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FICTION POTLUCK
January Challenge:
About an Egg
up to 5,000 words
Deadline: February 20
Find submission links below the rules
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A Tip from Madelyn:
Your story could be speculative, historical, humorous. The sky (or the shell?) is the limit—anything from well-observed mundane to the bizarre. Perhaps throw in an unreliable narrator for an added twist! Carefully consider your narrative arc: what's changing over the course of the story?
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Prizes!
This quarter is officially sponsored by Duotrope; the first place winner of this quarter's challenge receives Duotrope service for free for two years (valued at $100)!
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Submission links are below the submissions guidelines.
One entry per person.
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Read past winners here:
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January Guest Judge
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Madelyn Postman​
Madelyn Postman writes literary and some speculative
short stories that link memoir with the intergenerational tales of her family: Chinese and Eastern European Jewish immigrants to California. Her work features in the inaugural Hope Prize anthology, published by Simon & Schuster Australia, as well as in the Oxford Flash Fiction Prize anthology and in Livina Press. She is American and lives near London with her husband and two teenage children. You can find her on Instagram and X as @the16stories and at madelynpostman.com.
The Basics
Fiction Potluck is free to enter and open to fiction writers of all ages around the world. One entry per person per challenge.
Submissions are accepted through Dropbox, Duosuma, and email (submissions [at] writersworkout.net).
Submissions are accepted six weeks at a time, starting in January, April, July, and October. The challenge and guest judge will change each open period. The guest judge picks the challenge—we never know what we'll get!
The selection team reads all entries that follow the submissions guidelines as explained below. Entries are read blind. The team chooses the finalists and contacts everyone.
Finalist author names and bios are posted on this page and announced in our monthly mailer.
The guest judge reads the finalist pieces and chooses three winners. Each of the three winning pieces is published on our blog and linked through this page. Winning entries will be published as received.
The Writer's Workout is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit run by volunteers.
We provide accessible, free creative writing education through competitions, workshops, and publication opportunities. Check our donations page to learn more about how The Writer's Workout strengthens the global writing community.
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General Rules
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All entries must be in English and original works of fiction.
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One entry per person per challenge.
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The competition runs on UTC time, beginning and ending at midnight.
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You must keep your entry private until after we post the top three winning stories.
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The judges' decisions are final.
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The judges will contact everyone who includes the Title Information listed below.
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The judges cannot provide feedback for every piece submitted.
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Winning entries will be published as received.
The following are not accepted:​
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Simultaneous submissions (sorry, it's for anonymity. You'll know within 10 days of closure if you can sub somewhere else!)
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Previously published works (see above)
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AI-generated content
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Fanfiction, erotica, religious, or political content
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Pieces longer than the word count limit
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Pieces submitted outside the competition month
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Pieces submitted in .pdf or pasted into the body of the email
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Pieces without the correct Title Information (below) will be rejected unread.
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Submissions
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January: up to 5,000 words
Keep formatting professional. You can find recommended settings on the submissions page.
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Entries must include this Title Information in this order at the top of the document body, aligned left:
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Name or Pseudonym, email
Entry Title
Fiction Potluck
Word Count
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Accepted file types: .doc, .docx, .odt
Live, unlocked Google Docs or Microsoft Word links are accepted via email (submissions [at] writersworkout.net). We must be able to download your file. We will not request access and we are not responsible for locked docs.
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Rights
Your submission grants The Writer's Workout (WW) exclusive electronic rights for 90 days. WW reserves non-exclusive rights to digitally publish winning entries indefinitely. Winning pieces will be published as received.
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Seth Cupery
Seth is a freelance writer and editor with a bachelor’s degree in the humanities and a history minor, hoping to help other writers improve and find their audience. Born and raised in rural Wisconsin, Seth still tries to learn as much as he can about the wider world so that he can better understand the people he shares a planet with. He enjoys works of fiction, historical facts, weird information from around the globe, and a well-drawn illustration or map.
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Theresa Green (emergency only)
Theresa is a co-founder of The Writer's Workout, a crime fiction writer, and the editor at Premier Literary Services.
premierliterary.com
Cassell Presnell
Cassell is an undergraduate studying creative writing, rhetoric, and psychology. In addition to being a full-time student and writing consultant, she’s a fantasy writer and wannabe poet. Every free moment of her day is spent writing, reading, or playing with her little black kitten, Mosi—he rather enjoys watching people type! Cassell also enjoys teaching and helping others, which led her here, and will inevitably lead her to law school in the near future.
Josie Queen
Josie writes short stories in a variety of genres, but tends to gravitate towards horror. Her TBR pile is slowly taking over the small house she shares with her husband, 13-year-old, and their cranky 9-year-old cat. She's working on a rewrite of a middle-grade fantasy novel, but is so intent on procrastinating, she recently went and adopted a puppy.
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Be our guest!
Do you have a big release coming soon? Spread the word by being a guest judge.
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