Game ON! Get Writing!

 Thanks to J.L. Jackson for coming up with this month's story idea!

You should now write 1,000 words or less on "CAMPING TRIP GONE WRONG."  Make sure it's for a YA audience!

 There are two ways to enter your story:

-If you have a personal blog, post the story there and email at (karlykirkpatrick@gmail.com) me the title and the link. Be sure to write (FLASH LINK) in the subject.

-If you don't have a personal blog, email me at (karlykirkpatrick@gmail.com) the entire story and I will post it here. Be sure to write (FLASH STORY) in the subject.

*To be eligible to participate as a YA Flash Death Match contestant, one must follow this blog in addition to following Karly Kirkpatrick and Michelle Sussman on either Facebook, Twitter, or our personal blogs. See the Details and Rules page for links! These rules will also be posted there for future reference.

stories/links are due to me no later than Sunday, September 19th at noon CST.


Voting will take place starting Monday, September 20th through Sunday, September 26th.

YA Flash's New Format!

After some careful consideration, I've decided to make some changes to how YA Flash Death Match operates, as well as up the ante on the prize. The goal of this site was to give unpublished YA writers a chance to be seen and read by others. Our first two Death Matches provided us with some great fiction, but I feel like we can do more.

With the new YA Flash Death Match, each month instead of being a contest between two writers, I'm turning into a Brawl for All. All of you can compete, every month. You may be in a Death Match between 3 writers or 20. Each month, you will have a week to suggest topics, a week to write your 1000 word or less YA flash fiction piece, and a week to vote.  Please note, you do not need to suggest a topic to participate. 


There are two ways to enter your story:

-If you have a personal blog, post the story there and email at (karlykirkpatrick@gmail.com) me the title and the link.  Be sure to write (FLASH LINK) in the subject.

-If you don't have a personal blog, email me at (karlykirkpatrick@gmail.com) the entire story and I will post it here.  Be sure to write (FLASH STORY) in the subject.


Once the stories are posted, anyone can vote, once, for the best flash. The story with the most comments is the big winner! Anonymous voters will NOT be counted. You can compete every month if you like. There will be no limits.

The winner will receive an invitation to be published in the YA Flash Death Match Anthology, to be published in ebook format after we complete one year of competitions. The anthology will contain the winners from July 2010 - June 2011. We will also choose some of our favorites from throughout the year to round out the anthology.

Our first two winners, Genevieve Ching and Beth Ford already have their spot.  Are you ready to win yours?

*To be eligible to make a topic suggestion or participate as a YA Flash Death Match contestant, one must follow this blog in addition to following Karly Kirkpatrick and Michelle Sussman on either Facebook, Twitter, or our personal blogs.  See the Details and Rules page for links!  These rules will also be posted there for future reference.

And so, my friends, let the games begin.  Tell a friend, tell 10 friends.  Let's make this the best YA Flash Fiction site on the web.

Post your story/scene ideas below.

You have until Sunday, September 12th at noon CST to throw your idea into the ring.

The writing will commence Monday, September 13th and stories/links are due to me no later than Sunday, September 19th at noon CST.

Voting will take place starting Monday, September 20th through Sunday, September 26th.

Good luck and happy writing!

Shaking Up the Death Match!!!

Our first YA Flash Death Match was a great success - far beyond our expectations. In fact, so many people emailed us saying how bummed they were that they didn't get chosen to raise their pens and fight that we've decided to make the competition more about the writing and less about the hype.

While we will still be offering prizes from awesome authors and interviewing them on occasion, Karly & I want to know more about you guys and your writing! So, here's the new schedule - and it's all about you!

Monday, August 1st - open to suggestions for topics
Thursday, August 5th - NOON - topic & writers chosen
Wednesday, August 11th - flash fiction posted, voting opens
Friday, August 13th - MIDNIGHT - voting ends
Monday, August 16th - Winner announced and topics open AGAIN!
Thursday, August 19th - NOON - topic & writers chosen
Wednesday, August 25th - flash fiction posted, voting opens
Friday, August 27th - MIDNIGHT - voting ends

Yes, we are hosting two competitions in ONE MONTH! So start brainstorming and get ready for another round of YA Flash Death Match!!!

Winners for the First Death Match

Congrats to G.P. Ching - Winner of the First YA Flash Death Match!

As our grand prize winner, G.P. will receive a signed copy of Thief by Sarah-Jane LeHoux and a YA Flash Death Match blog award!!! She will also receive a critique of the first five pages of a manuscript and query letter! Congrats G.P.!

Our runner-up, James C. Wallace II, will receive a signed copy of Panthan's Crucible by Meredith Shea Woods. Congrats James!

We also have three lucky winners for a Mistwood prize pack. Our randomly chosen winners are:

PJ Kaiser 

Laura Eno

Pegjet

All the winners need to contact Karly for information on how to receive their prizes!

Thanks again to everyone for participating and we'll be posting the schedule for the August edition of YA Flash Death Match this week!

Competitors, Start Your Engines!

Karly & I are proud to announce our first two YA Flash Death Match competitors (chosen by a random numbers generator at random.org)!


James C. Wallace II
and
G.P. Ching

Topic: Urban Fantasy Coming of Age contributed by:
Amanda Heroman.Congrats on winning The Espressologist, Amanda!

Samantha Rill and Kathy Fenton White were also randomly chosen to receive a Mistwood gift pack just for participating. Congrats, Samantha and Kathy!

James and G.P. are competing for the top prizes by writing a 1,000-word or less piece of flash fiction. The stories will be posted on July 21st and voting will continue through July 23rd.

We'll be giving away two more Mistwood prize packs to random voters, so make sure you come back and vote for your favorite story!!!

Let the YA Flash Death Match begin!!!

We're thrilled today to bring you the very first YA Flash Death Match!  You will have until Tuesday, July 13th at 12 noon CST to post your name and topic here.  Every person who posts a topic will be automatically entered to compete in the first YA Flash Death Match.  If you would like to contribute a topic, but would NOT like to be considered for the competition,  please start your post with 'NOT COMPETING' so we know to exclude you.

Those of you not chosen for the competition or those that are just contributing a topic, will be eligible for the 3 bookmark gift packs from Author Leah Cypess.  These three prizes, plus the winning topic and prize winner, as well as the first 2 contestants will be announced on Wednesday, July 14th.  Contestants will have until July 20th to email us their completed Flash, a piece of writing of no more than 1,000 words.  It can be a complete story OR a scene, and please be sure it's for a YA audience.

As for topics, you can enter something like 'Paranormal Romance' or even be more specific, like 'zombies riding unicorns to the grocery store.'  We're looking forward to some extremely creative writing!