Five Minute Fiction Challenge 2016

Yes, it’s that time of year again: dark, drab, and boring, lurgies abundant. The Christmas lights have dulled, Santa has gone back to his cave, and everyone is skint. It would be easier to sludge your way through three days of Glastonbury mud than motivate yourself to do anything productive. But, what better time of year is there to do a bit of writing?

It’s unlikely you have the same pressure for social engagements than you had a mere month ago, and anyone seriously attempting a New Year’s diet or to quit smoking might be in need of keeping their hands busy and out of the biscuit barrel or the baccy tin. And who wants to go out in all this rain, anyway? Those winter nights are there for the taking. Ok, maybe there is some good stuff coming up on the telly, but nowadays there’s such a thing as catch-up, so what’s stopping you?

You.

That’s it. Just your good self.

Where am I heading with this? Aaaah, Well…

I will be hosting a twenty day flash fiction challenge. That is, Mon-Fri, for four weeks, a new story every weekday of up to 1k words. I provide a daily prompt, you provide the imagination.

Back in June I ran one of these events with some fellow writers. It produced some brilliant results and some invaluable learning curves. I got at least three novel ideas from it and some great short stories, and I know the other participants did too.

It makes a massive difference to have a prompt to start you off each day. You tackle your writing from a different angle than you normally would. This is great if you feel you need a little variety in your writing as well as giving you deeper insights to setting, character, plot, etc.

In some of the challenges, I wrote short stories or partial chapters centred round the same story world or characters. And I tried out several genres and styles I hadn’t written before, each leaving me with those strong ideas for novels I mentioned earlier.

Anyone who has ever participated in Nanowrimo knows what a positive effect a little camaraderie has. When in the knowledge that other writers are going at it just as maniacally as themselves, experiencing the same highs and lows that fiction writing creates, it really eggs you on to achieve more than in any normal week. Using the same prompts every day brings a new, shinier element to it.

And I love things that sparkle!

We posted our stories for general feedback and were amazed every time how each writer approached the prompt differently. All in all, it was a huge success and all of our group are keen to give it another go.

So, on that note, we have fixed a date for the next round: Monday Jan 18th – Friday Feb 12th. That means one story per weekday inclusive of those two dates for a period of four weeks.

Why don’t you join us?

I will be posting prompts on my blog via Twitter and Facebook page each day at around 8am GMT (#5minfic0116)

However, this time we are not only attempting flash fiction. We decided it would also be an excellent opportunity to expand on ideas from the last round for character/plot development for our novel ideas, as well as attempting some new short stories. Or even to write a novel chapter for current projects incorporating the prompts.

Roughly 1000 words per day is the guide for the upper limit, but anything below that is acceptable. And it is just a guide: I don’t want to curtail your creativity by asserting any ‘rules’. If you go over, no one’s going to rap your knuckles with a cane.

The only actual rule is that you must incorporate the prompt you are writing towards.

One thing I will add before I finish: if you can find an online group who are also participating it makes a massive difference, especially if you have a place where you can post your stories for general comments. There are so many online writing sites these days it isn’t hard to find other writers you already know who may wish to participate. If you do manage to create a group who share their stories, try not to go too heavy handed with the feedback. Keep it light hearted and positive so as to encourage people to continue. You can go back and critique more seriously after the event is over and everyone’s had a chance to clean up their prose.

So, you up for it my lovelies, or what?