IM * PACT
(noun)
1) One object colliding with another
2) An impinging of something upon something else
3) An influence or effect on something or someone
4) The force of a new idea, concept, technology or ideology
Four definitions to inspire writers around the world, and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell, but only 110 made the final cut.
A difficult choice to be made. An object hurtling recklessly through space. A new invention that will change the world. So many things can impact a life, a society, or a planet.
Impact features 300 word speculative fiction ficlets from across the queer spectrum from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.
Welcome to Impact.
About the Series:
It’s hard to tell a story in just 300 words. Each year we ask writers to take the challenge, turning in stories across the queer spectrum. The rules are simple. Write a complete sci fi, fantasy, paranormal or horror story, include LGBTIQA characters, and do it all with just 300 carefully chosen words.
Queer Sci Fi is giving away a $25 Amazon gift card with this tour – enter via Rafflecopter for a chance to win:
So You Want to Write Flash Fiction – Success Stories
- Scott Coatsworth
So we’ve been doing these flash fiction contests on Queer Sci Fi now for five years, and we’ve learned a few things about how to write a good flash story (and how to write a bad one). I thought I’d share a few tips .
So here are some of our previous winners on why they think they won.
“The fact that I won in the first year when there wasn’t a lot of competition certainly helped? LOL Actually, I really loved my story that year. At the end of it, you knew things were about to change forever for my guy, you just didn’t know quite how. I like giving readers the space to imagine their own outcome if I can.” —Cari Zee
“I think my story (“Self-Actuating”, which was the winner for the 2015 contest, Discovery) had a huge emotional impact for something that was only 300 words long. I think that’s key–you need to connect with the reader in a way that encourages some sort of reaction, whether it’s surprise, or heartache, or laughter. Something.” —Jenn Burke
“Mine was the winner from 2016, Flight (“Your Weird Aunt PollyMorph Says Hello”) I used a monologue from a 1st person POV and they could tell us a story that might cover a lot of territory and time, but that it would always be centered on the relationship they had with that one person. Along the way, I had a cast of multiple LGBT folks and themes of self-identity. I pared it away to just the voice of this caring narrator. I used multiple definitions of “flight”. And then for a closer I emphasized the surprise effect on this genderqueer polymorphic narrator. So it was a discovery monologue where the person speaking didn’t know what they would know until they finished speaking. But ultimately, I have no idea why they selected my story. Just thrilled they did!” —Jerome Stueart
I hope you’ll consider submitting next year—every year, we crown new winners, and many of them have written very little fiction before or are relatively unknown. These tips may help push you to the top. J
Since this book is composed of stories of no more than 300 words, we can’t really do a standard excerpt, so we’re offering you the teaser first lines from a number of stories.
“She’d needed new oil. She felt her joints grow stiff, her muscles grow tight, her follicles thickening. If she didn’t get fresh quarts soon, people she passed would start calling her sir, asking, Where’s your gun?” —Crossville Station, by Nathan Alling Long
“The mallet’s impact on the hard, bright disk shattered the silence in the talking chamber. The resulting deep tone reverberated through the vault, through Saskia, as she fidgeted beside her lover.” —Settled, by Aidee Ladnier
“This is how the world ends, or so they say. From where I’m standing, it simply looks like a rolling darkness as distant lights flicker and die.” —Visitors, by LJ Phillips
“’What have you done?’ The mechanical eyes came to rest on his face, the droning beepsounding loud in the small room.” —Identity and Change, by Jo Tannah
“’Once upon a world, we were the same,’ he said, lifting my hand to his lips; the ground shaking beneath us.” —Impact, by Jack Ladd
“I been a tinker and soothsayer long enough to know this country’s at the cusp of war. They stir up hate easy as breath. And, oh, it pains my soul to see it. “ —Impact of Intervention, by Patricia Scott
“All lives begin with a messy impact of some kind. The crash of zygotes and gametes. Splats of silica gel between cybernetic synapses. Two women slam into each other carrying full cups of coffee.” —Quintessence, by E.M. Hammill
“If I venture far enough into the house, I’ll find my closet.” —The Closet, by K.S. Trenten
“It touched Ligaya when she was a child. Or she touched it. A half-glimpsed shape under her bed.” Mas Mabuti An Answang, by Foster Bridget Cassidy
“Jam zipped down the neon track, feather-light in low gravity. She rocketed forward, a glowing haze in her starred helmet, and shot past the pack. “Space Jammer!” echoed as she neared the line. Time to rack up the points.” —First Bout: Andromedolls Vs. Crotch Rockets, by Ginger Streusel
About Queer Sci Fi:
At Queer Sci Fi, we’re building a community of sci fi, fantasy, paranormal and horror writers and readers who want a little rainbow in their speculative fiction. We run a great discussion group on Facebook, a twitter feed, and have a website full of useful materials, news, and announcements for readers and writers of queer speculative fiction.
Website: https://www.queerscifi.com
Facebook Discussion Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/qsfdiscussions/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/queerscifi/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/QueerSciFi
