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creative writing | fiction 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In search of celebration, I share some of my fiction here.

Most of my fiction falls under micro fiction (100 words or less), flash fiction (1000 words or less) and the occasional short story.

 

If you'd like to learn more, I've written about my love of these literary forms for a few writing publications:

What is Micro & Flash Fiction?

write or die tribe

How Long Should a Short Story Be?

writers edit

Folding Time & Space With Flash Fiction

neon books

Flash Fiction Collections to Dip & Dive Into

aniko press

book reviews
I'm currently an in-house book reviewer for indie-publisher Aniko Press (what do you mean you haven't checked them out? Get to it!).
 
Here are a few recent reviews of books I've particularly enjoyed:
Sadvertising: Stories From the Margins of Creativity
by Ennis Ćehić
 
Cold Enough For Snow
by Jessica Au
 
Every Day is Gertie Day
by Helen Meany
 
Love & Virtue
by Diana Reid
 
Dropbear
by Evelyn Araluen
writerly development / things
 
Grammar Therapy - 4-week grammar course for fiction with UWA
 
Write What You Know - 4-week writing course with WritersHQ
 
Flash Fiction Fan Club 8-week writing course with Centre for Stories
 
Write Drunk, Edit Sober - Half-day self-editing workshop with Centre for Stories
 
Writing Place & Setting - Full-day workshop with Robbie Arnott
Show Don't Tell Short Stories - Online course with Writer's Write
Writing Children's Picture Books - Online course with BBC Maestro
awards | fellowships
Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction 2022, Shortlisted
Sydney Hammond Memorial Short Story Competition 2021, Longlisted
Katharine Susannah Prichard Fellowship Recipient 2021
Weird Christmas Flash Fiction Competition 2020, Shortlisted
Bath Flash Fiction Summer 2020, Longlisted
National Flash Fiction Day Award 2019, Highly Commended
Writers HQ Flash Fiction Prize 2019, Third Place
Mslexia Flash Fiction Competition 2019, Longlisted
Reflex Press Flash Fiction Prize 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, Longlisted
anthology inclusion
In Defence of Pseudoscience, Reflex Press Flash Fiction Anthology Vol. Five
JUMP, Hawkeye Books Publishing Sydney Hammond Competition Anthology 2021
Branching Out, Brilliant Flash Fiction Anthology 2021
The Best Haiku, Haiku Crush Anthology 2021 
Restore to Factory Settings, Bath Flash Fiction Vol. Five
 
From the Inside Looking Out, Geelong Writers Annual Anthology 2020
 
Where Are We Now?, Geelong Writers Annual Anthology 2019
 
And We Pass Through, National Flash Fiction Day Anthology 2019
 
A Girl's Guide to Fly Fishing, Reflex Press Flash Fiction Anthology Vol. Three
 
The Real Jazz Baby, Reflex Press Flash Fiction Anthology Vol. Two
 
Barely Casting a Shadow, Reflex Press Flash Fiction Anthology Vol. One

twenty twenty two

The Person I'm Dating Loves to Watch Monster Movies

Short Story

Published: Issue 3, Swim Meet Lit

Nothing

Flash Fiction

Shortlisted for Tortive Lit Flash Fiction 101 Competition

Published: Online, Tortive Lit

Grandad Keeps His Heart in the Shed

Short Story

Shortlisted for the Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction 2022

Published: TBC

Death of an Imagined Future

Flash Fiction

Published: Online, June Issue Wild Greens Magazine

Kiss it Better

Flash Fiction

Published: Print, Issue 21 of GEMS Zine

A Softening of the Brain

Flash Fiction

Shortlisted for Tortive Lit Flash Fiction 101 Competition

Published: Online, Tortive Lit
 

The Day I Think I May Be Crazy is the Day My Reflection Doesn't Blink

Flash Fiction

Published: Print, Issue 2 of The Amphibian Literary Journal

 

twenty twenty-one

Transatlanticism

Short Story

Longlisted for the Sydney Hammond Memorial Short Story Competition 2021

Published: Print, JUMP Anthology

Three Haiku for E.

