81 Words Flash Fiction Writing Challenge
An attempt to set a World Record for the most contributing authors published in an anthology
We received our 1,000th story on 17th January 2021, so this challenge is now CLOSED
The anthology was published by Victorina Press on 20th November 2021
You can learn more about the 81 Words Flash Fiction Anthology here
All contributors have been contacted by email with updates on progress - if you have contributed a story and have not received any emails about this project, please check your spam folder - if you have any questions, please contact Chris 🙂
You can learn more about the 81 Words Flash Fiction Anthology here. The book was published by Victorina Press.
The History of the 81 Words Flash Fiction Writing Challenge
How 81 Words Started
81words.net was a flash fiction website started by Adam Rubinstein. He's a self-professed educational basket-case from the 70’s who says he finds his sense of meaning and well-being through creativity.
Adam Rubinstein, founder of 81words.net
Adam said:
"A long time ago, a few years after wasting most of my time at school, I entered a competition to write a story in 50 words. There were options for five different genres and each had a different paragraph given as the starting point. I didn't win but really enjoyed the challenge of carefully crafting words to create a beautiful jewel. Something perfect and complete in itself.
"The experience stayed with me and I thought it might be something lots of us could enjoy. An opportunity to be creative in an accessible way that isn’t too demanding on our time. So 81 words was born."
Why 81words Is Now Part of christopherfielden.com
I first became aware of 81words when Adam contacted me in January 2015 asking if his website could be added to my lists of short story and flash fiction competitions.
After creating the listing, I decided to have a go at the 81word challenge and submitted a story. It was called 'Love is Difficult for Zombies'.
Screenshot of Love is Difficult for Zombies from the 81words.net website
I then wrote about 81words in my book, How to Write a Short Story, Get Published & Make Money. I'd decided to investigate including some advice about flash fiction in the book after liaising with authors that said they struggle to find the time to write due to long working hours.
The 81 word story only took me about half-an-hour to write. I submitted it straight away and it was published within 10 minutes. I used this as a case study, to illustrate how quickly you could become a published writer by using flash fiction sites like 81words - achievable, even if you're the busiest person on the planet.
In April 2017 Adam contacted me again. He was developing a new project called Fretmeister, which was working really well. This meant he didn't have time to give 81words the attention it needed.
While Adam didn't have time to run 81words, he thought it would be a shame if it just disappeared as it had a lot of active users. He asked me if I'd like to take it on. I agreed.
There were 2 options of how to proceed:
- PLAN A: run 81words in its current form - it was largely automated, so I was hoping it wouldn't take up much time
- PLAN B: create a landing page on my site that continued what Adam had started
A few users from my email list expressed an interest in getting involved with helping me run the wesite, which was very much appreciated. Big thanks to them.
In the end, I went for PLAN B. 81words had a lot of users (about 2,500) but it didn't receive very much traffic (only around 10 visits a day).
If the traffic levels were high enough, I planned to monetise the site using Google AdSense, so the ongoing running-costs (d0main, hosting, updates etc.) were covered. That would mean users could carry on enjoying the site for free.
Unfortunately, with low traffic levels, this option wasn't financially viable, so I redirected the website onto this page and opened the 81word Writing Challenge. That meant users could still try the 81 word flash fiction writing challenge out for free and see their work published. However, I had to abandon the user voting system as the cost of installing it onto my site wasn't practical.
So, this is the new home of 81words. You can read and submit stories further down the page.
81words on Social Media
Here are links to the 81words social media profiles:
I've kept the social media profiles for 81words live. I'm not sure how much they'll get used in the future, but I thought it would be nice to keep them for the sake of history.
81words Email Addresses
81words.net used to have 2 active emails associated with it. They were:
- admin@81words.net
- info@81words.net
These emails are no longer checked and have permanent autoresponders on them. If you want to contact me about 81words, please visit my contact page.
81words Writing Challenge - Rules & How To Submit
We received our 1,000th story on 17th January 2021, so this challenge is now CLOSED
For more information, please see the note at the top of this page
The submission criteria are nice and simple:
- stories must be EXACTLY 81 words in length
- please include a title for your story (not included in the word count)
- entry is FREE
- anyone can submit
- 1 entry per person
- no profanity please - all the writing challenges on this website are shared with children
- your 81word stories will be published on this page
- when 1,000 stories have been received, we will publish an anthology and attempt to set a World Record for the most contributing authors published in an anthology
- profits from book sales will be donated to charity
- by submitting, you accept the terms and conditions
- when the anthology is published , you will be involved in the book launch process
submit your story using the comments form below or email (see my contact page)we are no longer accepting submissions to this challenge – it is closed- include a short biography (40 words max) for use in the published book – if you don't supply a bio, we will be unable to publish your story
- include 1 link (optional) to your website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc.
81word Stories
NOTE: The first 81 word story was published on this website on 24th April 2017. On 17th January 2021, the 1,000th story was published. So, it took 3 years, 8 months, 3 weeks and 3 days to fill the anthology. I'd like to thank every author who has contributed to this project for their support. For more information, please see the note at the top of this page, check my social media channels or contact me.
