Brilliant Flash Fiction Competition

Brilliant Flash Fiction is now accepting submissions of stories 1,000 words or less.

Published quarterly in January, March, June and September, this new online magazine welcomes emerging writers. BFF has a growing international audience and will sponsor regular writing contests. For details, please go to: brilliantflashfiction.com

Created by Editor Aurore Lebas and her niece Webmaster Laurie Scavo, the first edition of BFF was published 30 June 2014. Aurore lives north of Dublin, Ireland, and Laurie resides in southern California.

Aurore Lebas describes herself as a frustrated writer turned editor, on the BFF website.

“This doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped writing myself, or that I’ve had nothing but rejections in my writing career,” she explains. “There are so many amazing writers out there looking for a venue, and it gives me great pleasure to provide them a new place to be seen and heard. I’ve always wanted to help others publish their work. My goal is to present a high-quality product, where attention is paid to detail and authors are treated with dignity.”

Laurie Scavo, Lebas’ niece, is responsible for the layout and design of BFF; her photography is featured on the website.

“Brilliant Flash Fiction is a labour of love for Laurie and I,” Aurore Lebas says. “It is thus far a hobby, with all expenses paid by me. In future I would love to be able to pay the authors whose work appears on our site, but that day has not yet arrived. We have only published one edition but have received positive responses from many readers and writers. I encourage authors to send us their stories, especially since we are just starting out and need to make contact with them.”

Submission Guidelines

Submissions are ongoing; accepted stories will be published in the next available edition.

Please send original, unpublished work to Aurore Lebas atbrilliantflashfiction@gmail.com. Be sure to paste your story in the body of your email and also attach it as a .doc file.

All genres are accepted: sci-fi, fantasy, memoir, historic fiction, etc., but please do not submit more than two stories quarterly (within a 3-month period).

No specific font or formatting is required, but stories must be written in English.

At present, no payment is available. Authors will enjoy sharing their work with an appreciative audience and the possibility of having their work published in a to-be-announced anthology.

If your story is accepted, you will be asked to submit a photo (jpeg) and author bio (60-word limit).

Authors retain all copyright privileges.

No critique service is available.

Acceptance is verified via email, within three months.

“This magazine is intended to be a showcase for good stories and beautiful writing,” says Editor Aurore Lebas. “Our writers should be more concerned with providing a pleasurable experience for the reader than on displaying their own cleverness.”

Part of the BFF philosophy is that writing should be fun, and that the best stories reveal how much the authors enjoyed writing them.



“Finish the Story” Writing Contest

BFF’s first writing contest is a challenge to finish writing a flash fiction piece entitledChicken Soup Ice Cream, the beginning of which can be found below:

Chicken Soup Ice Cream
She met him at an international student exchange.
He was German—not her first choice. But he was dark and subdued, unlike the Brazilians who talked too much and ran their eyes over every woman in the room.
“Hello. I’m Sharon,” she said.
He stood up. “My name is Hans.”
They drank plastic cups of fruit punch and communicated in simple English phrases until it was time to go, and then Hans grew agitated.
“Will you … can I … “ he began, fighting the language.
“All right,” Sharon said.
She wanted to see a movie but his English wasn’t good enough.
They went for ice cream instead.
“In Germany,” he said, “We have an ice cream shop that sells every flavor in the world … even chicken soup ice cream.”

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Whoever submits the best ending for this story will receive 20 euro (or the equivalent in their currency) via PayPal; second prize is ten euro, and third place, five.

All entries are limited to 300 words, including the beginning of the story above.

There is no entry fee, and contestants may enter as many times as they wish.

Entries can be posted on the BFF website Writing Contests page, or submitted via email to Aurore Lebas at brilliantflashfiction@gmail.com.

All “Finish the Story” entries submitted via email should be pasted into the body of the email and also attached as a .doc file.

An impartial judge will select the winners of this modest competition.

Contestants do not need to send their contact details in a separate attachment.

Entry deadline is 15 September 2014, and the three winning stories, as well as those awarded Honourable Mention, will be published in the 30 September edition.