2023 Prompts

2023 National Flash Fiction Day Prompts

Welcome to The Write-In! This year, we're celebrating the 2023 National Flash Fiction Day Anthology theme of time. Throughout National Flash Fiction Day, we posted one time-related prompt on the hour every hour from 00:00 until midnight (BST), for a total of 25 prompts in all.


You can earn a badge for completing prompts until 23:59 BST Sunday, 2 July 2023. These are honour-system badges that you can award yourself. Find out more on our badges page.


** Prompts: Huge thanks to Anita Goveas and Farhana Khalique for providing this prompt alongside their National Flash Fiction Day prompt workshop. If you didn't manage to snag a place this year, fear not; we'll be providing a link to the session for you to enjoy in your own time. Keep an eye on the National Flash Fiction Day news feed for details. You can find Anita at https://coffeeandpaneer.wordpress.com and @coffeeandpaneer and Farhana at www.farhanakhalique.com and @HanaKhalique.

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0: Time to Start....

Write a story involving a conversation in which no one finishes their sentences. Or, if you prefer, write a story in which you don't finish any of the sentences.

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1: Twenty-Four Seven

To celebrate our 24 hours of The Write-In, Prompt #1 is to write a 24-word flash. Give it a 7-word title, just to keep you in a flashy mood all week.

Hyphenated words count as one word. (For example, ‘twenty-four hour clock’ would count as three words.)

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2: Period!?

Write a flash that does not use a full stop or period as a punctuation mark. You can use any other end punctuation you like, or none at all, as long as you avoid the '.' mark.


What about ellipses you ask? Oh, sneaky. Go on then. If you must.

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3: Third Time’s a Charm

Write a piece in which you have three sets of three repeated lines or phrases. How you structure the piece is up to you, as long as you include three things that are each repeated three times.

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4: Time Travel **

You’ve travelled through time and encounter a younger version of yourself. You want to leave them an anonymous note. What life lesson would you share? Feel free to write from the point of view of yourself or a fictional character, whichever you prefer.

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5 Split Second

Write a triptych (three flashes meant to be read together) or a three-part flash (one flash made of three distinct parts) where each section takes place in the same moment of time. Maybe each section is written from the point of view of a different character, or maybe it's the same character or situation, but things are a little different in each telling.


We appreciate it's tricky to write a triptych in 300 words, so if you're writing a triptych, you can have up to 150 words per section (450 words total).

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6: Time will tell....

Write a flash in the form of a daily planner page, a weekly to-do list spread, or a timetable. (If you use visual elements, feel free to send us an image of your piece.)

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7: Once upon a time....

Write a version of a traditional fairy tale, folk story or fable, but set it in more modern times. What would be the same? What would be different? Feel free to interpret and play!

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8: No Time Like The Present

Write a flash set at least 100 years in the past, but write it in the present tense, as if it the story is unfolding right now. (Bonus points for each century back you dare to go!)

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9: Roll Back the Clock

Write a story in which the action happens backwards, e.g. you move farther back in time as the story progresses. Each sentence or each paragraph (your choice) should describe events that happen earlier in time than than the one before.

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10: Desperate Times **

Write about a moment where you were afraid to do something but did it anyway. You are welcome to write about yourself or a fictional character.

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11: Just a Moment....

Write a 'breathless paragraph' flash where the whole story takes place in just one moment. This could be right before, right after, or right as something happens. It's fine to allude to things that have happened or will happen, but the story itself must take place in the moment.


A 'breathless paragraph' is a flash that is written in one paragraph. It often is written as one big, long run-on sentence, or with no punctuation at all.

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12: Sands of Time

To celebrate the launch of our 2023 Anthology, Prompt #12 takes its inspiration from the cover art and the 100-word limit of our annual microfiction competition (published within). Write a flash of exactly 100 words that uses the phrase 'sands of time' somewhere within the story (and not the title). You can make the story 100 words exactly with or without the title included in the word count.

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13: Time Out!

For this prompt we're borrowing inspiration from the Oulipo tradition, and trying our hands at some constrained writing.

Try writing a short piece without using the letters T, I, M or E.

(If you're having trouble getting started, you may wish to consider experimenting with writing in the second person....)

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14: In the Foreseeable Future

Write a flash completely in the future tense.

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15: Time is of the Essence

In this prompt, it’s time to loosen up, let your hair down, and embrace the cliché!


Find a time-related idiom or phrase and use that as the title for your piece, and feel free to use every cliché, idiom, or well-worn phrase you can think of. Feel free to get silly.


It’s not required, but bonus points are available if you do so in the context of a genre piece.... Maybe it’s a whodunnit called ‘Killing Time’, a Western called ‘Spur of the Moment’, a courtroom drama called ‘Just in Time’, a space opera called ‘Once in a Blue Moon’, or a comedy called ‘A Laugh a Minute’. (Feel free to use these if you like, or come up with your own.)

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16: Show Time **

Write a story in the form of a film trailer. You can focus just on the text of the trailer, or if you wish, you can intersperse descriptions of the images that would display alongside your text.

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17: Happy Hour

Write a flash with a joyful, happy ending.

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18: Off Season

Write a flash that takes place at a location during an off season. Perhaps it's a seaside resort in the winter, a ski slope during a summer heat wave, or a children's theme park during term-time. Whatever the case, try to make the location and the off-seasonness feature prominently in your story.

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19: Time Warp!

Write a flash in which time doesn't pass in the expected way. This can be due to a character's perception, supernatural forces, a scientific rational (realistic or otherwise), for a reason unexplained, or for whatever reason you might imagine. Feel free to explore science fiction, fantasy, dreams, surrealism, magical realism if you like, or stick to the every-day world...whatever you prefer.

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20: Keeping the Minutes… **

Write a flash in the form of minutes from a meeting. This could be a business/work meeting, or a meeting for which minutes would not normally be taken. Feel free to have fun!

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21: It's Different Every Time

Write a story of at least 100 words in which you do not use any word more than one time. And yes, this includes words like 'I', 'he', 'it', 'the', 'and', and 'is', etc.!

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22: There's a First Time for Everything **

Write about your first time doing something. You can write from the point of view of yourself or a fictional character.

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23: Countdown

We're nearing the end; only one more prompt to go after this. In anticipation, this prompt is all about anticipating the end. Write a flash that involves a countdown. If you can, weave the countdown throughout the story to build the tension or up the stakes.

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24: Time to Call it a Night

To finish off our 2023 prompts, we invite you to write a story of 50 words or fewer about some sort of ending. Make sure you include a title for your piece.

The title does not count towards the word count. Hyphenated words count as one word. For example, ‘five-o’clock shadow’ would count as two words.

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