Category: Furious Fiction

For the final month of 2022 (the 12th month, if you will), Furious Fiction entrants were set a curious collection of criteria. Here they are now: Each story had to begin with a 12-word sentence. Each story had to include the sale of a second-hand item Each story had to

How does one celebrate FIFTY editions of Furious Fiction? Why, just like our previous 49 – we dish out some creative criteria for the world’s collective imaginations to do their thing in 500 words or fewer. Here were the September criteria: Each story’s first sentence had to contain the word

A writer (you’ve probably never heard of) once said, “all the world’s a stage” and in this round’s Furious Fiction challenge, all of the entrants were indeed merely players. Here were the criteria: Each story had to begin with a sentence containing exactly SIX words. Each story had to include

The first Furious Fiction challenge for the year landed in March, and it was the talk of the town – to miss it would surely be a crime. Here were the criteria: Each story had to include a character that commits a crime. Each story had to include some kind

It’s a new year and a new format for your beloved Furious Fiction – with competition weekends now taking place each quarter. But first, we still need to crown the final winner of 2021. Here were the challenge criteria: Each story had to include a tree. Each story had to

In this edition of Furious Fiction, we’ve been packing our bags. But no, we aren’t disappearing for good. These were November’s criteria: Your story must include someone PACKING A SUITCASE. Your story must include the phrase “ACROSS A CROWDED ROOM” (as dialogue or narrative). Your story must include the words

Another month and another chance for entrants to flex their creative muscles with our ever-changing selection of Furious Fiction criteria. This month, we invited you to play, using the following rules: Your story’s setting: a COURT of some kind. Your story must include a character who measures something. Your story

This month’s 44th edition of Furious Fiction was an up-and-down affair as we asked entrants to either plumb new depths or climb to lofty heights. These were the challenge criteria: Your story must include EITHER an attic OR a basement. Your story must include some kind of insect. Your story

With many writers having some extra at-home time on their hands, August’s Furious Fiction competition welcomed a bumper crop of entries – more than 1600 and the second highest ever! They came from all parts of the world, hoping their words would shine brightest. These were the challenge criteria: Your

Amid the flurry of competition and gold medals being given out at the moment, today is the day that we roll out the podium for the 500-word sprint, our version of the modern “pen”tathlon. As a quick recap, these were the criteria for JULY’s Furious Fiction: Each story had to

It was a descriptive June this month at Furious Fiction. These were the story criteria: Each story had to include (word for word) the following SEVEN descriptions at any point in the story body: THICK AS HONEY SILENT AND STILL GOLDEN GLOW HEART-SHAPED DELICATE PERFUME SOFT AND DOUGHY RAZOR-SHARP And

It was a dark and stormy night at Furious Fiction HQ. The judges gathered around the glow of the Apple laptop and rubbed their hands with glee (a brand of hand sanitiser). Yesterday, the identity of the competition winner was unclear – many sitting on the fence in their decision.

Every month a long queue of writers from all over the map throw their narrative hats into this three-ringed circus we call Furious Fiction, crossing their fingers, dropping their heads in prayer and hoping to get lucky. These were the April criteria: Your story must begin in some kind of

They say a picture is worth a thousand words – but this month we were fine with just 500 as we introduced only the fourth picture prompt in Furious Fiction history. These were the complete criteria for March: Each story had to include the pictured setting (above) at some point.

It was a happy third birthday to Furious Fiction this month (be sure to check out our “stories behind the stories” collection) and to celebrate turning three, every story had to begin with the word THREE. That wasn’t all though: Each story had to be set in a SCHOOL. Each

It’s a new year and we were so eager that we hit the ground running with our first Furious Fiction challenge for 2021 on the first day of January. (Ahem, it may have also had something to do with the calendar.) A new year was dawning, so here’s what we

And so we arrive at the final Furious Fiction edition for this quiet, uneventful year. The criteria we required in December were: Each story had to include a GIFT of some kind. Each story’s first sentence had to contain only THREE words. The following words had to be used somewhere

It’s been a weird year for travel. And so in this month’s Furious Fiction, we thought we’d do our bit for the fiction accommodation industry (you’re welcome) by asking everyone to set their 500-words-or-fewer stories in a hotel. Naturally, that wasn’t the only slice of the criteria cake. Here were