Flash Fiction Contest and Online Writing Workshops
Flash Fiction is a complete story told in 750 words or less. Residents of Port Coquitlam of all ages are invited to enter our Flash Fiction Contest hosted by the Terry Fox Library and the City of Port Coquitlam. The winning Flash Fiction story will be featured in the City of Port Coquitlam’s Storywalk Program along the Donald Pathway.
Each story must:
- Be, or contain, an adventure
- Be set in Port Coquitlam
- Include the word “seed“
- Be no more than 750 words (min 180)
Titles are not included in the word count. Entries must be original and not contain any copyrighted materials, including song lyrics etc. Staff of FVRL and the City of Port Coquitlam cannot enter.
Contest Runs
May 4 to June 4, 2020
Deadline
All entries must be submitted by midnight on Thursday, June 4, 2020.
Grand Prize
$75 gift card to Western Sky Books, sponsored by the PoCo BIA. The winning Flash Fiction story will be featured in the City of Port Coquitlam’s new Storywalk along the Donald Pathway.
Two Runners-up
$50 gift card to Western Sky Books, sponsored by the PoCo BIA.
Need help with your entry? Sign up for our Writing Workshops!
Join author Kevin Spenst for a virtual writing workshop.
Register by email at arts@portcoquitlam.ca to receive the workshop link and password.
Flash Fiction Contest Workshop for Teens: Move it!
Friday, May 8, 2-3:30 pm
With only a page or two to sink your story into the imagination of a reader, it’s super important that your writing be concise, lively, and fun! To prepare for the adventure theme in Port Coquitlam’s Fast Fiction Contest, come and participate in this hour and a half online workshop where you’ll be taken through the process of coming up with ideas, putting together action-packed plots, and editing for concision. We’ll consider the places in Port Coquitlam and how they can be turned upside down and inside out to uncover all the possible exploits outside your doorstep. We’ll also dig up new ideas around the idea of “seeds” (a word that you’ve gotta include in your story). Let’s do it!
Flash Fiction Contest Workshop for Adults: Moving Plots and Readers
Sunday, May 17, 2-3:30 pm
With only a page or two to get your narrative into the imagination of a reader, it’s vital that your writing be concise, vivid, and meaningful. In order to be best equipped for the adventure theme in Port Coquitlam’s Fast Fiction Contest, come and participate in this hour and a half online workshop where you’ll be taken through the process of coming up with ideas, putting together action-packed plots, and editing for concision. We’ll also explore what the idea of adventure means and all its possible permutations in the nooks and crannies and histories of Port Coquitlam. How can all of this grow out of a “seed”? (a word that must be included in your contest story). Well, your imagination holds the path to that answer!
Bio:
Kevin Spenst is an author who’s no stranger to hijinks and adventure. In 2007, he launched his first collection of flash fiction by reading at fifty venues (coffee shops, book stores, art galleries, the Vancouver Public Library, and the Skytrain) by bicycle in one day, and in 2004, he did a ten-city, one-hundred venue reading tour across Canada. He is the author of the poetry collections Jabbering with Bing Bong, Ignite, and Hearts Amok: a memoir in verse (Anvil Press). He teaches creative writing at Vancouver Community College, and has given workshops and talks at SFU, UBC, KPU, and Douglas College.
Here’s a trailer for a book tour of BC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY0LVlF3YHo