Below you will find all the 81word stories submitted to the 81word Writing Challenge. I hope you enjoy reading them.
To date, we have received 1,000 stories. We need 0 more to publish the anthology.
When 1,000 stories have been received, written by 1,000 different authors, an anthology will be published. It will set an unofficial World Record for the most contributing authors published in an anthology (you will learn why it’s unofficial by reading on…).
I decided to attempt this after being contacted by Allen Stroud. He sent me a link to this newspaper story regarding the world record for the 'most authors contributing to an anthology of short stories'. The current world record is 50. The attempt featured in the article is for 100. Allen pointed out that we've already published an anthology with 100 contributing authors via the Nonsense Challenge, so could already have set a new world record.
I contacted Guinness World Records about this. They accepted my application, but we have not broken the record for 2 reasons:
- The minimum word count of stories for this world record is 3,000
- Nonsense Challenge stories are 200 words max
- You have to sell 1,000 copies of the published book to get the world record
- At time of writing, we've sold 114 Nonsense Anthologies
So, in November 2017, I applied to Guinness World Records to set up a brand new record for the 'most authors contributing to an anthology of flash fiction stories'.
I heard back from Guinness World Records in January 2018. They said:
Dear Christopher Fielden
Thank you for sending us the details of your proposed record attempt for 'Most authors contributing to an anthology of flash fiction stories'.
Unfortunately, after thoroughly reviewing your application with members of our research team, we are afraid to say that we cannot accept your proposal as a Guinness World Records title.
Our team of expert Records Managers receive thousands of new record proposals every year from all over the world which are carefully assessed to establish if they meet our stringent criteria. Every record verified by Guinness World Records must be measurable by a single superlative, verifiable, standardisable, breakable and also present an element of skill.
Whilst we appreciate this is not the decision you hoped for, we trust that you will understand our decision. You may want to consider these record titles as alternatives:
- Most authors contributing to an anthology of short stories
- Largest writing competition
For information on what makes a record, we would advise before submitting an application to visit http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records/what-makes-a-guinness-world-records-record-title. This page will provide you with helpful information if you are thinking about breaking or setting a record.
Once again thank you for contacting Guinness World Records.
Kind regards, Records Management Team
Please be aware that as your record application has not been accepted, Guinness World Records is not associated with the activity relating to your record proposal and does not endorse this activity in any way. If you choose to proceed, then this is will be of your own volition and at your own risk. Guinness World Records will not monitor, measure or verify this activity.
Obviously, this response was disappointing. Still, I contacted them again for further clarification, to see if they can give more information about why the record was rejected and if anything can be changed to make it acceptable.
Here is a copy of my message:
Hi. Thanks for letting me know my record application (171122151758mact) was rejected. Please could you clarify why? I am happy to make amendments so it acceptable to you. So far as I can see, the record is measurable by a single superlative (professionally presented book released by an established publisher), verifiable (physical book containing details of all contributors, plus verification by publishing professionals), standardisable (flash fiction - same as short story record, but less than 1,000 words), breakable (get a higher number of contributing authors) and also present an element of skill (flash fiction writing). Any guidance you can give as to which criteria I'm not meeting and why would be very much appreciated. Thanks for your time, Chris
I heard back from Guinness in February. Mark, my account manager, said:
Hi Christopher,
We are unable to standardise the writing of a story. Due to the subjective nature of what constitutes a story, a record based on this concept would be difficult to compare across attempts. Similar records have been marked as being researched while a review is being conducted.
I wrote back in February saying:
Hi Mark
Thanks for your response.
I agree, what constitutes a story is subjective.
However, as the record is primarily to do with the number of contributing authors (if someone else publishes more, the record could be broken, so it's easy to measure), and there is already a record in the same format for short stories, please would you reconsider? The only difference is the word count limit - flash fiction under 1,000 words, instead of short stories of 3,000 to 8,000 words. It just seems odd to reject this application for the reasons you stated when there is already another record for short stories in a similar format.
From your comments, I guess you might be reviewing that record category anyway. If that's the case, I understand your reasons.
Thanks for your time and assistance on this - it's much appreciated. If the answer is still 'no', I promise not to hassle you again 🙂
Cheers, Chris
Mark write back to me at the end of February, saying:
HI Christopher,
The short story version of this record is under review and may be terminated. For this reason we will not be opening any more records of this type.
Thank you for your understanding on this matter.
I wrote back and said:
Hi Mark.
OK, that's a shame, but thanks for letting me know. Much appreciated.
Cheers, Chris
As you can see, that means records related to creativity are being reviewed as they are subjective. It's a shame, but I understand Guinness's reasons.
So, the question was: What to do next...?
I had some other ideas about how to proceed. At the very least, we decided to publish the book as an 'unofficial world record' and publicize it as best we could.
After reading all of the above, Saskia Ashby sent me the following message and certificate:
Hi Christopher,
Here is your certificate (unofficial),
For polite persistence,
In the face of steadfast yet inconsistent,
Refusals from the Record Book officials,
To gain official recognition,
For 81 words,
Being an anthology with 1,000 contributors.
