Flash Fiction The Writer's Workout

Flash fiction is one of the most creative forms of fiction writing. It emphasizes playfulness, experimentation, and a love for words in a tight economy. Show us stories with complete plots that reaffirm the true characteristics of fiction while going outside the box. And have fun!

• We’re looking for strong characters, compelling action, and memorable lines—all while emphasizing brevity.
• Flash Fiction is not a prologue. A strong flash piece tells the whole story on its own.
• Flash fiction is perfectly suited to experimentation. Show us your creativity!

Flash Fiction is defined here as between 100 and 1,000 words. Pieces outside these limits will not be read.

All submissions must be in English and complete, standalone stories.
Translations are accepted.

Submissions are read blind.

Due to volume, editors cannot provide detailed feedback for every submission.

Anticipate a response within six weeks. If it’s been longer than six weeks, please email us.

If accepted: you’ll receive notes with time to revise and a short text interview.

The Writer’s Workout does not accept religious or political topics, fanfiction, or erotica.

Please avoid sending topics of self harm, abuse, and gratuitous violence.

Recovery topics are welcome.

AI-generated work is not accepted. This includes using AI at any stage of the idea, writing, or revision processes. Spellcheck and speech-to-text are not considered AI-generated. We celebrate human creativity here.

• Times New Roman or Arial font, size 10 or 12, single spaced
• Indented paragraphs
• Empty margins on all four sides
• One empty line for scene breaks
• Piece title at the top left of the body of your document
• Do not include identifying information anywhere in your file
• If your piece was previously published, include this credit below the title

Submissions are accepted by email (submissions [at] writersworkout.net) and Duotrope.

• One piece per file
• Do NOT include identifying information in your file
• Emailed submissions require additional steps including file name and email subject. Please review the submissions guidelines post or the submissions page of our home website. Both pages include the same information.

The Writer’s Workout requests non-exclusive electronic rights to digitally publish selected pieces. You retain the right to submit your published work elsewhere after we publish it.

If you need to withdraw, please email us.

Unfortunately, we are not able to pay contributors at this time. The Writer’s Workout is a 100% volunteer organization.

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