Welcome to Reflex Fiction, a quarterly international flash fiction competition for stories between 180 and 360 words run by independent publisher, Reflex Press.
We are always open for entries, operate a choose your own entry fee system, and offer generous cash prizes to our competition winners:
Winner: £1,200
Second: £600
Third: £300
Fourth: £150
(or the equivalent in your local currency)
Entry fee: Choose your own!
For the Spring 2021 competition, we’re delighted to have Women’s Prize For Fiction 2019 longlistee Sophie van Llewyn as judge.
Reflex Flash Fiction Mission Statement
When the Reflex Fiction team were discussing how best we could serve the flash fiction community, we came up with two potential models:
- Increasing exposure of flash fiction with an open-submissions website where we publish a great piece of flash fiction every day.
- Allowing flash fiction writers to earn real money from their writing with a pay-to-enter flash fiction competition.
What did we decide? Both, of course!
Reflex Fiction is a traditional flash fiction competition where entries are read and judged, a long-list created, winners selected, and prizes awarded. It is also a place to share and read fantastic flash fiction.
How Does Reflex Fiction Work?
After the stories have been judged, and we’ve announced the long-list, we’ll publish one story each day as we count down to the publication of the third, second, and first placed stories.
Because the Reflex Fiction team are all flash fiction writers too, we know how difficult it can be to let go of a great piece of flash without placing in a competition. That’s why you can opt out of the open-submissions element of Reflex Fiction when you submit your story. Of course, we hope you’ll take part.
All long-listed stories where permission was given by the author will be published on the website. We’ll also publish some of our favourite stories that didn’t quite make the long-list. You can check the website daily at noon to see if your story has been published, or if you’re still in the running for a prize!
If having your story read, appreciated, and commented on by your fellow flash writers is not enough, we’ll also publish a relevant link of your choice with your story. This can be to your personal website or blog, social media profile, Amazon author page, published story etc. So long as it’s relevant to you, and we consider it appropriate for our readers, we’ll publish it with your story, increasing the exposure of you and your writing.
Flash Fiction Anthology
All long-listed entrants are offered the chance to be published in our yearly print anthology. All you have to do is tick the permission box when you enter your story. If your story is long-listed and published on our website, it will also be published in the print anthology. All featured authors will receive one free copy. Anthologies are published in April after the winners of the Winter contest have been announced.
- Barely Casting a Shadow – Reflex Fiction Volume One
- The Real Jazz Baby – Reflex Fiction Volume Two
- A Girl’s Guide to Fly Fishing – Reflex Fiction Volume Three
Reflex Fiction Schedule
Reflex Fiction is always open for entries and we are always counting down to the winner of a previous competition. Check our schedule page for the important dates for all live competitions.
To keep up to date with the latest Reflex Fiction competition you can subscribe by email to receive notifications when deadlines are looming, new competitions are open, long-lists are announced, and winners are published.
What Is This Thing Called Flash Fiction?
Flash fiction is a style of fiction defined by its brevity. While there is no single definition of flash fiction, an upper word limit of one thousand words is generally accepted. Here at Reflex Fiction, we like our flash on the short side. That’s why we’ve set a word limit of between 180 and 360 words for our competition. Why a lower limit? While we love very short fiction (For sale: baby shoes, never worn and all that), it’s very difficult to judge a six-word story against a 360-word story; they are two different animals.
If you’re new to flash fiction or are looking to improve your flash writing, there’s no better way to learn than reading and writing as much flash fiction as you can! To satisfy your flash reading requirements, we publish a new story on our website every day. You could also take a look at the writing tips we’ve compiled from some aficionados of the form. You can access all the stories we’ve published online via our story and author archive pages.
Reflex Fiction People
Reflex Fiction is organised by professional editor and amateur writer, David Borrowdale.
