I know from comments on my forum that many writers enjoy trying their hand at very short (sometimes called flash) fiction.

So I thought in this post I'd spotlight a couple of paying opportunities for this type of story I've come across recently.

The first is for stories of 25 words or less for an anthology of 'Hint Fiction', to be published by W.W. Norton later this year. If you're wondering what Hint Fiction might be, the guidelines include the following explanation:

What is Hint Fiction? It's a story of 25 words or less that suggests a larger, more complex story. The thesis of the anthology is to prove that a story 25 words or less can have as much impact as a story 2,500 words or longer. The anthology will include between 100 and 150 stories. We want your best work.

It's possible to write a complete story in 25 words or less - a beginning, middle, end - but that's not Hint Fiction.

The very best Hint Fiction stories can be read many different ways.

We want stories we can read again and again and never tire of. Stories that don't pull any punches. Stories that make us think, that evoke some kind of emotional response.

The payment on offer is $25 per story for World and Audio rights. For more information, click here. Note that submissions do not open until 1 August 2009, and an email address for them will appear on the guidelines page at that time.

The other opportunity I wanted to mention is for even shorter fiction - 140 characters or less. As you may perhaps have guessed, it's for short stories to be published on the micro-blogging service Twitter.

Tweet the Meat wants horror/weird/speculative fiction stories. They say: 'No serials. No unfinished stories. You must scare us in 140 characters or less. Are you up to the challenge?'

Submissions are via email, and the submission period each week is Saturday and Sunday. Most weeks there is a set theme. One story is chosen for publication on the Tweet the Meat Twitter account every day, and the successful author is paid $1 by Paypal. For more info, visit http://tweetthemeat.blogspot.com/2009/04/submission-guidelines.html.

Good luck if you decide to submit work to either of these markets!