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Fri, Jan 23, 2026

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The Bradbury

by Jeff

Rated: E · Message Forum · Writing · #2277001

If you write 52 short stories, one of them's bound to be great... right? Let's find out!

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT ENTRIES: [Refresh to load countdown.]

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Item Alias: bradbury

Welcome to The Bradbury, a year-long short fiction writing activity!

The namesake of this activity and its premise are based on advice that acclaimed science fiction author Ray Bradbury once gave during a keynote address of a writer's symposium, where he said:

If you can write one short story a week — it doesn’t matter what the quality is to start, but at least you’re practicing — at the end of the year, you have 52 short stories and I defy you to write 52 bad ones. Can’t be done. At the end of 30 weeks or 40 weeks, or at the end of the year, all of a sudden a story will come that’s just wonderful.

We're going to put that theory to the test, and challenge you to write 52 short stories in 2026!

Overview

This activity begins on January 1, 2026 .

This activity ends on December 31, 2026.

Between those two dates, you will need to write 52 short stories, which will be defined as:

Newly written in 2026.

No more than 7,500 words (no minimum).

Prose fiction (no nonfiction or poetry) that ...

... tells a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Short stories can be in any genre and of any rating.

Catching up is allowed at any time.

Limited working ahead is allowed up to two weeks in advance.

Stories should be created as either Static Items or Book Entries.

Entries should be posted individually in the forum below and include the following:

The applicable week as the heading / subject line of your post (e.g., "Week 1").

A WritingML link to your story, in either {bitem:} format or {entry:} format.

The Fine Print

1. Non-Exclusivity. While stories must be newly written in 2026, they do not need to have been written exclusively for this contest. In fact, you're encouraged to find other contests and activities on Writing.com to participate in! If you write an entry for one of the official contests, for example, make sure you submit it here so your writing can count for both! As long as your entry meets the criteria for this activity as well, that's great!

2. Continuity. It's acceptable to reuse characters, settings, etc. in multiple stories as long as they are part of separate and distinct narratives (see above rule about each story having beginning, middle, and end). Writing a longform, multi-part narrative intended to be a continuation of the prior entry's story is discouraged. For example, you could write multiple distinct fanfiction stories set in the same universe with the same characters, or a serialized set of short stories; but this is not intended as a challenge to write individual chapters of a novel.

3. Late Entries. There is no such thing as a late entry, as long as everything is submitted by 11:59pm WdC time on December 31st. There's no restriction on how many entries you can submit per week, so even if you're discovering this activity later in 2026, you can submit catch-up entries and get back on track at any point during the year!

4. Feedback. There is no regular review component to this activity, and participants should not have an expectation of having their body of work read or reviewed.

5. Verification. The activity organizers reserve the right to read and/or review everything for the purposes of addressing compliance concerns, but otherwise this activity is being undertaken on the honor system. The organizers are assuming you are making a good faith effort to follow the rules and the spirit of this activity. If you are found to be violating either the rules or the spirit of the activity, the contest organizers reserve the right to take appropriate action, including but not limited to the disqualification of specific entries, elimination from prize eligibility, and/or the removal of participants from the activity entirely.

6. Fundraising and Other Incentives. Fundraisers may be occasionally held to help support the activity. Unique incentives such as the activity's ultra-exclusive badge and awardicons offered up in an auction prize package, free passes for participants to skip a week, etc. may be made available from time to time to increase interest and participation in these fundraisers. Keep an eye out for these exciting opportunities!

7. Separate Contest. "The Bradbury Contest"

has its own rules and requirements which can be found in that forum. Not every Bradbury entry will necessarily qualify for the Bradbury Contest. For example, the word count limit for the contest is lower than that of the activity.

8. Questions and Concerns. If you have any questions or concerns about the activity at any point, please contact Jeff

Rewards

Gift Points ... get paid for your writing! All net proceeds 1 raised by this activity will be paid out to the participants on a per-story basis. In order to come up with the rate paid per story, the total funds to be paid out will be divided by the number of total stories written. Participants will then receive that payout for each story they write.

Examples ▶︎

Net Proceeds To Date:
500,000 Gift Points

In addition, anyone who completes all 52 stories by December 31st will receive the extremely exclusive Bradbury Plaque (to be placed on the folder or book item containing their entries, or another related item upon request)!

This awardicon cannot typically be purchased ... it must be earned by successfully completing the activity!

[AWARDICON IMAGE]

Donations

Donations are gladly accepted. Any donation of over 50,000 Gift Points will receive a community merit badge of my choosing.

Any individual who donates 100,000+ Gift Points will instead receive the exclusive Bradbury Benefactor Merit Badge!