The Briefly Write Prompt Game aims to inspire bold, succinct micro fiction and poetry.
Every Wednesday, we will provide a brief prompt to inspire your boldest prose or verse. The prompts will be released on Twitter (via @BrieflyWrite) and right here on the website.
Your creation can take any form and any style. The prompts can (and should) be interpreted loosely.
A huge thank you to everyone who submitted to our inaugural micro competition. We received 116 entries and thoroughly enjoyed reading all of them. Entries were read anonymously by a panel of four judges.
We were treated to an inspiring mix of discoveries: everything from witches, treasure hunters, weddings, gods and new books to space, presents, mirrors, moons and murderers.
After many hours of deliberation, we are delighted to reveal that the winner is Rebecca Kinnarney. Rebecca’s story stood out for its humour, clever construction and inventive take on the theme.
The following writers made the shortlist: Laura Besley, Mandira Pattnaik, William Davis, Jessica Klimesh, Ruth Callaghan do Valle, Susy Churchill, Linda Sejung Park, Rita Lazaro and Gunnar De Winter. They all managed to tell a full story in ten words, hiding layers of meaning beneath the surface.
You can read our 10 selected stories below.
10th January. One mince pie left. It must be love.
Rebecca Kinnarney
Letters unearthed. “Dad’s dead, you said.” “Sorry, love” Mum whispered.
Laura Besley
Childhood friend. Shared bed, dreams. Got married. Discovered a stranger.
Mandira Pattnaik
we sailed amongst the unnamed latitudes trading words for home
William Davis
Fumble for glasses, lamp. Open door to crickets singing summer.
Jessica Klimesh
Explorar: Explore / Exploit – An isthmus in ink – In Brazil landlessness
Ruth Callaghan do Valle
He emptied drawers, dispatched belongings. Every space revealed her face.
Susy Churchill
In bulging bags of homemade food, I found her heart.
Linda Sejung Park
Blue Light. Human gone. Empty bowl. Cat affronted. Now alone.
Rita Lazaro
“Look,” said grandfather, “endless worlds await.” He opened the book.
Gunnar De Winter
Briefly Zine is a literary journal seeking bold, succinct writing and photography. We publish writers and photographers from the UK and around the world.
We are open for Issue 10 submissions until 15 February 2023.
We’re looking for:
Writing that blurs genres (prose poems, poetic prose, etc.) is welcome.
Our response time can be anywhere up to two months. If you haven’t heard back after six weeks, feel free to send us a gentle nudge to check we received your submission.
There is no submission fee. There will never be a submission fee. Art belongs to everyone and financial barriers should not stop people sharing their work.
That said, there are costs involved in running a literary journal. If you would like to support Briefly, please consider making a small donation. We offer expedited responses starting from only £3.
By submitting to Briefly Zine, you are granting us first electronic rights. Copyright reverts to the author upon publication.
Get a faster response and support our little literary space from just £3…
Starting from Issue 10, getting an expedited response from Briefly Zine is cheaper than ever before!
Donate £3 or more on our Ko-fi page to get a one-week guaranteed reply.
Submit your photography, poetry or prose in the normal way, mentioning in your email that you have donated.
Please note: We select our favourite writing and photography; whether or not you donate will have no impact on the outcome of your submission. We do, however, greatly appreciate any support. Every penny we receive goes directly to running Briefly Write.
Please send up to 3 images (attached as JPEG files) in an email to submissions@brieflywrite.com
All work must be your own. We are looking for original and unpublished photographs only.
We want creative, thoughtful and thought-provoking images. Photos of people or pets are unlikely to be accepted. Any images that discriminate against a particular group will not be considered.
In the body of your email, please include a short third-person bio. You can also add links to your website/social media, which we would be happy to promote.
We respond to photography submissions within two months, probably sooner. If you haven’t heard back after this time, please contact us to check your email hasn’t gone astray.
Unfortunately, we cannot pay contributors at this time. We will, however, promote you and your work through social media.
You retain the rights to your image(s).
Briefly Write 