiction prompts
There are also a bunch of interesting twitter fiction prompts. Two I enjoy are:
#VSS365 - daily word prompt, different host every month. Search #VSS365 #prompt.
#SciFiFri - Weekly science fiction prompt/theme on Fridays run by @SciFiPrompt