I thought I'd publish it here as it's always nice to receive this kind support. It also makes for stellar proof that an unofficial world record is just as important as an official one 🙂
On Sunday 17th January 2021, an author called Anna Capstick submitted the 1,000th 81 word story.
In June 2021, Victorina Press (VP), an independent publisher from the UK, agreed to publish the 81 Words Anthology. VP follow the principles of bibliodiversity, making this the perfect project for them. I'd like to thank the managing director, Consuelo Rivera-Fuentes, for agreeing to support the project. This will help add credibility to the unofficial world record attempt and also helps every author in the book gain more exposure.
The book was then prepared for publication, in print and eBook formats.
The 81 Words Flash Fiction Anthology - 1,000 Stories by 1,000 Authors was officially released on 20th November 2021. In 2022, the book won a Saboteur Award and was also recognised as a world record breaking book by the World Record Academy. You can learn more about the anothology here.
If you have any questions about the project, please contact contact Chris.
The Charity the 81 Words Challenge Supports
The 81 words challenge is supporting the Arkbound Foundation, a charity that aims to widen access to literature and improve diversity within the media industry.
I was one of the founding trustees of the Arkbound Foundation. I'm no longer a trustee, but continue to work closely with the charity. They plan to use money donated via this challenge to finance more creative writing projects in the UK for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Read The 81 Words Stories
The 81 word stories received to date are published in the order they're received.
In January 2018, this page had become over 25,000 words in length. The software I use to update the website is a tad archaic and couldn't cope with it, so my computer kept crashing. To stop this from happening, I've published stories in batches of 100 on separate pages.
They can be found here:
- Stories 1 to 100 can be read here
- Stories 101 to 200 can be read here
- Stories 201 to 300 can be read here
- Stories 301 to 400 can be read here
- Stories 401 to 500 can be read here
- Stories 501 to 600 can be read here
- Stories 601 to 700 can be read here
- Stories 701 to 800 can be read here
- Stories 801 to 900 can be read here
- Stories 901 to 1,000 can be read here
We received our 1,000th story in January 2021
The 81 Word Challenge is now CLOSED to submissions
Below are a small handful of the 81 word stories, just so some inspirational examples remain on this page.
Story 001:
ONE PREVIOUS OWNER
by Christopher Fielden
For sale. One dragon. Name: Fire Bringer. Temperament: challenging. Food: meat, vast quantities of, raw, alive, preferably screaming.
As name suggests, Fire Bringer does breathe fire. Said fire will melt anything, including High Tensile Steel and titanium.
Chain and collar included, although not effective (see notes regarding breath).
Likes long flights, smiting, riddles, treasure and things that twinkle.
Perfect pet for megalomaniac who wishes to take over the world. Large cave essential, best located remotely in extinct volcano.
Open to offers.
Story 004:
REMEMBER EIGHTY-ONE?
by Allen Ashley
Yes, I remember eighty-one. A year of strife. The transport system in meltdown. Workers and management at loggerheads. Fears about automation in the workplace leading to further job losses. Poor air quality. Urban health scares. Governments considering land grabs and ready to send in an army at any provocation. The media finding convenient foreign scapegoats. Nobody seemed to be sticking up for the ordinary working man. Or woman.
Why have I not mentioned Thatcher?
I was talking about 2081. And 1881…
Story 79:
FACES
by Vichar Lochan
I’ve heard that your brain can’t create faces by itself. So all your dreams are of faces that you vaguely remember, faces you’ve seen before, in the crowd, on the subway, in a restaurant – the most mundane, the most normal of faces.
But then there are the monsters, the stuff of your nightmares – tentacled, slimy sea-serpents, giant, curiously deformed, eerily human-like figures, the hulking mass that somehow terrifies you more than anything else.
Where have you seen those faces, I wonder?
Story 116:
MORTON’S TOE
by Mike Scott Thomson
I was having a miserable day at the surgery when Dr Pod mentioned in passing, “Saw this guy’s foot just now, and guess what? Every toe was a Morton.”
I told him not to be ridiculous. How can each toe be the longest one?
Then I thought, Well, is it not our calling to consider such apparent implausibilities?
As I mulled it over, the fury ebbed away.
The question became my One Hand Clapping.
Feeling positively Zen, now.
Cheers, Dr Pod.
Story 152:
THE CHICKEN AND THE PINEAPPLE
by Alice Payne
Once upon a time there was a pineapple. Then a chicken found it and stuffed his face until he was very fat.
Full of pineapple, the chicken needed to rest his stomach. He went off for a little snooze in the bamboo hutch he had built.
While he was asleep, a hunter stalked up to his little bamboo hutch and stole away the chicken.
Sadly, the hunter drowned in the river and the chicken broke free and lived happily ever after.
Story 154:
SIRENS
by Harriet Payne
The sound of sirens, that was the start to all of this. I had been with my parents at the time, going about my daily chores. It was then that I heard the sirens.
We all rushed out to the shelter and grabbed our gas masks. I could see fear etched onto my parents’ faces as we huddled together.
Crashes echoed through the streets of London… then all fell silent. We climbed out of the shelter, and saw nothing but rubble.
