Eight Stories to Inspire Writing as Resistance

Does taking on big issues mean that our writing has to be preachy, cringy, dreary or self-righteous? Hell no! Welcome to the wonderful world of WASPS without SLUTs (Writing About Serious Political Stuff without Sounding Like Utter Twats).

Fiction that grapples with social and ecological justice can be funny, scary, exciting, heartfelt, satirical, fantastical, challenging and gripping. Want proof? Check out these eight rebel flashes, including a whole bunch by some badass Writers’ HQers…

In the Year 2067 I Will Be 95 Years Old, by Sage Tyrtle (Reckoning)

This exquisite flash darts between horror and hope. In an original take on the list form, Sage Tyrtle conjures myriad alternative futures, raising questions rather than offering an Answer.

The year 2067 is dreaming of trees, of oak, of spruce, of hickory. Of the rustle leaves make in a storm. Wandering a chimeric forest of beech, of maple, of chestnut, of bumpy bark as I trail my fingers along the trunk and listen to the sparrows sing to the sky. Of kneeling to watch saplings learning the wonders of sunlight and how to drink the rain. And waking, weeping, to the ceaseless sound of wind moving sand. Whish. Wish. Whish.

Find Sage Tyrtle @sagetyrtlestoryteller

Oceans Under Threat Like Never Before, by Melissa Llanes Brownlee (CHEAP POP) 

This micro-flash takes a “climate doom” headline and makes it intensely personal. Melissa Llanes Brownlee uses a generically grim news item as her title, but goes on to situate it vividly in the lived experiences of her characters: their everyday struggles and their visions of beauty and home.

We imagine swimming down Ali’i Drive, jumping off the big banyan trees into the waves. Maybe the whales won’t come or they will come earlier or later, who knows. Maybe daddy and the uncles won’t be able to go fishing anymore, with no harbors to keep their boats. We imagine fishing from the top of Moku’aikaua Church, the steeple, the tallest point in town, casting our bamboo poles into the new coral reef growing on its rock-sided walls. 

Find Melissa Llanes Brownlee @lumchanmfa.

Consumer Hunger by J.P. Relph (Dark Winter Lit) 

Eco-horror is a fast-emerging genre, as writers tackle the terror, anger and guilt provoked by environmental crises. A fantastic example is by JP Relph, who takes on fast fashion in this squicky-sensuous nightmare.

I miss my garden; a modest square of foliage and flower I once nurtured, throwing weeds to the fluffy hens. An ugly storm of ironic florals blew in and covered it after the January sales. Ditsy daisy polyester smothering the bougainvillea; vintage rose rayon strangling the dwarf lilac that scented the kitchen all Summer. It’s a faded lawn of knotted synthetics now; the ground beneath bristled and sickly. On hot days it steams, stinks of plastic and the toilets on trains.

Find JP Relph The Relphian

When The Lights Go Out by Zeina Abi Ghosn (Alien Buddha)

This story uses sensory details to draw us into the experience of a child’s life riven by conflict. In counterpoint to its heartbreaking evocation of loss, grief and fear, the story uses poetry to find glimmers of hope.

Farah takes out the candle and finds a place in the corridor that her parents had marked safe from the shelling. She takes out a pen and writes the words of the great poet Mahmud Darwish, “I do not know who sold the homeland but I saw who paid the price.”

Find Zeina Abi Ghosn @zeina_abighosn

Bitflip by Jo Clark (voidspace)

Genre-fluid WHQer Jo Clark is famed for experimenting with form, and this piece is irresistibly intriguing. Through its interactive format, this flash questions binary thinking around huge life/death issues.

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“The Neighbourhood Watch” by Mathew Gostelow (Roi Faineant)

This sinister story mobilises dark satire and gore for a powerful impact. The repeated use of “you” challenges the reader, leaving us asking questions about our responsibilities as “bystanders” (both locally and globally). Would we have done the same? Are we doing it right now?

When the beatings began, I wondered if I should intervene. But we were waiting for our new fridge to be delivered, and that show with the chefs had just come on. We didn’t want to miss it. You’d have done the same, I’m sure.

Find Mat Gostelow MatGost

Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Multimedia Installation Commemorating the Death of Civil Society by Terry Holland (HISSAC) 

This tripartite flash by WHQ veteran Terry Holland is unafraid to tackle political issues head on.  Searingly satirical, it uses a fragmented form to illuminate our sleepwalking into surveillance, apathy and repression.

The cameras sweep the perimeter; the Watchman’s eyes sweep the screens. He never looks beyond the walls – what could be found out there?

The skinny guard dog, Tiresias, lies in the corner on a blanket, tethered by a chain that reaches only as far as the Watchman’s chair. He growls, chasing uneasy dreams.

Find Terry Holland @terryholland.bsky.social

Social Skills Training by Solmaz Sharif (available in censored form in Get Lit Anthology, or in its full form at buzzfeednews.com)

OK, this is technically a prose poem but we like to mess with taxonomies, and this is 110% Writing as Resistance: a biting critique of compliance and systems of oppression. It subverts psychological studies, using subtly shifting repetitions to craft startling twists of meaning.

Studies suggest How may I help you officer? is the single most disarming thing to say and not What’s the problem? Studies suggest it’s best the help reply My pleasure and not No problem. Studies suggest it’s best not to mention problem in front of power even to say there is none.

Find Solmaz Sharif on her website: Solmaz Sharif.

And if that’s not enough inspiration, check out this Superman fanfic advocating for immigrant rights by Walidah Imarisha (New Inquiry), a Lovecraftian urban fantasy taking on police oppression by N. K. Jemisin (Reactor) or browse through the back issues of Reckoning, a lit mag dedicated to environmental justice.

Ready to light the touchpaper on your own inflammatory flash? Check out what’s on in The Writers’ HQ Writing As Resistance Festival this week. 

Posted in: Short fiction

By: Sarah Royston

Sarah Royston is a writer and researcher based at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU). Her work is inspired by queer ecologies, folklore and re-enchantment as resistance. Since being initiated into the WHQ community/cult in 2021, she’s published fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction in The Rumpus, Dark Mountain, Popshot Quarterly and Crow & Cross Keys, among others. Her first book, Fernseed, is released by The Braag in September 2024. She is one of the 2024 ARU Writtle Writers in Residence.