WHEN THE TOUR GUIDE STILL SMILES by Hannah Retallick (2nd place, Jan22)

Paris. The city of love. Eiffel Towers everywhere, couples kissing for selfies, visitors buying fridge magnets from street sellers. It will help. Tourists crowd the ramp to the Seine, waiting for the rope to be lifted. Four people beat us to the front even though we arrived first. They don’t suffer from Britishness. ‘I told … Continue reading WHEN THE TOUR GUIDE STILL SMILES by Hannah Retallick (2nd place, Jan22)

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TOLL BRIDGE by Taria Karillion (3rd place, Jan22)

Dear Sirs, I am a hard-working, law-abiding troll and am writing to seek your legal advice regarding a recent workplace injury of a distressingly violent nature and hope that your expertise will help me to claim for considerable lost earnings after an unprovoked attack by a physically abusive customer. I am employed as a toll … Continue reading THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TOLL BRIDGE by Taria Karillion (3rd place, Jan22)

Our Flash Fiction competition prize money has INCREASED!

Every writer wants to get more money for their writing efforts, right? Well now you can with us here at Cranked Anvil! We've been running our flash fiction competition for just over a year now, and we've seen it grow in popularity since the very beginning. The winning stories have, naturally, been of an incredibly … Continue reading Our Flash Fiction competition prize money has INCREASED!

The Cranked Anvil writing competitions just got better!

Hello Writers! First of all, Happy World Book Day 2022! We hope that, like us, you'll be setting aside just a bit of time today to read a bit of your favourite book. (You can find out some of our past winning writers' favourite books in our On The Shelf series.) Don't forget, if you … Continue reading The Cranked Anvil writing competitions just got better!

Our brand new Prompt Competition launches TODAY

It's finally here! The submission window for our brand new creative writing competition opens today. We've decided to offer an alterntive to our other competitons - which are open to any theme/genre - and introduce one where the writer must include a number of prompted elements in their story. We can't wait to read the … Continue reading Our brand new Prompt Competition launches TODAY

Writing Flash Fiction – Finding The Rhythm

Every word counts when it comes to flash fiction, and nailing the pace and rhythm of a piece can really transform your writing. But rhythm isn’t just about the way your sentences sound - it can also help shape your story’s structure, create urgency, build tension, and add extra dimension to your narrative voice. For … Continue reading Writing Flash Fiction – Finding The Rhythm

A revamped website and a BRAND NEW competition

Well, here it is - the first of our promised 'Big Announcements' for 2022! We're slightly changing the structure of our competitions - specifically the submission windows for each of them - in order to make room for our BRAND NEW COMPETITION! Our Short Story and Flash Fiction competitions are still staying where they are … Continue reading A revamped website and a BRAND NEW competition