The Fractured Lit Anthology Volume 5 - Judged by Tara Isabel Zambrano | $5000 Awarded

Time to send us your freshest, most exciting flash fiction! We’re excited to host our fifth anthology contest. Every year, writers send us their best flash fiction, and they never disappoint! This year, we want your most arresting stories, those that shine the light on the dark parts of our worlds and your character’s psyches. Give us the flash that only you could write with characters only you could create, who fill the page with resonating actions and good trouble, the characters who find themselves through bad choices and resolute actions. Fill our queue with sparkling language, original metaphors, and sparkling sentences that transport us into the narratives we’ve always wished to read but haven’t found yet!

Our fifth anthology will showcase today’s best flash fiction writers. $5,000 will be awarded between 20 winners. Submissions are open for the Fractured Lit Anthology Volume 5 from December 01 to February 02, 2025.

This year, stories will be selected by Guest Judge Tara Isabel Zambrano, who will choose 20 winners from a shortlist of 40 stories.

Tara Isabel Zambrano is an award-winning writer of South Asian descent. Her multigenre writing has appeared in Tin House Online, Electric Literature, Southeast Review, Post Road, and other notable venues. She is also the author of a short story collection, Ruined a Little When We Are Born (Dzanc Books, 2024) and Death, Desire, and Other Destinations (Okay Donkey Books, 2020). Find out more at https://taraisabelzambrano.com/ and @tizambrano on Instagram.

Here’s what Tara looks for in a flash fiction story:

Whether your title is several lines long or a word, it should be representative of the story. Get me hooked from the first line. Build a world inside your thousand words. Use precise, sensory details, unreliable characters, and movement. Use fresh insights into relationships and original metaphors. What’s at risk? Is it enough to make someone care? Go weird, weirder, but don't let the story be all about shock and surprise and language just for the sake of it. The story should connect at an emotional level. Don't give me easy answers but help me understand the nature of the conflict, the struggle. When it's finished, it should make me want to read it again and discover something new, even if it's a subtle detail.

We're excited to assemble another anthology of fiercely original stories of all flash fiction lengths and topics. Surprise us with your brevity and originality, and we'll make sure your story is read far and wide!

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 micro/flash stories should have a separate submission accompanied by a reading fee.
• Writers from historically marginalized groups will be able to submit for free until we reach our cap of 25 free submissions. No additional fee waivers will be granted. 
• Please send micro/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). In the cover letter, please include content warnings as well, to safeguard our reading staff.
• We only read work in English, though some code-switching/meshing is warmly welcomed.
• We do not read anonymous submissions. However, shortlisted stories are sent anonymously to the judge.
• Unless specifically requested, we do not accept AI-generated work. For this contest, AI-generated work will be automatically disqualified.

20 WINNERS WILL RECEIVE:

•  a $250 award,
•  publication in the print edition of our 2024 Anthology,
•  and 5 contributor’s copies.

The deadline for entry is February 02, 2025. We will announce the shortlist within 10-12 weeks of the contest's close. All writers will be notified when the results are in. The book is published 10-12 months after the announcement of the winners.

Some Submittable Hot Tips:

• Please be sure to whitelist/add this 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. In your cover letter, please let us know which piece you'd like your editor to focus their review on. We will provide a two-page 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.