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Writers often hear this question: where do you get the ideas for your stories? Replies are generally terse. “The mortgage company’s final demand” is a favourite.

Waiting around for inspiration is a mug’s game. Far better to put yourself under some pressure.

The US science fiction writer . At the close of NBC’s Today show in April 1981, interviewer Tom Brokaw held up an envelope containing a piece of paper which read, “August afternoon a person walking along a rocky beach in Maine picks up a pair of broken sunglasses.”

At 9:45am, Harlan Ellison climbed into a window of a Fifth Avenue bookstore, read Tom’s words for the first time as the crowds looked on, and then began to write. Five hours later, “” was completed.

In that spirit, we’ve partnered with and to run an exciting short story competition, the 48-hour Flash Fiction Challenge. The competition will take place over the weekend of Saturday 8 April 2017. We give you the title and a piece of dialogue. Then, using those elements, you write us a story not exceeding 2000 words. We toyed with the idea of giving you just five hours to write your masterpiece. But we were feeling generous: have 48. The best story we receive within that time will be published on �鶹��ý’s website and the author will receive £500 and a VIP pass to Sci-Fi-London, which runs in London from 27 April to 6 May 2017.

To enter, visit now and register for this competition: that way we can contact you at the right time with the title and dialogue you’ll need to complete your story. Remember you will only have 48 hours to create your original masterpiece.  Full details can be found at .