In 2018, there are two new changes to the rules of the Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge. First, there will be a limit on how many times an author can win the challenge each month. Authors are welcome to enter every week for the Editors’ Choice award, but will only be eligible to win the popular vote once each month. Second, no corrections will be made to flash fiction entries once they have been submitted. Make sure you have proofread your entry. Let it sit overnight, and look at it again the next day with fresh eyes. Please see the updated rules in detail below – they are listed in italics. All the other rules and scheduling remain unchanged.
Here are the parameters for the 2018 Flash Fiction Challenge:
- Each Saturday, we will post a challenge, consisting of a picture. There will be no written prompt. Award-winning author and photographer K.S. Brooks has graciously extended permission for the use of her photos for this purpose. You are welcome to post your entry with the photograph on your blog, but please make sure to give attribution to K. S. Brooks.
- Authors can participate by writing their entries in the comment section. The word limit for entries is 250 words. The word limit will be strictly enforced.
- Each weekly exercise will accept entries until 5:00 PM Pacific time the following Tuesday.
- Each entry should be edited and proofread before submission. We will not accept requests to correct mistakes once an entry has been posted.
- Tuesday night, the admins/editors will choose the best entry based on a) the quality of writing (grammar, punctuation, and style); and b) relevance to the written and photo prompts. This story will be featured in the IU Anthology published at year-end and the winners will be announced at the end of each month in a separate blog post.
- Authors are welcome to enter every week – but will only be eligible to win the popular vote once each month. Authors who have won the popular vote previously during the month will not be listed in the voting, which is explained next.
- On Wednesday, we will open voting on all eligible entries to the public with an online poll for the best writing entry. Voting will be open until 5:00 PM Thursday. If you have entered the challenge, it’s fine to ask people to vote for you! Don’t be shy. That’s how you get your writing out there.
- Each week, the admins/editors have the right NOT to choose a Editors’ Choice pick if they do not feel it meets the quality standards for the anthology. There is the possibility that the Editors’ Choice and the popular vote may select the same entry on any given week.
- ONE VOTE PER PERSON, please. Duplicate votes will be deleted. Results displayed in the poll are unofficial until verified by administration.
- Each Saturday, the popular vote winner will be recognized as we post the winning entry along with the picture as a feature.
- In the event of a tie in the voting, the entry which posted earliest will be chosen as the winner.
- At the beginning of the next year, Indies Unlimited will publish an eBook with all the photos and the “Editors’ Choice” winning expositions, adding one more credit to your portfolio.
- By submitting an entry, the author agrees to these terms and grants Indies Unlimited the nonexclusive rights to publish the material submitted and waives any and all further consideration in return for acknowledgement as a contributing author to the final anthology.
- Reprinting: if you would like to use your entry elsewhere, please give us the courtesy of full disclosure with the statement “originally posted at Indies Unlimited.” If you would like to include the link to the page with the entry, even better and much appreciated. Should you use the photograph that goes with the entry, make sure to give photographer’s credit to K. S. Brooks. She already works for free here, and bad things happen to people who don’t do right by her. And she WILL find out. Trust us on that one!
We hope you will have fun, hone your chops, and call in all kinds of favors from your friends to get them to vote for your entry. Most of all, we hope to offer you one more way to reach a wider audience.
