I was introduced to NYC Midnight by John Dutton one of the leaders of the Spilled Ink group on Facebook. I was talking with him about some of the flash fiction stories I had written, and he suggested this particular competition if I was into that format. As soon as he told me about these competitions, I was intrigued. So I put it on my list of things to investigate, and when I finally got to delve into NYC Midnight and their competition, I began to soak up everything I could in earnest to learn as much as I could.
After I finished looking into NYC Midnight, I found that they did a lot of different types of contest other than flash fiction. Though I was, and still am, entirely focused on the flash fiction competition they put on every year. According to their website, this is a yearly competition, and including this year, this is the 10th competition they have held. I read through a lot of the feedback, and it seemed that everyone who participates enjoys the process. I even looked at the prizes that are awarded to the top twenty writers in the event, and they all captured my attention.
Unfortunately, I discovered the competition too late to join it this year, but I was immediately drawn to the challenges that are inherent to the competition. If you are interested in reading the full rules for the 2018 competition click here. Needless to say I read the PDF and I as I went through the document my desire began to grow from the warm fuzzy feeling I originally had.
With the competition being about flash fiction I expected word count of one thousand words, but I was intrigued by some of the other limitation, or rather constraints that the author was placed under. The first being the genre for the entry, it’s primary location and an object required to make an appearance. Once the author receives these constraints, they have up to forty-eight hours to fashion their entry.
Since I started delving into the flash fiction format, I fully appreciated just how well these constraints can breed creativity. In fact, it wasn’t until I fully understood the limitations that I started to read some of the previous winning stories including the one for 2017. The entry more than anything else stoked my desire into a full-blown blazing bonfire of excitement.
I will definitely participate in the competition in 2019, but I will train for the competition in the meantime. One of the testimonials talked about how the first round was like a marathon so like a marathon runner I will prepare. As I wait for the competition to start in 2019, I will be posting flash fiction stories on my blog following the rules for the 2018 competition. I will be getting random genres, locations, and an object and using those combinations to craft unique and hopefully compelling tales, in order to flex my muscles as a storyteller.