Yesterday, I received some interesting writing contest prompts from Reedsy in my inbox, all dealing with form, and I decided to give one a shot. As the prompt creator, author Erik Harper Klass, describes, considering form is a different way to attack fiction writing. I’ve always been intrigued with the form and structure of stories—as…
A few months ago, I entered a rhyming short story contest and progressed to the second round. A few days ago, I learned I didn’t progress further.
Kind of a bummer but not surprising. Competition is tight, and there are many, many great writers out there. That said, I feel I did my best. I wanted to share my story.
I was assigned a specific genre, theme, and emotion. Can you guess what they were?
In September, I entered NYC Midnight’s first ever rhyming story challenge. Over 3,000 writers were placed into one of 88 groups, and each group was assigned a genre, theme, and emotion, about which the writers had to complete a rhyming story with a plot. My group’s assignment was Science Fiction, Forbidden, and Abandoned. Last night,…
In the late afternoon sun, we head away from the car parked alone in the dirt lot, quickly reaching the shade provided by the rock face. Caleb walks toward the nearest cliff, glancing behind him. “You sure you’re ready for this?” I nod, peering beyond him for a hidden crevice or cave I might have…
More horror in the form of anthologies, that is. It’s no secret that pandemic times have been rough for everyone. For me, a year of remote teaching along with editing and tutoring side gigs, which require almost constant computer use and related technological adventures, has made me want to do this at the end of…
Last November, I entered a 250-word flash fiction contest hosted by NYC Midnight. Thousands of writers entered, and we were placed into groups of 50-or-so and assigned an action, a word, and a genre. Our story had to include all three parts, and the top ten in each group would advance to the second round.…
I open the closet and lug out the vacuum for the third time today. Creeping around my heels, Rylie grabs the dustpan and 3-year-old sized broom. “I seep!”
This week’s prompt over at Carrot Ranch is a fun one: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about snacking. It can feature crunchy snacks or creamy one. Who is snacking on what and why? My take may be esoteric, but enough writers follow this blog that I think it will be…
A few weeks ago, I entered my 100-word story in the second round of of NYC Midnight‘s flash fiction contest. I was assigned a genre, action, and word, and had 24 hours to craft my story. Sadly, I didn’t make the top ten this round, so I’m out of the game. I suspect that’s partly…
Last month, I entered a flash fiction contest hosted by NYC Midnight. Many thousands of writers were sorted into subgroups and challenged to produce a 100-word story featuring an assigned genre, activity, and word in 24 hours. Last night, the results for the first round were released, and because my story placed in the top…
Allison Maruska 