NFFD 2026 Prompt #3: What the River Knows

 

Prompt #3: What the River Knows

Welcome to The Write-In!  This year, we're celebrating the 2026 National Flash Fiction Day Anthology theme of Bridges. Throughout National Flash Fiction Day, we'll be posting one prompt every hours from 00:00 until midnight (BST), for a total of 25 prompts in all.  You have until 23:59 BST on Sunday to submit your responses for possible publication here at the Write-In over the course of the next week.

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Write a flash from an unusual point of view, one that is neither human nor animal. You might consider writing from the point of view of a bridge, a stretch of river, a piece of salvage, a tide, a building watching people cross below it.

To make this prompt extra challenging, your narrator should not be omniscient. They should only know what they can directly observe or have directly experienced.

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If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 3: What the River Knows.

You can submit responses until 23:59 BST on Sunday, 14 June 2026 for a chance to be published here at The Write-In.

You can claim the badge for this prompt by visiting our badges page.

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Image by Abel's Shots via Unsplash.

NFFD 2026 Prompt #2: The Arch

 

Prompt #2: The Arch

Welcome to The Write-In!  This year, we're celebrating the 2026 National Flash Fiction Day Anthology theme of Bridges. Throughout National Flash Fiction Day, we'll be posting one prompt every hours from 00:00 until midnight (BST), for a total of 25 prompts in all.  You have until 23:59 BST on Sunday to submit your responses for possible publication here at the Write-In over the course of the next week.

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Write a flash of no more than 100 words that starts and ends with the same sentence. The opening and closing sentence should feel different in meaning by the time we return to it. 

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If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 2: The Arch.

You can submit responses until 23:59 BST on Sunday, 14 June 2026 for a chance to be published here at The Write-In.

You can claim the badge for this prompt by visiting our badges page.

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Image by Lovely Ruby via pexels.

NFFD 2026 Prompt #1: Mudlarking

 

 Prompt #1: Mudlarking

Welcome to The Write-In!  This year, we're celebrating the 2026 National Flash Fiction Day Anthology theme of Bridges. Throughout National Flash Fiction Day, we'll be posting one prompt every hours from 00:00 until midnight (BST), for a total of 25 prompts in all.  You have until 23:59 BST on Sunday to submit your responses for possible publication here at the Write-In over the course of the next week.

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This year's anthology is called Mudlarking, the practice of searching an exposed riverbed at low tide for objects lost, discarded, or forgotten. Mudlarks find Roman coins, Victorian clay pipes, Tudor shoes, wartime buttons. The river gives things back, eventually, on its own schedule.

Write a flash in which the past surfaces unexpectedly. It does not have to involve a river or a physical item, but use the image as inspiration in some way.

To make this prompt extra challenging, avoid the following: a deathbed revelation, a found will or letter, a character discovering they were adopted, cancer, dementia, and ghosts.

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If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 1: Mudlarking

You can submit responses until 23:59 BST on Sunday, 14 June 2026 for a chance to be published here at The Write-In.

You can claim the badge for this prompt by visiting our badges page.

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Artwork by Joanna Campbell.

NFFD 2026 Prompt #0: Water Under the Bridge

 Prompt #0: Water Under the Bridge

Welcome to The Write-In!  This year, we're celebrating the 2026 National Flash Fiction Day Anthology theme of Bridges. Throughout National Flash Fiction Day, we'll be posting one prompt every hours from 00:00 until midnight (BST), for a total of 25 prompts in all.  You have until 23:59 BST on Sunday to submit your responses for possible publication here at the Write-In over the course of the next week.

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To kick off our series of hourly prompts, write a flash about forgiveness or reconciliation.  Use water in your story in some way, but do not use the phrase 'water under the bridge'.  

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If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 0: Water Under the Bridge.

You can submit responses until 23:59 BST on Sunday, 14 June 2026 for a chance to be published here at The Write-In.

You can claim the badge for this prompt by visiting our badges page.

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Photograph by  Gu Bra via pexels.