AVERIL ROBERTSON

Delighted to be shortlisted in this competition. The theme was wide open, up to 3000 words, so I went with a quirky but sad piece, ‘Like Old Times’.

Interestingly, I originally wrote this story as a 2000-word piece for a different competition, but that word count wasn’t enough to do full justice to the character arc. At 3000 words, I could take the character where I needed her to go, which fitted with the brief of “strong characters, a well-crafted plot and realistic dialogue (where used). Make us laugh, make us cry, but most of all, make us feel!”

One of the special aspects of being shortlisted for this competition is it is a global playing field. I had to make decisions about colloquialisms and vernacular relating to the setting because I knew the judges were likely based in the UK. While it didn’t actually have a huge impact on what I wrote, it gave me an extra little aspect to consider, rather than being able to rely on a certain level of antipodean knowledge.

Flash 500 also runs a quarterly flash fiction competition, plus a competition focused on the opening to a novel.