SUBMIT TO WEP's FIRST ANTHOLOGY - RELEASE IN 2024

 We are open

for submissions to WEP's 

First Anthology

Submissions close : 31st December 2023

Temporary cover created in Canva

Be in it!

This Anthology is the culmination of the work and collective wisdom of 13 years of enthusiasm for flash fiction.  Most of the current team have been with WEP in one role or another for the duration.

Photo by Eugenia Ai on Unsplash

Theme : Gone! Gone! Gone!

Tagline : A WEP Anthology of Flash Fiction - riveting, bite-sized shorts from around the world.

'Gone' will form the nucleus of the flash -  what's gone? Is it an object? Or a person? Maybe a time period? An emotion - hope, fear, love? Or is it a lament for what is gone from times past, or what has 'gone' from our natural environment? 

The theme can be interpreted in a million ways, to fit to any genre whether romance, paranormal, thriller, horror, historical, adventure, crime, fantasy...anything at all, it's wide open. Hmm. Let me think...

- a rainbow arches overhead representing hope, but it is transient and gone soon after

- a weapon is gone from a crime scene. 

- an heirloom engagement ring...a priceless painting, perhaps...or some secret document of worldwide importance has gone. Or maybe nothing monumental...a mundane object's gone missing with some strange ramifications - a candle, a bottle opener, a keychain, a chess piece, a scribbled list that was supposed to be under a fridge magnet, a young woman's strappy sandal, a nail. 

- a landmark building is gone, or perhaps a train, a flight, a bridge, the polar ice cap, the ozone layer, ethics in public life, the truth from news reporting, common sense or courtesies in daily life. 

- it could be a character... maybe a vampire...a war veteran... a detective...a principal... a rejected lover...a young artist... a famous chef...a passionate activist.  Someone wants them gone...Or something is gone from them.

There are endless possibilities.

The above are illustrative only and we do not expect your interpretations to be shaped by them. On the contrary, we want to see YOUR original take on this theme. Tell us YOUR unique story in YOUR own way. Creative, out-of-the-box interpretations and  crisp, polished writing is what we are looking for.  

Submission guidelines :

We are looking for standalone, complete, previously unpublished stories - not an extract of a WIP or serialized story, poetry, photo essay or opinion piece. A solid flash fiction. Any genre except erotica, maximum word count 1000. Read about how to write flash fiction here. 

We want original, well-crafted and unpublished flash fiction written to the theme in .doc or .docx  files. Please submit your flash typed in Times New Roman font 12 point size, in one and a half spacing and with US spellings throughout. Use the following as a header on the first page:

Title: Craft your own, we stress, the theme should not be used as a title.

Genre :  State the genre. All fiction genres will be accepted, except erotica. No poetry, no screenplay/plays, no photo essays.

Tagline : A tagline for your flash should sum what the story is about in one sentence. Place it at the end of your story.

Wordcount : Max 1000.

Author name :

Author email : 

Here is an example  of information to include in the first page header -

TITLE: Driven by Dreams

GENRE: Women’s Fiction

TAGLINE: Putting the life she never wanted behind her, Shari forges a new path to find her dreams.

WORD LENGTH: 990 words

AUTHOR: Denise Covey

AUTHOR CONTACT: den.covey@gmail.com

The title and author name must appear on each subsequent page header. Please number pages and mention total number of pages.  

Make sure to include an author bio in 100 words or less in your submission file. Have a look at this guest post by WEP at the A-Z Blogging Challenge   site for examples of 2/3 line author bios. 

Please email your submission to 

Nilanjana Bose (nilabose306b@gmail.com) 

- One submission per person only

- Multiple submissions will not be considered - we will read the first

- No simultaneous submissions to other publications please, till you hear back from us after 15th Feb.

Who can submit? 

Current members of WEP, past contributors, members and winners of RFW are eligible to submit. The winners of 2023 Challenges receive an invitation to submit, as do past hosts and winners. Submissions against invitations are subject to the same editorial selection process as unsolicited submissions, so please do not hesitate to submit if you fulfil the membership conditions and have an engaging flash that fits the theme. 

We look forward to reading your stories!

Submissions close : 31st December 2023

Editorial  process:

There is an Editorial Team of 5 - Nilanjana Bose, Nick Wilford, L.G. Keltner, Denise Covey, Yolanda Renee - whose task will be to read, discuss and shortlist entries from which the finalists will be chosen. Not all submissions will be automatically accepted. We aim to publish a high-quality eBook and print book. If your entry is accepted, you will be asked to perform further self-edits as necessary and the editorial team will do any final editing. WEP's raison d'etre is to improve writing, so the writing must be well edited and excellent overall. 

The various ideas for stories are for your guidance only, none is binding. We stress - this is YOUR story, written YOUR way in your chosen genre. The team will be reading from 1st January 2024 to mid February. The shortlisted submissions will be returned for self edits to the authors based on their feedback from 15th February, 2024 onwards. We anticipate at least two rounds of self edits going into April. 

We are tentatively planning a May 2024 book release. Check back on the site for updates on the anthology. We will keep you informed. 

Questions? Email to : nilabose306b@gmail.com  or hit the comment button below.

Nila, for: