Heads up about a common mistake in flash fiction contests

I keep seeing entries where the twist ending is telegraphed three paragraphs earlier because the author uses the same specific detail twice, and it cost me first place at the Twin Cities Writers Fest last spring so please double-check your clues before you submit.

2 comments

2 Comments

terryallen1mo ago

Three hours of the fest deadline or before you submitted?

gavinp441mo ago

Wait, did you really submit three hours before the deadline or three hours after it passed, @terryallen? Because if it was after, man, that's a whole different kind of panic. I remember one time I was staring at the "submit" button with like five minutes left, sweating and refreshing the page like it would magically fix my typos. Three hours sounds like a luxury, honestly, unless you meant you were three hours late and just hoped nobody noticed. Either way, you're braver than me for even showing up that close to the wire.