We're excited to launch a new contest for our flash writers. From May 15 to July 16, 2023, we welcome writers to submit to the Fractured Lit Flash Fiction OPEN. 

Fractured Lit publishes flash fiction with emotional resonance, with characters who come to life through their actions and responses to the world around them. We’re searching for flash that investigates the mysteries of being human, the sorrow and the joy of connecting to a diverse population.

We're thrilled to partner with Guest Judge Sara Lippmann, who will choose one grand prize winner and 15 finalists from a shortlist. The first-place winner will receive $2,000 and publication, while the 15 finalists will receive $100 and publication. All entries will be considered for general publication.

Good luck and happy writing!

SARA LIPPMANN is the author of the novel Lech (Tortoise Books) and the story collections Doll Palace (re-released by 7.13 Books) and Jerks (Mason Jar Press.) Her fiction has been honored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and her essays have appeared in The Millions, The Washington Post, Catapult, Literary Hub, and elsewhere. With Seth Rogoff, she is co-editing the anthology Smashing the Tablets: Radical Retellings of the Hebrew Bible for SUNY Press. She is a founding member of the Writing Co-Lab and lives with her family in Brooklyn. 

 GUIDELINES:

● Your $20 reading fee allows up to two stories of 1,000 words or fewer each per entry—if submitting two stories, please put them both in a SINGLE document.

● We allow multiple submissions—each set of two flash stories requires a separate submission accompanied by a reading fee.

● Please send flash fiction only—1,000 word count maximum per story.

● We only consider unpublished work for contests—we do not review reprints, including self-published work (even on blogs and social media). Reprints will be automatically disqualified.

● Simultaneous submissions are okay—please notify us and withdraw your entry if you find another home for your writing.

● All entries will also be considered for publication in Fractured Lit.

● Double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12 (or larger if needed).

● Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history (if applicable).

● We only read work in English, though some code-switching is warmly welcomed.

● We do not read anonymous submissions. However, shortlisted stories are sent anonymously to the judge.

The deadline for entry is July 16, 2023. We will announce the shortlist within ten to twelve weeks of the contest's close. All writers will be notified when the results are final.

Some Submittable Hot Tips:

● Please be sure to whitelist/add this email address to your contacts, so notifications do not get filtered as spam/junk: notifications@email.submittable.com.

● If you realize you sent the wrong version of your piece: It happens. Please DO NOT withdraw the piece and resubmit. Submittable collects a nonrefundable fee each time. Please DO message us from within the submission to request that we open the entry for editing, which will allow you to fix everything from typos in your cover letter to uploading a new draft. The only time we will not allow a change is if the piece is already under review by a reader.

OPTIONAL EDITORIAL FEEDBACK:

You may choose to receive editorial feedback on your piece. We will provide a global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. Our aim is to make our comments actionable and encouraging. These letters are written by editors and staff readers of Fractured Lit. Should your story win, no feedback will be offered, and your fee will be refunded.

If you’re like us, you have a few drafts sitting in your files that could use an extra pair of eyes to help you take that story to the next level. Sometimes all we need is a professional and experienced editor and writer to show us where our writing sparkles and where we’ve gone off track with exposition or conventional phrasing. In a form like flash wherein every word counts, our editors can help you get those stories out of your draft folder and into the pages of exciting literary magazines. 

Fractured Lit offers editorial feedback on fiction up to 1,000 words or up to 40 pages of a flash fiction chapbook. We've carefully chosen a team of qualified editors to provide a thoughtful critique. For each piece sent, you'll receive a one to two-page global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. While editorial feedback is inherently subjective, our suggestions will always be actionable and encouraging. Please allow up to twelve weeks to receive your feedback materials.

For your convenience, we offer three options—single letters, triple letters, and chapbook reviews. 

All work sent through this event will also be considered for publication in Fractured Lit. Should we accept your work, the feedback fee will be refunded.

