It’s that time a year again, folks: FlashNano! And if you’ve never heard of FlashNano before now, it’s the annual challenge to write 30 flash fiction stories in 30 days during the month of November, now in its 7th year!

The idea originated in 2012 as a spin-off from National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWRiMo): the challenge to write a 50,000 novel in a month. That challenge is fantastic and you can find out more here.

But FlashNano is the flash fiction lover’s answer to NaNoWriMo—the thrill of generating lots of material and the solidarity and the contagious energy of mad creation: sprinting, crawling, agonizing and celebrating throughout November with our novel-writing friends.

Join us!

Frequently Asked Questions

How do we join?
Declare it so.
Go buy some new pens and notebooks.
Join the mailing list (if you haven’t already) if you would like prompts emailed to you.
Join the FB group event page if you want to share your work or see what others are writing (not required)
Bookmark my website as it will become a prompt pumping factory starting Thursday!

Do we submit them?
There is no official submitting, though I just put up a temporary Facebook event page where some people like to share and keep each other’s spirits up—it gets pretty lively over there. But many people participate without ever sharing anything and that’s also great.

Do you critique them?
No way. Not only does that go against the spirit of FlashNano, it’s also just impossible. I estimate probably close to 1,000 people will attempt it this year. November is about generating lots of material and the challenge requires lots of creative play and risk taking. The editing hat can come in later and I may offer an editing class in December if I’m not too tired!

Do they count as published?
Since the Facebook page is temporary it will disappear after November so you shouldn’t have any trouble. Some people will post on their own blogs instead—personally my work isn’t usually ready to share (officially) that soon, but some people have found the publishing on their own blogs is a great way to create accountability.

What if I miss a day?
If you miss a day then write two the next day! This challenge is really between you and your god, so no one else is counting.

Where can I find the prompts?
I will post the prompts on my website and social media pages (Twitter and Facebook) and I also have a dedicated email list just for FlashNano, so those folks will get the prompts emailed to them each morning. Many of you are probably already on that list but if not sign up here.

When are prompts posted?
Once I wake up and get moving–I aim for about 9 am MST, give or take an hour. So over in Europe and Australia you’ll be getting them in the afternoon/evening.

Do I have to use the prompts?
Absolutely not. Write 40 stores in November by any means necessary!

Do I have to write flash?
Actually, no. I started it as a space for flash writers of course, but over the last 6 years I’ve seen people do all sorts of things, including poetry, a haiku a day, and even thread the daily flashes into a novella. New material is always a win!

Read some past interviews about FlashNano here:

2017: On the Bath Flash Fiction Award Website
2016: On Flash Frontier website