Terri Mullholland is a writer, researcher, and teacher who grew up in the West Country and is now living in London. Terri started writing flash fiction with her writing group, not knowing there was a name for the tiny stories she was composing and it was only during the pandemic that she started submitting them to competitions and journals.
Since then, her flash fiction has appeared in various journals and anthologies, including Ellipsis Zine, Litro, and Mercurious. Her pamphlet of hybrid pieces Weather / Patterns was published by intergraphia books. Her work has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize for Flash Fiction and nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and in 2024 she was awarded 3rd Prize in the Edinburgh Award for Flash Fiction.
She also writes novels and is currently revising The House of Lost Threads, a haunted house fairy tale about three generations of women who all go missing, which was longlisted for the 2024 Bridport Novel Prize.
When not writing, Terri can be found curled up with a cat, a nice cup of tea, and a good book.
Other Publications:
Weather / Patterns
Interview with Terri Mullholland
about her story "String Theory"
Honorable Mention for The Scribes Prize
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What inspired this piece?
My partner often gives me single word writing prompts and ‘string’ was one of them. When freewriting around the word I realised how much I’m drawn to thinking about the ways in which everyday objects can become imbued with our memories and emotions—particularly things we remember from our childhood—so that they almost take on a life of their own. I’ve always had a tendency towards magical thinking and string seemed to lend itself so well to the idea of holding everything together in a time of crisis.
What draws you to the micro-fiction format?
What I love about micro-fiction is the challenge! Writing a whole story in as few words as possible and trying to refine a story down to its essence. I spend many happy hours removing superfluous words and rewriting the same sentence! Unlike in a novel where you have the space to fully develop an idea, in micro-fiction you are relying on the reader to fill in the gaps in the narrative with their own mental storytelling and you have to give them the framework to do that.
If you could continue writing your story after these 100 words, what would happen next?
String is magic, so I think tomorrow will come and they will get to wear their mittens.
My partner often gives me single word writing prompts and ‘string’ was one of them. When freewriting around the word I realised how much I’m drawn to thinking about the ways in which everyday objects can become imbued with our memories and emotions—particularly things we remember from our childhood—so that they almost take on a life of their own. I’ve always had a tendency towards magical thinking and string seemed to lend itself so well to the idea of holding everything together in a time of crisis.
What draws you to the micro-fiction format?
What I love about micro-fiction is the challenge! Writing a whole story in as few words as possible and trying to refine a story down to its essence. I spend many happy hours removing superfluous words and rewriting the same sentence! Unlike in a novel where you have the space to fully develop an idea, in micro-fiction you are relying on the reader to fill in the gaps in the narrative with their own mental storytelling and you have to give them the framework to do that.
If you could continue writing your story after these 100 words, what would happen next?
String is magic, so I think tomorrow will come and they will get to wear their mittens.