Rates for Letters:

● Flash fiction / microfiction up to 1,000 words (one flash piece or up to three micro* pieces totaling fewer than 1,000 words): $59

● Triple letters (three separate critiques from three different editorial staff members): $149

● Chapbooks from 5 to 40 pages: $399. (Review and critique conducted by Editor-in-Chief Tommy Dean. You will receive line-level marginal notes, as well as a global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision.)

*For our purposes, micros should be about 333 words maximum apiece, please. Include all three micros in ONE document.

How you can help us when sending work for our review:

Please send only .doc or .docx files if possible, so that we can use MS Word's Track Changes for our marginal notes.

Kindly double-space and use Times New Roman 12.

Guidelines:

Fractured Lit Editorial Feedback is open to all prose writers.

Please send fiction only.

International submissions are welcome.

Please submit work primarily written in English, but conceptually or stylistically necessary codeswitching is warmly welcomed.

Please adhere to the 1,000 word count maximum per story.

Chapbooks may only be 40 pages or fewer. 

If sending up to three micros, include all pieces in ONE document.

We strongly discourage simultaneous submissions in conjunction with editorial feedback. If your piece is already under review by our team and you withdraw it, we will not be able to offer a refund. If you withdraw your piece before we have begun feedback, we will be happy to let you substitute another piece of equal length.
 

Associate Editor Exodus Bronwlow is creating a BIPOC Love Story Portfolio for October 2023! She'll select eight stories for publication and our regular submission payments!

"I want to read stories that do not shy away from taking the traditions of the romance genre with nontraditional touches. Think ‘Marriages That Have Fallen into Misery’ stories and turn them on their heads. I am looking for pieces from the perspective of the everyday couple, the lipstick left at the scene of an argument, two galaxies desperately in love with each other but separated by great distances, houses gutted from the loss of a family who no longer lives there, a ‘love cube’ between the four seasons, and stories that are varied in their ambitions with the romance centering at the core." ~Exodus Brownlow~

Themes and Topics That I Would Love to See: 

● The strange love. 

● The unrequited love. 

● The fallen out of love. 

● The renewed love. 

● The scandalous love. 

● The sacrificial love. 

● The lust transformed into love, transformed into lies love. 

 GUIDELINES:

● Submit (for free) up to two stories of 1,000 words or fewer each per submission—if submitting two stories, please put them both in a SINGLE document.

● Please send flash/microfiction only—1,000 word count maximum per story.

● No reprints for this call, including self-published work (even on blogs and social media). Reprints will be automatically disqualified.

● Simultaneous submissions are okay—please notify us and withdraw your entry if you find another home for your writing.

● All entries will also be considered for publication in Fractured Lit.

● Double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12 (or larger if needed).

● Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history (if applicable).

● We only read work in English, though some code-switching is warmly welcomed.

● We do not read anonymous submissions. 

Some Submittable Hot Tips:

● Please be sure to whitelist/add this email address to your contacts, so notifications do not get filtered as spam/junk: notifications@email.submittable.com.

● If you realize you sent the wrong version of your piece: It happens. Please DO NOT withdraw the piece and resubmit. Please DO message us from within the submission to request that we open the entry for editing, which will allow you to fix everything from typos in your cover letter to uploading a new draft. The only time we will not allow a change is if the piece is already under review by a reader.

OPTIONAL EDITORIAL FEEDBACK:

You may choose to receive editorial feedback on your piece. We will provide a global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. Our aim is to make our comments actionable and encouraging. These letters are written by editors and staff readers of Fractured Lit. Should your story be accepted, no feedback will be offered, and your fee will be refunded.

Fractured Lit publishes micro and flash fiction from writers of any background or experience. Both Micro and Flash categories are open year round and we do not charge any submission fees. We accept simultaneous submissions but ask that you inform us immediately and withdraw your work if your story is accepted elsewhere. We pay our authors $50 for original micro fiction and $75 for original flash fiction.

Micro fiction for Fractured Lit is 400 words or less.

Flash fiction is 401-1,000 words. 

We will also consider previously published fiction, as long as the writer retains the rights or second-publication rights can be obtained. We do not pay for reprints.

Writers may submit up to two stories in the same document. Please wait 1 month after our initial reply before submitting again.

