Contests in both creative nonfiction and poetry have been sponsored by Segullah for years now, but I’m excited to announce that we’re adding a short short fiction contest to our lineup.
So what is short short fiction, you ask? And why short shorts anyway? Well, short short stories do much the same thing as short-stories-of-average-length, but they’re even more concise and compressed. For our journal’s purposes, we are interested in stories containing anywhere between 1,000 to 3,500 words. These stories can be experimental or traditional in style, but a good story usually contains the following building blocks: strong characters, interesting conflicts, compelling scenes, and sharp writing.
Our reasons for limiting the length of your fiction is both practical and philosophical. Practically speaking, Segullah is a small-ish journal and doesn’t have the space to publish short stories of traditional length (4,000-8,000 words). Philosophically speaking, there are already other fiction contest for LDS writers—heck, I run one of them over at Irreantum—so we wanted to see if a short short contest at Segullah would inspire some of you to try your hand at writing fiction that’s more compact (or lean, or pithy, or succinct—pick your adjective!).
The first prize winner receives $100, but, if warranted, there will also be honorable mentions who won’t receive cash, but WILL receive that nice zing-y endorphin rush when somebody else recognizes you’re talented. Winners and honorable mentions will also be published in Segullah’s Fall/Winter contest issue.
So park yourself in front of your computer and start writing, my friends. You have until December 31 to create your 1,000-3,500 word masterpiece. I can’t wait to read it.
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