October 6, 2024
Knocklyon Literary Festival. Flash Fiction Competition
I was honoured to be asked by the chairperson of the Knocklyon Literary Festival, Carolann Copland, to be the judge of the inaugaural festival's Flash Fiction Competition.
Below is my report. The prizegiving ceremony in Ballyboden St Enda's GAA Clubhouse on Friday 4th October was a marvellous event with writers who had been shortlisted travelling from as far afield as Ennis to attend. A huge congratulations to all who entered and, most especially, to those shortlisted and the three prizewinners.
The prizewiinners read their flash fiction pieces at the award ceremony and this was followed by an Open Mic session where some of the shortlisted stories were read by their authors. Such a treat!
Judge’s Report on Flash Fiction Competition of Knocklyon Literary Festival 2024
Flash fiction is a ‘short short story.’ A hard definition of the genre is virtually impossible. The word count can vary from a small number (Hemingway’s infamous six-word story) of words up to 1,000. In this competition, the first Knocklyon Literary Festival Flash Fiction competition, the maximum number of words was set at 500.
In China, it’s called a ‘Minute-Story’ or a ‘Smoke-Long Story’ where it promises to let the reader relish the sights and sounds of an entire make-believe world before he/she has the time to finish a cigarette. In the last 25 years, flash fiction has become a legitimate genre of creative writing. Making use of tools such as erasure, ambiguity and implication, it has re-invented how we tell a story.
We were delighted to receive a wide range of highly accomplished, well-written and sometimes wonderful stories where make-believe worlds were created convincingly. I read intriguing stories about smashed Christmas angels, swingers’ clubs, a daughter who wanted to grow up to be a tooth fairy, an online haunted therapy session and a talking reflective mirror and one encompassing an answering machine. There was beautiful lyrical language used in the description of the transformation of a garden, fantastic humour in the dialogue of a couple discussing which actors would play them in a movie of their lives and a piece about extraordinary kindness shown to an unfortunate animal. There was emotion and poignancy in the story of a child who was cruelly stripped of her much-loved piano and an intriguing piece about secrets between lovers.
I loved the fact that there was such variety in the forms of the stories also. We had clever stories devised as a list, two as a piece of dialogue, one as what perhaps could be alternatively described as a prose poem and one as a prayer from a 12-year old following the death of her father. There were extraordinary slices of life; a near love story set in our local SuperValu, one about an identical sister who caused havoc, one that happened in a split second while a woman was talking. We had the point of view of a child in a bookie shop, and the transformation of a young woman in a bar. And these were all stories that did not make the shortlist. So, it gives you some idea of the really difficult task I had in selecting first a shortlist and then an eventual winner.
If your story wasn’t in the shortlist or one of the eventual winners, please don’t be disheartened. In the past I have not been placed in a competition with a particular piece, only for me to then tinker around with it, polish it up and send it somewhere else and, lo and behold, this time someone likes it! Sometimes, it’s a hair’s breadth between a piece making it through and getting the dreaded ‘rejection.’ So please, everyone who entered, keep writing!
Shortlist (in no particular order)
A Pencilled Geranium for Ingenuity - Cathy de Buitleir
A Walk in the Woods - Brian Loman
How to Tame Your Bird and Gain its Trust - Doreen Duffy
Run - Fiona Carey
I Insisted - Claire O'Connor
Our Cat Often had Kittens and Daddy Always Quickly Disposed of Them - Tracie Hughes
A Flash of Colour - Susan Condon
Brushstrokes - Mary Heeran White
Within the shortlist, there was a wonderfully poignant story about a woman re-discovering her passion for art after the death of her husband. Another portrayed the lengths a mother would go to in order to get milk for her baby. A chance encounter of two cancer survivors was beautifully portrayed. Cruelty towards helpless animals was evocatively described through the eyes of the child and the luring of a Selkie from the sea was so original and enjoyable.
However, three flash fiction pieces stood for me for their use of simple but lyrical language, their unique insights and their capturing of ‘a slice of life’ but still managing to tell a huge story in less than 500 words.
In third place is a wonderfully unique story set in a prison called ‘A Pencilled Geranium for Ingenuity’ written by Cathy de Buitleir.
In second place is a touching dialogue between father and son called ‘A Walk in the Woods’ written by Brian Loman.
In first place is a story that made me stop in my tracks. It has layers of meaning and is simply and beautifully written. Congratulations to the writer of ‘How to Tame Your Bird and Gain its Trust' written by Doreen Duffy,