Cover letters are optional, but it's nice to know who is submitting to us. Please refrain from describing your stories. The work needs to speak for itself. Including the title and word count of each story is helpful for more efficient consideration of your work. Please include a brief third-person biography statement. 

Please allow us up to two months to inform you if we have accepted your work for publication. You will usually hear from us much sooner.

We consider submissions sent via Submittable. We are not open to email submissions and are not open to submissions sent via post.

 Fractured Lit holds first serial publication rights for three months after publication. Authors agree not to publish, nor authorize or permit the publication of, any part of the material for three months following Fractured Lit’s first publication. For reprints, we ask for acknowledgment of its publication in Fractured Lit first.

OPTIONAL EDITORIAL FEEDBACK:

You may choose to receive editorial feedback on your piece. We will provide a global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. Our aim is to make our comments actionable and encouraging. These letters are written by editors and staff readers of Fractured Lit.

Fractured Lit publishes micro and flash fiction from writers of any background or experience. Both Micro and Flash categories are open year round and we do not charge any submission fees. We accept simultaneous submissions but ask that you inform us immediately and withdraw your work if your story is accepted elsewhere. We pay our authors $50 for original micro fiction and $75 for original flash fiction.

Micro fiction for Fractured Lit is 400 words or less.

Flash fiction is 401-1,000 words. 

We will also consider previously published fiction, as long as the writer retains the rights or second-publication rights can be obtained. We do not pay for reprints.

Writers may submit up to two stories in the same document. Please wait 1 month after our initial reply before submitting again.

Cover letters are optional, but it's nice to know who is submitting to us. Please refrain from describing your stories. The work needs to speak for itself. Including the title and word count of each story is helpful for more efficient consideration of your work. Please include a brief third-person biography statement. 

Please allow us up to two months to inform you if we have accepted your work for publication. You will usually hear from us much sooner.

We consider submissions sent via Submittable. We are not open to email submissions and are not open to submissions sent via post.

Fractured Lit holds first serial publication rights for three months after publication. Authors agree not to publish, nor authorize or permit the publication of, any part of the material for three months following Fractured Lit’s first publication. For reprints, we ask for acknowledgment of its publication in Fractured Lit first.

OPTIONAL EDITORIAL FEEDBACK:

You may choose to receive editorial feedback on your piece. We will provide a global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. Our aim is to make our comments actionable and encouraging. These letters are written by editors and staff readers of Fractured Lit.

  Fractured Lit  is committed to providing a platform to diverse, emerging voices. We are now offering an expedited reading category explicitly for marginalized or underrepresented writers. Submissions to this category will receive a response in three weeks or fewer. 

All submissions are considered for publication at the payment rates below based on the appropriate word counts. 

Please see the guidelines below, or contact us at contact [at] fracturedlit.com with any questions. This form is for marginalized or underrepresented writers only. 

Black Lives Matter. Black Voices Matter.

 Fractured Lit publishes micro and flash fiction from writers of any background or experience. Both Micro and Flash categories are open year round and we do not charge any submission fees. We accept simultaneous submissions but ask that you inform us immediately and withdraw your work if your story is accepted elsewhere. We pay our authors $50 for original micro fiction and $75 for original flash fiction.
Micro fiction for Fractured Lit is 400 words or less.
Flash fiction is 401-1,000 words.
We will also consider previously published fiction, as long as the writer retains the rights or second-publication rights can be obtained. We do not pay for reprints.
Writers may submit up to two stories in the same document. Please wait 1 month after our initial reply before submitting again.
Cover letters are optional, but it's nice to know who is submitting to us. Please refrain from describing your stories. The work needs to speak for itself. Including the title and word count of each story is helpful for more efficient consideration of your work. Please include a brief third-person biography statement.
We consider submissions sent via Submittable. We are not open to email submissions and are not open to submissions sent via post.
 Fractured Lit holds first serial publication rights for three months after publication. Authors agree not to publish, nor authorize or permit the publication of, any part of the material for three months following Fractured Lit’s first publication. For reprints, we ask for acknowledgment of its publication in Fractured Lit first.

