Flash Fiction Contest Results
I'm pleased to announce that the winners of the WCCL Flash Fiction Contest have been decided. To remind you, the contest was to write a short story in exactly 100 words, which included the six words mirror, subliminal, genius, white, cliff and clepsydra. In addition, entrants were asked to provide a title for the story of up to 15 words, which didn't count towards the 100 words for the story. The prizes for the three winning entries were copies of the full version of the popular WriteItNow novel-writing software from Ravenshead Services.
The contest was judged by me and my colleague Karl Moore, the managing director of WCCL. Overall, we were impressed with the standard of the entries, and in particular by the many ingenious methods that were used to incorporate the six key words, especially clepsydra. As you will know if you followed the hyperlink, a clepsydra is an ancient water clock, though if we had a suitable consolation prize to award, it would go to the contestant who decided to make it the name of an alien race!
Karl and I were looking for stories that, even in just 100 words, engaged us both intellectually and emotionally. Ideally we wanted to read stories where the six key words fitted into the story in a natural and unobtrusive way, rather than standing out like beacons. And, of course, we wanted stories that were well written, adhered to the 100 word requirement, and had been checked for spelling and grammatical mistakes. I'm pleased to say that our three winning stories, which I'll reveal shortly, met all of these requirements.
One small criticism concerns the number of entrants who failed to follow the rules set out in my original post, in particular the following, which I am copying verbatim: "Include the story in the body of your email (no attachments), and put the title of your story in the subject line. Please do NOT put anything else in the email apart from your story, as we will be judging the contest anonymously." I was surprised and disappointed by the number of people who failed to observe some or all of these rules. As we only had around 50 entries we decided in most cases not to disqualify these stories, but it made judging the contest anonymously (and therefore fairly) much more difficult. Judges in other contests may not be as forgiving as we were on this occasion, so please, if rules are set out, do try to observe them.
OK, that's the end of my mini-rant! Here then - in no particular order - are the names of the winning entries and their authors, followed by the stories themselves.
Long Distance by Anitra Budd
Magic to Die For by Amanda Hyatt
The Visions of My Life, as Seen Through Eyes That Grow Dim With Age by Shirla White
LONG DISTANCE
"White Cliff Palace." The voice was a Manhattan, all smoke and clinking ice.
"Mom? It's me."
"I know who it is, sweetheart." The subliminal murmurs of her clepsydra played in the background. "Now, what does my little genius want?"
"Just making sure you're alive."
"Charlie, save the sermon. I'm completely, utterly happy with my life and I don't intend to change. So you've got two choices: accept me, or go to hell and stop calling." Click.
No Mom, I thought as I slid to the restroom floor. There's another way. My fingers began redialing the numbers scrawled on the mirror.
MAGIC TO DIE FOR
I gazed in the mirror and marvelled at what subliminal lies lay submerged in the blurred reflection there. "A pretty face," they used to say, and "What beautiful hair." I'd come to believe them - even to see what they saw. Until Arthur. Clever, handsome Arthur. Genius - even in his beatings. But who was the genius now? I could see his white shirt, unbuttoned, blowing gaily as he stood on the cliff face, unaware that, like a clepsydra, the ebbing tide measured his final moments. I flung the white-shirted straw doll into the wind and watched him leap to his fate.
THE VISIONS OF MY LIFE, AS SEEN THROUGH EYES THAT GROW DIM WITH AGE
As my days grow shorter now, I am subliminally drawn to the mirror again. Here I can look back on my past. The vision of a young girl with long brown hair and enormous hazel eyes flits in and out of view. The white dress she wears billows in the wind as she laughs and plays.
This girl soon vanishes, and in her place is a weather worn cliff side manor. An ancient clepsydra in the court yard still measures the passing of time; the genius of this timekeeper still intrigues me.
Soon my visions fade, and I'm alone again.
The other short-listed entries were as follows. No prizes for their authors, I'm afraid, but all are highly commended:
Leap of Faith by Cherry Walker
At 98% of the Speed of Light, Your Clock Can Kill You! by Mark Jensen
Cliff's World by Constance Gardner
An Interlude by Nigel Edwards
The Curse of the Ancient Clepsydra by David Fredrickson
Congratulations to the winning and short-listed writers, and commiserations to those who did not win on this occasion. I hope all of you enjoyed entering the contest, and it will perhaps have stimulated your interest in writing these ultra-short stories. If so, there are many websites devoted to the form that you might like to check out - just enter "Flash Fiction" in a search engine such as Google and thousands of such sites will be listed.
