What Is It?
A writing contest like some you've probably seen, but different. For this, like others, you use the prompt given. Your prompt will lead with a fact and end with fiction.
Curious?
The contest officially opens for entries in 14 days from the time of this post and will be accepting entries for 6 days, ending on March 20, 2018 at midnight (00:00) UTC. You are welcome to get started immediately after you’ve read through this post.
Note: entries in the comments of this post will not be considered. I will make a post on March 14th, 2018 to declare the contest open for entries, where you can comment your entries to.
Your prompt:
The nearest star to us is 4.25 lightyears away, that's why wishes take at least 9 years to come true.
Thanks to Firefox's banners, the idea to make a writing contest was born. The inception began with @Josie2214 and at the encouragement and guidance of @bex-dk through a discussion on The Writers' Block Discord server.
The Rules:
- Your limits are: a minimum 125 words for prose/non-fiction and 12 lines for poetry. Maximum is 2000 words in all.
- No gratuitous sex or violence. Harsh swearing should be minimal and only if it’s absolutely essential for the piece. In other words, gore and erotica will not be accepted.
- One entry per person.
What Gets Me:
- A good first line. Intrigue me, surprise me, confuse me, but make me need to read further. Check out @thinknzombie’s posts—Part 1 and Part 2—for more on this.
- A satisfying ending. It doesn't have to be the best outcome, it can be a horrible outcome as long as it fits the plot and resolves the story. Slight cliffhangers are fine if they let the reader think and imagine based on what you've already provided in the story, such as if your entry will go further into a series on Steemit. The entry/s still must be able to stand alone.
- Consistency. I don't mean keeping every bit of it as close to reality as possible, I mean keeping everything in the story's reality consistent. If there are two moons, keep both moons until the end of the story. If the character’s name is Rumpelstiltskin, don’t change it half-way in, because that breaks the story.
- A fitting title. It should be something short that fits with the piece. “Untitled” doesn’t work unless the piece is somehow about an untitled song/story/poem, etc.
- Good formatting. You don't need to be a pro with markdown or HTML, but you should use the basics to format your post in a manner that makes reading easy and pleasant. Check out @Gmuxx's post A Beginner's Guide to Markdown.
The Writers' Block also has The Library of Infinite Knowledge with links to several posts on the mechanics of writing fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
What's Accepted (see above rules for exceptions):
- Fiction, in flash fiction or short story and in whichever genre.
- Creative non-fiction.
- Poetry, in whichever style you like.
- Multiples in a single post are allowed as long as they are pieces of the same story/poem or the same theme/topic, and the maximum word limit is kept.
The Goal:
To encourage the development of quality writing in fiction, poetry, and non-fiction on the Steem blockchain.
Prizes:
The winner will receive 10 STEEM plus the payout of this post. Two runners-up will each receive 5 STEEM.
The payout of the contest opening post on the 14th March will go to animals in need, by donating it to @tarc, along with 10 STEEM which has been donated when this was posted. You can help them, too. They need you.
Get those creative juices flowing and good luck!
