FalWriting's Love Stories: Enter our 500-Word Love Story Contest

To celebrate the potential of love to inspire and challenge us, this year FalWriting is hosting a 500-words Love Story contest. We look forward to reading your submissions, but first let us explain what we are waiting for:

What do we want to see in these love stories?

  1. Go beyond cliché: We are not looking for stories about romance unless they challenge the trope of a romance story or are exploring romance stories from communities not regularly featured in pop culture romance. If you are telling a romantic story that is rarely seen or read, we want to read it! As an example, read The Earth Bears Witness which we published last year or take a look at The New York Times column on Modern Love.

  2. Don’t put love in a corner: We want to read stories about love but outside of romance too. The love between friends, between grandmother and grandchild, between neighbours, between starlings in a murmuration, between dew and the flower, etc. Surprise us by showing us unusual places where love is, was or will be.

  3. It’s all in the writing: Show us what you can do with the most moving, well written and illuminating story we’ve read so far.

How to enter the contest?

  •  Send your story by email to Sherezade Garcia Rangel deadline 5pm on Tuesday March 31st. On the subject line please include: Love Story Contest Entry by (Your Name).

  • Don’t include your name in the document itself

  • Submissions should be in .doc or .pdf

  • Word count: 500 words max

  • All submissions should be double spaced, 12pt  and in a plain serif font such as Garamond, Georgia or Times New Roman

  • Use single quotation marks for dialogue

  • Use single space between sentences

  • Include a short, 30 words bio

Shortlisted stories will be read on a showcase, details of which will be confirmed soon. The winner will be announced on the same showcase. Current students and SOWJ alumni are eligible to apply. The winner and the shortlisted writers will be published in FalWriting and on a special audio episode on Love Stories.

Entries will be judged by Guillemont’s Founder and Editor, Dr Luke Thompson, FalWriting’s Managing Editor Dr Sherezade Garcia and Night Wanderers and Infinite Sky author Chelsey Flood.

by FalWriting

alumni, community, Creative Writing, events, literature, MA Professional Writing, writingSherezade Garcia RangelCreative Writing, falwriting, The Lighthouse, student writing, alumni, writing community, writing, writing competitions, love story, love, LGBTQ