Happy flash fiction writing!
The contest was judged by me and my colleague Karl Moore, the managing director of WCCL. Overall, we were impressed with the standard of the entries, and in particular by the many ingenious methods that were used to incorporate the six key words, especially clepsydra. As you will know if you followed the hyperlink, a clepsydra is an ancient water clock, though if we had a suitable consolation prize to award, it would go to the contestant who decided to make it the name of an alien race!
Karl and I were looking for stories that, even in just 100 words, engaged us both intellectually and emotionally. Ideally we wanted to read stories where the six key words fitted into the story in a natural and unobtrusive way, rather than standing out like beacons. And, of course, we wanted stories that were well written, adhered to the 100 word requirement, and had been checked for spelling and grammatical mistakes. I'm pleased to say that our three winning stories, which I'll reveal shortly, met all of these requirements.
One small criticism concerns the number of entrants who failed to follow the rules set out in my original post, in particular the following, which I am copying verbatim: "Include the story in the body of your email (no attachments), and put the title of your story in the subject line. Please do NOT put anything else in the email apart from your story, as we will be judging the contest anonymously." I was surprised and disappointed by the number of people who failed to observe some or all of these rules. As we only had around 50 entries we decided in most cases not to disqualify these stories, but it made judging the contest anonymously (and therefore fairly) much more difficult. Judges in other contests may not be as forgiving as we were on this occasion, so please, if rules are set out, do try to observe them.
OK, that's the end of my mini-rant! Here then - in no particular order - are the names of the winning entries and their authors, followed by the stories themselves.
Long Distance by Anitra Budd
Magic to Die For by Amanda Hyatt
The Visions of My Life, as Seen Through Eyes That Grow Dim With Age by Shirla White
LONG DISTANCE
"White Cliff Palace." The voice was a Manhattan, all smoke and clinking ice.
"Mom? It's me."
"I know who it is, sweetheart." The subliminal murmurs of her clepsydra played in the background. "Now, what does my little genius want?"
"Just making sure you're alive."
"Charlie, save the sermon. I'm completely, utterly happy with my life and I don't intend to change. So you've got two choices: accept me, or go to hell and stop calling." Click.
No Mom, I thought as I slid to the restroom floor. There's another way. My fingers began redialing the numbers scrawled on the mirror.
MAGIC TO DIE FOR
I gazed in the mirror and marvelled at what subliminal lies lay submerged in the blurred reflection there. "A pretty face," they used to say, and "What beautiful hair." I'd come to believe them - even to see what they saw. Until Arthur. Clever, handsome Arthur. Genius - even in his beatings. But who was the genius now? I could see his white shirt, unbuttoned, blowing gaily as he stood on the cliff face, unaware that, like a clepsydra, the ebbing tide measured his final moments. I flung the white-shirted straw doll into the wind and watched him leap to his fate.
THE VISIONS OF MY LIFE, AS SEEN THROUGH EYES THAT GROW DIM WITH AGE
As my days grow shorter now, I am subliminally drawn to the mirror again. Here I can look back on my past. The vision of a young girl with long brown hair and enormous hazel eyes flits in and out of view. The white dress she wears billows in the wind as she laughs and plays.
This girl soon vanishes, and in her place is a weather worn cliff side manor. An ancient clepsydra in the court yard still measures the passing of time; the genius of this timekeeper still intrigues me.
Soon my visions fade, and I'm alone again.
The other short-listed entries were as follows. No prizes for their authors, I'm afraid, but all are highly commended:
Leap of Faith by Cherry Walker
At 98% of the Speed of Light, Your Clock Can Kill You! by Mark Jensen
Cliff's World by Constance Gardner
An Interlude by Nigel Edwards
The Curse of the Ancient Clepsydra by David Fredrickson
Congratulations to the winning and short-listed writers, and commiserations to those who did not win on this occasion. I hope all of you enjoyed entering the contest, and it will perhaps have stimulated your interest in writing these ultra-short stories. If so, there are many websites devoted to the form that you might like to check out - just enter "Flash Fiction" in a search engine such as Google and thousands of such sites will be listed.
Happy flash fiction writing!
Nick at 4:19 AM 
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