Flash Fiction: A List of Resources

By Becky Tuch

Flash fiction, micro-fiction, sudden fiction, short shorts, micro-minis--whatever you call these little gems, there are now more homes than ever for your very short stories. If you are interested in reading, writing, and/or submitting stories no longer than 2,000 words (or as short as two sentences!), here are some places you may wish to check out, with some information from their various websites. Please feel free to add to the list if you know of a good resource not mentioned.

100 Word Story features stories under 100 words… no more or no less. Tell a story, write a prose poem, pen a slice of your memoir, or try your hand at an essay. You get 100 words, which is both the pain and the pleasure here. With 100 words you must tell the whole story in its entirety, so it holds together like a perfect little doll house.

1110 is a small, high-quality print journal with a bias toward work that reinvents the world. They're interested in tinges of surrealism, magic tricks, the 20th Century, the prose poem, natural histories, museums, theory, photography, list-making. Submissions of poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and "shades of grey" are accepted on a rolling basis.

3:AM Magazine is an edgy, online magazine. Please note that their fiction submissions are currently closed. But they have great examples of flash fiction.

Brevity publishes well-known and emerging writers working in the extremely brief (750 words or less) essay form. They have featured work from two Pulitzer prize finalists, numerous NEA fellows, Pushcart winners, as well as many previously unpublished authors.

The Collagist considers all lengths of fiction, from flash to novella. Writers may submit upto three flash fiction pieces at a time. The Collagist is published monthly, and is produced by Dzanc Books.

Double Room is a journal of flash fiction and prose poetry. They seek high quality work that questions, challenges, exemplifies, expands, discovers, explodes, and examines the “margins” of prose poetry and flash fiction. Submissions will re-open shortly.

Flash Fiction publishes stories from 500 to 1,000 words in length. They look for previously unpublished material, with the exception of their Classic Flash selections. (Classic Flash stories are old: the copyright must have expired on them.) Submissions should be very short, but still stories. The best ones have strong, interesting characters, plots, and (to some extent, at least) settings.

Flash Fiction Magazine publishes work no longer than 360 words. Writers may submit upto eight pieces at a time.

Monkeybicycle features one-sentence stories.They publish these on the Web site every Wednesday.

Postcard Press is a micropress publishing one very short story, essay or poem each month in the form of a 4x6 postcard. They also publish a selection of stories, essays, and poems on their website. They accept prose submissions under 100 words and poetry submissions under ten lines. Most of the year, they publish themed material. But they are always open to brilliant writing that doesn’t fit their themes.

Quickfiction publishes stories 500 words or less. Unfortunately, they are not accepting submissions now. But there is some great work from many acclaimed writers on their site and in back issues.

Smokelong Quarterly publishes flash fiction up to 1000 words. The SLQ aesthetic remains an ever-changing, ever-elusive set of principles, but it most likely has to do with these kinds of things: language that surprises, narratives that strive toward something other than a final punch line or twist, pieces that add up to something, oftentimes (but not necessarily always) meaning or emotional resonance, honest work that feels as if it has far more purpose than a writer wanting to write a story.

Two Sentence Stories Big stories in two-little sentences.

Vestal Review is the oldest magazine dedicated exclusively to flash fiction under 500 words. It is devoted  to what they consider an underrepresented type of fiction: flash (or short-short) stories. A good flash, replete with a cohesive plot, rich language and enticing imagery, is perhaps the hardest type of fiction to write. A good flash is so condensed that it borderlines poetry. A good flash engages your mind not only for the short duration of its read, but for a long time after.

Word Riot publishes the forceful voices of up-and-coming writers and poets. They like edgy. They like challenging. They like unique voices.