Quick Update - 21/09/17

Hey!

Another quick thanks for those who voted for me in the recent contest I took part in at Short Fiction Break! The contest appears to be quarterly, so I'll stop asking for your votes going forward. Aside from being annoying, I have a few question marks over the validity of the contest's entry form in the public vote element of the contest. Going forward I'll just post a link to the stories via socials as an opportunity to read them before they go up on my site a few months later, so be sure to follow my Twitter / like my Facebook page for an advanced reading.

The judges are still deliberating over the contest proper, but I'll only post about the results if I make the shortlist. This will be the process for the foreseeable future in regards to this contest. Much like what I've been doing with the Micro Fiction contest, I see it more as a prompt to get more regular content out on this site for you guys to read!

In other news I have a new Micro Fiction piece (yes, the missing piece from the previous batch) appearing on Horrortree.com in their weekly 'Trembling With Fear' segment! It'll be going up on Sunday (24/09/2017) and is called 'Metronome'! I'll post links to it on my socials again, before eventually whipping up a picture for it and giving it the 'Micro Complete' treatment in due time and adding it to the site!

Pretty happy that the recent trio, based on the theme 'Ticking' have won one contest, and earned me an external pub between them!

Until next time, buh-bye! :)

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I Won the Monthly Micro Fiction Competition!

Hello!

I finally won the monthly Micro Fiction contest I regularly enter this month! I've been near the podium a few times, but this is the first time I've come out on top! It feels like a bit of a weight off my shoulders given the relatively low number of entrants, but progress is progress! As such I'm changing the way I do things a little bit, so I wanted to take a moment to explain how. The eagle-eyed among you may have already noticed I posted two Micros to the site yesterday instead of three...

I originally entered the contest as a writing exercise first and foremost, because it's a hard discipline for a writer like me who tends to waffle on. I've definitely seen improvement in my writing overall since I started entering, so it's been worth it just for that! But then I realised it was also a chance to WIN something! I came close a few times at the beginning of the contest's inception, and suddenly it became a realistic goal. The competition is still very much in its infancy, so while on the outside it doesn't look particularly 'hard' to win, that also added a pressure to prove myself at this level. Finally achieving the win DOES feel like graduating, but there's no real reason to stop with the exercise!

A good side effect of the contest has been having regular fiction to upload for you guys to read, but also the small format has helped me look active across the board whilst I work on my much preferred longer form pieces in the background without fearing I've fallen 'off the grid'.

BUT, I now want to start looking for other opportunities to share my Micro pieces. As I seek alternative places for publication it means that, as most places want a period of exclusivity, I can't lump them together in their triple themed post on here the way I have been doing.

SO, sadly, the triple theme post format has come to an end! I'll instead be dropping the individual pieces on site as they become available, which could vary quite wildly depending on their publication status and external rights! Just be aware of the new format / timescale!

View the contest results page here - http://bit.ly/2vSX2pV

Or view the winning entry 'Letter Bomb' and another piece, 'Conflicted', here - http://bit.ly/2vTeDhn

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P.S - There's still time to vote for my latest contest entry! The deadline is September 12th at midnight Pacific Time.

Voting takes seconds! All you have to do is click on the green button and select my story in the tiny form on this website! - http://shortfictionbreak.com/fall-17/

My entry 'Partners in Crime' is listed about half way down the page, or you can follow the quick link and read it here - http://shortfictionbreak.com/partners-in-crime-2/

Thanks in advance!

Until next time, buh-bye! :)

__________

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Letter Bomb - Conflicted

Flash Fiction / Micro Fiction

Length - 100 words each

Two pieces written for the competition theme 'Ticking'.

* 'Letter Bomb' finished 1st place in the competition! :) It was first published 08/09/2017 on the competition result page at this address - http://bit.ly/2vSX2pV

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Letter Bomb

You arrive home to a package. It's ticking, and it's signed by your crazy ex. Do you open it?

(Read your choice backwards.)

No.

Chance a stood never you, damn. Detonator remote the blow they before see you thing last the is face crazy ex's your. Bushes the in movement there's. Phone your for reach you or, run to try you.

Yes.

Cared they know you time this least at, hey. Detonator remote the blow they before see you thing last the is face crazy ex's your. Bushes the in movement there's. 'You love I' reads clock ornamental engraved an.

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Conflicted

There's a clock on the wall drowning out my heartbeat. In a way that clock is my heartbeat. It holds the same power.

That power is life or death. Without treatment I'll die for sure, but the operation is supposedly very risky. It means no one can truly tell me if I should be scared or excited. I'm conflicted. Meanwhile the clock keeps ticking.

My parents have left, taking their mindless prattle with them. All I have to distract myself now is that clock. To give in and count the seconds.

But I can't. Because I'm unsure of which direction. 

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Give me your votes!

Hello!

Same dealio as the previous Summer Contest I entered! The limit this time was 1500 words and the theme was dubiously titled 'Let's Fall in love'...

I had to scrap my ideas as this was sequentially unpacked! At first I planned my story to be about the sentence - a love story using the line directly. Then it was revealed that it was not to do with the sentence at all but instead had to be written around the words 'Fall' and 'Love'. Not ideal, as it meant the story I'd planned didn't work! So I had to plan another! And did!

Then it transpired that the word 'Fall' specifically meant the season! (Not very kind given that it's an international contest!) No wiggle room on interpretation allowed either! This caught a lot of us out on two fronts - people in my camp who took the word to mean 'the act of falling down', (So there was another complete story scrapped!) and the secondary impact in that other people set their stories in a different season! It's not just a case of simply changing the setting! Not if you want to win! It has to be a key factor in the story... making a lot of peoples' ideas redundant! (Unfortunately some of the authors in my group clearly didn't get the memo! Great stories, but now ineligible for the contest!)

So I had to come up with something else entirely and didn't have long to do it! In truth, my entry was a little rushed and that probably comes across in the ending. I tend to over write my stories and pare them down naturally but didn't have as much time as I'd like. It means that at the conclusion of the contest I'll post the competition version of the story on here in the future, but I also have plans to develop this one into something larger at a later date!

Unfortunately the entry form played havoc with the formatting! In my version there's a scene change that is indicated by a line break, but the version on the website has converted the entire story to double line spacing and swept away the transition to make it look like the conversation carries on and suddenly we're in another place! Aside from definitely leaving my entry dead in the water in terms of the contest, it means it doesn't read properly for you guys either which I'm annoyed about!

Please take a look in any case, and help me out by voting for me in the 'Readers' Choice Award' and maybe drop me a comment telling me what you think of the piece! We DO have an end date to voting this time around (probably down to those of us that asked for clarification the last time) and it's September 12th at midnight Pacific Time.

Voting takes seconds! All you have to do is click on the green button and select my story in the tiny form on this website! - http://shortfictionbreak.com/fall-17/

My entry 'Partners in Crime' is listed about half way down the page, or you can follow the quick link and read it here - http://shortfictionbreak.com/partners-in-crime-2/

Thanks in advance!

Until next time, buh-bye! :)

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* 09/09/2017 - The team at Short Fiction Break have since amended the scene change! Thanks to them for responding and reacting in time for the change to take place before the end of the public vote! :)

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