Flash Fiction Writing Challenge: The Rules

dorkelf

dorkelf

Active Member
Well there seem to be more serious writers here than ever before, so maybe its time for a new writing challenge! I think one of the most important things for an aspiring writer to do is to write regularly, and also to write different things...not just work on the same ol' novel-in-progress-that-will-one-day-be-a-masterpiece. I'm also convinced that writing short (aka "flash") fiction can teach most writers a lot about how to really structure writing in a way that works for the reader. So with that said, here's what I propose for a writing challenge:

The rules of the challenge are simple:

  • I will post a story idea every month. Example ideas are "two guys meet in a coffee chop..." or "use the following words in your story: blue, pencil and dodecahedron."
  • Every participant writes a story of 300 words or less according to my posted guidelines and submits it as a reply to that thread before the end of the month.
  • At the beginning of the next month, I will post to the thread that it is now closed to stories but open for voting. In order to vote for a story, you will post a short critique of that story. You may critique multiple stories (which means you can vote for multiple stories), but only your first critique/vote will count for each story.
  • The contest ends as soon as every story has received at least one critique. At that point the story with the most votes wins the contest.
  • We'll make a "hall of fame" sticky thread on this forum and every winning entry will be posted to it.

I will start the first contest shortly and it will run until the end of October. In the meantime, post to this thread if you have any comments or suggestions about the contest rules. The important thing is just for everyone to write something, and spend a little time helping other writers by critiquing their work. Even I can make time to do this once a month, so I hope everyone who is interested enough to read this far into the rules will participate every month! :D
 
Sounds good. Think you should be able to vote without posting a critique though as some maybe put off by it (but then again would not want it to be a popularity contest).

Nice Idea. :D
 
ppar3566 said:
Sounds good. Think you should be able to vote without posting a critique though as some maybe put off by it (but then again would not want it to be a popularity contest).

Nice Idea. :D
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Thank you! I agree that the idea of a critique might prevent some people from participating or voting. But what I have in mind for a critique can be as simple as "Excellent story, it didn't grab my attention at first but then when grandma pulled the axe out of the Book Of The Dead, Illustrated Ninth Edition I just KNEW what was going to happen!" In other words, its just a compliment (no-brainer if you are voting for that story to win) and a suggestion for improvement, or at least a short description of how you experienced the story as a reader.
 
dorkelf said:
Thank you! I agree that the idea of a critique might prevent some people from participating or voting. But what I have in mind for a critique can be as simple as "Excellent story, it didn't grab my attention at first but then when grandma pulled the axe out of the Book Of The Dead, Illustrated Ninth Edition I just KNEW what was going to happen!" In other words, its just a compliment (no-brainer if you are voting for that story to win) and a suggestion for improvement, or at least a short description of how you experienced the story as a reader.
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Sounds good! Get the first contest guidelines under way and I will sticky it and promote it in general discussion.
 
Exo-Slayer said:
Sounds like fun. I would most definitely try and participate.
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Great, thank you for considering it! If you accept this very little "writing challenge" every month, you will find that the combination of regular writing and giving/receiving feedback from others will make you a much better writer. It will also put you in the position of helping others (myself included) in the writing community improve their own writing.

Paul
 
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