Fractured Lit publishes micro and flash fiction from writers of any background or experience. Both Micro and Flash categories are open year round and we do not charge any submission fees. We accept simultaneous submissions but ask that you inform us immediately and withdraw your work if your story is accepted elsewhere. We pay our  $75 for original micro series.

Micro fiction series for Fractured Lit should include at least 3 micros of 400 words or less with a total word count of 1,600 or less words. All of the pieces must be unpublished in order to be considered for payment.

We will also consider previously published micro fiction series, as long as the writer retains the rights or second-publication rights can be obtained. We do not pay for reprints.

Writers may submit up to 1 micro series in the same document. Please wait 1 month after our initial reply before submitting again.

Cover letters are optional, but it's nice to know who is submitting to us. Please refrain from describing your stories. The work needs to speak for itself. Including the title and word count of each story is helpful for more efficient consideration of your work. Please include a brief third-person biography statement. 

Please allow us up to two months to inform you if we have accepted your work for publication. You will usually hear from us much sooner.

We consider submissions sent via Submittable. We are not open to email submissions and are not open to submissions sent via post.

Fractured Lit holds first serial publication rights for three months after publication. Authors agree not to publish, nor authorize or permit the publication of, any part of the material for three months following Fractured Lit’s first publication. For reprints, we ask for acknowledgment of its publication in Fractured Lit first.

OPTIONAL EDITORIAL FEEDBACK:

You may choose to receive editorial feedback on your piece. We will provide a global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. Our aim is to make our comments actionable and encouraging. These letters are written by editors and staff readers of Fractured Lit.

 
Fractured Lit would love the chance to help your formerly published stories reach a larger audience! We know how heartbreaking it can be to publish a story and then find out that the journal is no longer in existence. We also know that having a story placed in a print journal is exciting, but these stories often have smaller readerships. We're now accepting formerly published stories that if published online are at least 2 years old or from any time frame from those published in print. While we don't offer payment for reprinted stories, we can promise a larger reading audience and our full promotion of these stories through our website and through our social media channels! Come join the Fractured lit publishing family!

Micro fiction for Fractured Lit is 400 words or less.
Flash fiction is 401-1,000 words.

Writers may submit up to two stories in the same document. Please wait 1 month after our initial reply before submitting again.
Cover letters are optional, but it's nice to know who is submitting to us. Please refrain from describing your stories. The work needs to speak for itself. Including the title and word count of each story is helpful for more efficient consideration of your work. Please include a brief third-person biography statement. You must give credit to the journals(s) that previously published these pieces for our consideration.

Please allow us up to two months to inform you if we have accepted your work for publication. You will usually hear from us much sooner.
We consider submissions sent via Submittable. We are not open to email submissions and are not open to submissions sent via post.
Fractured Lit holds first serial publication rights for three months after publication. Authors agree not to publish, nor authorize or permit the publication of, any part of the material for three months following Fractured Lit’s first publication. For reprints, we ask for acknowledgment of its publication in Fractured Lit first.

OPTIONAL EDITORIAL FEEDBACK:
You may choose to receive editorial feedback on your piece. We will provide a global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. Our aim is to make our comments actionable and encouraging. These letters are written by editors and staff readers of Fractured Lit.

Fractured Lit is looking for flash fiction submission Readers! If you enjoy literary flash fiction with emotional resonance, characters we care about, that investigate the mysteries of being human, the sorrow, and the joy of connecting to the diverse population around us we encourage you to apply!  We encourage readers who can commit to reading three to four hours each week working remotely and at your own pace. We are particularly interested in bringing on readers who are familiar with the flash fiction form and come from diverse backgrounds and experiences!

This position begins on a rolling basis and involves a commitment of six months. PLEASE NOTE: this is an unpaid, volunteer opportunity. If interested, please send a cover letter, resume/CV, and at least one writing sample. This is a rolling call and will be open until we fill the available positions. Fractured Lit is a flash fiction centered place for all writers of any background and experience. Help us find the stories we knew we’ve needed all along. We look forward to hearing from you!