Most days on Londonist, we're recommending literary events you might like to try, or reviewing London-set novels. But we rarely publish any original fiction ourselves. Thanks to some helpful prompting by a couple of readers (Adam MacLean and Narges Rashidi), we've decided to start a regular column for short pieces of fiction set in, or inspired by, London. And anyone can enter.
What we're looking for
- Your story has to be either set in London, or else draw heavy inspiration from it (e.g. astronaut stuck on Mars, but dreaming of London).
- It should be previously unpublished.
- To keep things snappy and challenging, we'll reject anything over 1,000 words, though you can be all minimalist and go for far fewer words if that works for you.
- Any genre and form welcome, from horror to romance; epistolary to monologue.
- We're only going to publish one per week, which means only the very best entries will be selected. So please don't despair if you don't get chosen.
- There's no money in it — at least initially, this is just a bit of fun, to show off your talents and see if the idea can work on Londonist. If the series is successful, we might organise prizes and stuff down the line. Who knows?
- There's no deadline for submission. The series will start as soon as we get a worthy entry, and will run indefinitely.
To enter, simply send your story to [email protected]. We'll respond to all entries, although it might take a few days if we're a bit swamped.