Haiku

Published: Online, Issue 3 Burrow
 

A Lack of Awareness

Flash Fiction

Published: Print, Brilliant Flash Fiction Anthology

Upside Down

Flash Fiction

Published: Online, Five Minute Lit

Brittle

Flash Fiction

Published: Online, Every Day Fiction

I Should Live in Salt for Leaving You Behind

Flash Fiction

'Just Missed the Longlist'

Published: Online, Reflex Press

The Lover Asks Questions They Cannot Answer

Flash Fiction

Longlisted in the Reflex Press Spring Competition

Published: Online & Forthcoming Anthology
 

Freezing to Death

Flash Fiction

Published: Online, Sad Girls Club
 

Untitled Senryu

&

A Senryu Semi Circle

Haiku

Published: Print, Issue 19 GEMS Zine

Just a Moth

Haiku

Published: Print, The Best Haiku Anthology 2021, Haiku Crush

A Bird Heart for Forgiveness

Flash Fiction

Published: Online, Entropy Magazine

Phantom Limbs

Micro Fiction

Published: Print, Issue 43 Blink Ink Magazine 

twenty twenty

Tuesday Night at a Bar in Hoxton With a Cartoon Dog

Flash Fiction

Published: Print, Issue 18 GEMS Zine (Dec. 2020)

What No Longer Is

Flash Fiction

Shortlisted for the Weird Christmas Flash Fiction Competition (Unpublished)

दया, Daya

Micro Fiction

Published: Print, Issue 42 Blink Ink Magazine

Three Haiku on Loss

Haiku

Published: Online, Blue Bottle Journal

Probably Nothing

Flash Fiction

Long-listed for the Bath Flash Fiction Award Summer 2020

Published: Print, 'Restore to Factory Settings' Anthology

Returning

Short Story

Published: Print, Issue 17 of GEMS Zine

Anomic Aphasia

Flash Fiction

Published: Online, as part of National Flash Fiction Day 2020 Flash Flood

Furusato 故郷

Creative Non-Fiction

Published: Online with Sawtooth ARI, as part of the digital community art project 'The Arrowhead Expanding Outwards'

Rust & Bone

Flash Fiction

Published: Print, Issue 2.1 of Human/Kind Journal

The Disconcerting Discovery of Shoes on a Beach

Flash Fiction

Long-listed for the Reflex Press Winter 2019 Competition

Published: Online & Print, 'A Girls' Guide to Fly Fishing' Anthology

twenty nineteen

Love is the Greatest of Dreams, Yet the Worst of Nightmares

&

Pop

Flash Fictions

Published: Print, 'Where Are We Now?' Geelong Writers Annual Anthology

Today I Dropped a Punnet of Blueberries

Flash Fiction

Published: Online, Every Day Fiction

Rattas, Mammalia

Creative Non-Fiction

Published: Online, Issue 14 of The Suburban Review 

Anomic Aphasia

Flash Fiction

Awarded Third Place in the Writers HQ Flash Fiction Prize

Published: Online

Last Night I Saved a Moth from Drowning

Micro Fiction

Highly Commended in the National Flash Fiction Day Prize

Published: Online & Print, 'And We Pass Through' Anthology

Every Second Thursday

Flash Fiction

Long-listed for the Reflex Press Winter 2018 prize

Published: Online & Print, 'The Real Jazz Baby' Anthology


 

twenty eighteen/seventeen
 

Pop
Flash Fiction
Weekly Prompt Winner
Published: Online, Adhoc Fiction 
 
You Give Them Back to Where They Came From
Flash Fiction
Published: Online, Issue 26 of Underground Writers
 
Beach Boat Destruction
Flash Fiction
Published: Online, Reflex Press
 
A Good Man
Flash Fiction
Longlisted for the Reflex Press Autumn 2017 prize.
Published: Online & Print, 'Barely Casting a Shadow' Anthology
 
If On a Winter's Day
Flash Fiction
Centre for Stories public writing project for Winter Arts 2017.
Published: Posters printed & posted around the City of Perth.

Forget all the rules. Forget about being published. Write for yourself and celebrate writing.

Melinda Haynes

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