Archive for category Contests
#OneOffFlash Week: Only
Posted by DLThurston in Contests on December 28, 2011
Here it is, the stand-in contest to fill the void with so many other flash fiction contests taking the week off. Your goal, if you choose to accept it, is to write and post up to 500 words, one of which must be the word below. The contest will close at 8pm Eastern Time (5pm Pacific), at which point I’ll read through the stories and decide on one to be the big winner of the first, last, and only One Off Flashfiction contest. That winner will walk away knowing that no one else will ever equal his or her accomplishment, as I never intend to run this contest again!
Sound simple enough? Good.
Then lets go.
Your theme word is…RESOLVE
There are 16 definitions available for the word on dictionary.com, 12 as a noun, 4 as a verb. I’m just asking you to use one of those.
Good luck, and good writing.
And don’t forget your Twitter handle!
Why I #HumpDayChallenge
Posted by DLThurston in Contests on July 30, 2011
Anyone who reads this blog can tell you I tend to be wordy. Anyone who has been a beta reader for my fiction can tell you that’s doubly true. And you know what? I’m not going to apologize for that.
But then a new challenge came along, the Hump Day Challenge, run on Tracy Hansen’s blog Will Write For Food. The challenge? Take 5 provided words, combine them with no more than 95 of your own words, and try to make the best damn story you can out of them, all genres and all writers welcome. That’s not a lot of space, but that’s the power of the challenge. Through practice, trial, and error the forced economy of words that comes out of the challenge is starting to bleed over into my fiction.
Clearly not everything should be written with such restriction in place. 100 words isn’t a lot of room for plot, nor does it allow for scene setting, characterization, or any of the other necessities of good fiction, but it is enough words to really set a strong scene, and with a few cheats and short cuts can be just enough words to assemble a full thought. Even for someone as wordy as myself.
So if the idea of writing just 100 words of fiction terrifies the hell out of you, it might be just the right challenge for you to undertake. Don’t expect to be able to tell a full story, but do expect to set a scene, tell a joke, make a point, and if you keep going, learn how best to use words economically both within the challenge and then within your longer stories. The lessons are surprisingly transmutable.
Come on and join the fun this Wednesday!
The Week That Is
Posted by DLThurston in Contests, Rust on May 11, 2011
Just some updates. First, got a rejection from Mammoth Book on Vampires of Mars. Cry cry, depressed, move on. The story is already back out the door and winging its way towards Writers of the Future. This is a story I really believe in, so I’m going to keep it in heavy circulation with its next several stops already well planned out. This is actually going to be a good week for me submission-wise as I send two stories out the door. Other one is for an anthology with a July 1 deadline, but the story is ready and I don’t want it hanging over my head. Especially since there’s another July 1 anthology I’m going out for that I’ve only got a few hundred words written towards. Eep.
Continuing to be told July on the publication of Steam Works, so I’m still hoping that anthology actually does happen.
The bigger news is about Rust. Several months ago I put Rust out for the Kindle and on Smashwords, largely to explore the process and see how it works for a series of posts over on Unleaded. I left it out there because, what the hell, why not? Well, I recently got my first review on Amazon. Two stars. Ouch. And that started the wheels in motion for eventually pulling it back offline. This isn’t a petulant “someone didn’t like my book so I’m taking my ball and going home” move, but rather one that I’ve always sort of planned. The review drove home that Rust isn’t necessarily the best public face for myself. It was a Nanowrimo project with a plot that’s disjointed at times, a bizarre conclusion, and probably less editing than I would have really liked to do. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t throw out a completely unedited Nano project, I gave it several passes. But in part that’s the problem: I gave it several passes. And I’m really not the world’s best editor.
So Rust will probably come down before the publication of Steam Works. It won’t be today, but it’ll probably be in the next month or so, and likely without notice. Anyone who still wants a copy is still free to grab one, just remember to keep your expectations low. I know, that’s the hard sell right there, isn’t it?
I’m likely talking to some new readers. At least I hope I am. I’ve been participating in 5 Minute Fiction the last two weeks (if you’re reading this on the morning it was posted, it’s not too late to vote for my story to help me move from a distant last to merely a distant 4th place) and have seen the readership of my blog spike both Tuesdays and stay higher-than-usual in between. It’s been a hell of a lot of fun doing these pieces the last two weeks, and plan to keep going and evangelize it to other writers as I can. It’s all the fun of Nanowrimo with just 1/10800th the time commitment!
Finally, I’ve been talked into Balticon, though will likely only be attending one day of the event. It’s going to be my first attempt at attending a con semi-professionally. Yes, I’m going to actually meet people and not shyly wander around and not ask questions in panels. Fortunately I’ll be guided by much more extroverted friends towards the right people to meet and talk to.
So there’s the week that is for me. It’s Wednesday, which means I’ll also be posting over on Unleaded today, just as soon as I figure out what I’m going to talk about. No. Seriously. I haven’t a clue right now.
Out the door!
Posted by DLThurston in Contests on March 30, 2011
I hope there will be a point in my writing career when sending out a submission feels less like an event and more like just part of the job. For now, though, it’s still the former. Especially when sending something off to a (gasp) pro-rate anthology. Best of luck, little story.
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