In February, the Australian Writers’ Centre (AWC) celebrated the Furious Fiction competition’s third birthday by putting a call out to participants to share their own experiences, insights or perspectives on the competition. The AWC shared the responses they received here. My response wasn’t included, so I thought I’d publish it below. *** Furious Fiction and Me I fell in love
Read moreWrite a piece in a style quite different to the way you normally write.** Acrimonious It took me two days to break free. The rough, thick ropes delicately slipped off my limbs once I untied the weak knot. I sprinted out of the old shed, down the highway, with no plan. I eventually managed to find a man driving a
Read moreEarlier this year I entered the NYC Midnight 100-word Microfiction Challenge, an international creative writing competition that challenges participants to write original 100-word stories by giving them a specific genre, action and word assignment, in 24 hours. Every writer is placed in a specific group based on the genre, action and word assignment they are given. The competition judges pick
Read moreDescribe a scene in which there is close scrutiny of every detail.** Poison I’m at the home stretch and my plan so far is working. If I poison too many dishes it would be too obvious that someone is cheating, so I’ve had to be creative in this year’s Country Cooking Contest. Some dishes I spiked with MSG (which is
Read moreThe brief of the AWC Furious Fiction—July 2021 short story competition was as follows: *** Poison I’m at the home stretch and my plan so far is working. If I poison too many dishes it would be too obvious that someone is cheating, so I’ve had to be creative in this year’s Country Cooking Contest. Some dishes I spiked with
Read moreDescribe a scene which is dominated by rich, intense colour.** Waiting Room I’ve been in my fair share of waiting rooms before, but this one by far is the ugliest. While it’s silent and still with a few people, like other typical waiting rooms, it’s still as ugly as sin. I would like to know whether this clinic was actually
Read moreThe brief of the AWC Furious Fiction—June 2021 short story competition was as follows: 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 *** Waiting Room I’ve been in my fair share of waiting rooms
Read moreYou come home and find the house is empty; your parents appear to have moved away, and taken everything with them. You don’t trust your neighbours, so you don’t want to go to them…** Lost and Found The sound of the thunder above me only added to my bad day. The rain hadn’t started but I knew it would show
Read moreThe brief of the AWC Furious Fiction—May 2021 short story competition was as follows: Your story had to be set during a storm. Your story had to include the words MOTHER, APPLE, YESTERDAY Your story had to include the phrase: SIT/SITTING ON THE FENCE *** Lost and Found The sound of the thunder above me only added to my bad
Read moreWrite about a scene that most people wouldn’t consider worthy of attention (and so it is virtually invisible to them).** The Next Clue I’m standing in a queue behind people I’ll never know in a beige office building, following the orders of The Madman. I’m sick of this psychopath screwing us around, but now the stakes are too high and
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