Scary Story Writers Group Forum Contest Idea

I really dig the idea of a flash fiction contest. It's quick, fast to judge, and still difficult to do well.

On Writing.com, there's a contest called 120 Pieces of a Nightmare, and the mod gives 7 (I think) prompt words and you pick one and write a flash fiction, of 120 words or less, using that as inspiration, or in it.

Now, the first time I entered it (lol, just for the heck of it, this past week) I used ALL the words in one entry. I thought the idea was to combine all 7 words in a flash fiction of 120 or less words, and make it good!

That seemed to be the real challenge. Take 7 totally unrelated words and make it work. Fast. Quick. Concisely.

But, turns out you take 1 prompt and run with it.

So I thought- why not do it the other way? Or at least try. I think it would show the quality of writer you are if you can take 7 totally unrelated words and work them together in a flash fiction. That would take some skill- especially to make it good.

Is that a good idea or nil?

I think it is a good idea and writing stories of 120 words or less is indeed difficult. But it really makes you think and conserve words. I write stories like this on a regular basis just to make myself remember to be concise in my story telling.

AJ

I'd enter it. After writing that long story you read earlier I'd love the challenge of a flash fiction piece!

Okay, I'm going to make the contest and I'll post the link in here for peoples..

I'll be the judge. (for now) The next contest I make for it, depending on how many people enter, I'd like to set it for readers to vote the winner.

I don't want that much responsibility. :P

I'm really eager to see what you guys do. ::biggrin::

::biggrin::

Here it is.

Hurry hurry.. you have one week!! Enter as many times as you want to, each story should be different though. ::biggrin::

I'm going to enter this in a couple of days but I wanted to kind of point out that your guidelines in the contest state only one submission per person, so we can't enter it more than once.

AJ

What??? Ugh.. see, I shouldn't be the one doing these things.. LOL. I can barely work my computer properly.. ::biggrin::

Lemme see if I can fix it..

OK. ::tongue:: I guess the - - - didn't mean "no limit" it just meant it'd make it one.. hahaha.. ::biggrin:: Now I know better.

Now it's set to 10 pieces, but if you can come up with 10 different flashes using the same words.. you should be running the contest!! ::smile::

Hope that's better..

Yeah, it's using those words that throws the wrench into everything. I'll work on one. I completely forgot about the words and wrote one not using them.

Back to the drawing board.

AJ

Okay, I've entered one. I may go back and enter another one later this week.

AJ

Awesome.. 2 people submitted already, you and Starbound25 (i think that's the right number, I know it's Starbound) and I'm like, oh, cool! Submitters!!

Then I read 'em and I was like... oh, man, I have to pick a winner???

I'm making it voting next time!! I'm not picking anymore winners after this!!!

Well... unless I have a lot of fun picking them.... which I could... hmmm....

This is fun though.. I wish I could enter though... ::tongue::

Yeah, I like things like this. I think the story I wrote before I realized I needed to use words was a little better, but I had fun with it. I may write another one for the sake of the idea itself. It is very fun and challenging.

AJ

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yes i also think that this contest would be a good idea, it will test our skills and hopefully we could pick up some publishers from it. plus it would be good to work with.

jess

I love these flash contests. It's such a blast writing for them, and it really does remind you to get your point across quickly. I wrote one for the other site (that does it with 7 prompt words and you pick one and run with it, which I felt wasn't an adequate test of your writing ability) which was only 64 words long. Everyone's loved it so far, and I think it's just hilarious. That contest is also limited to horror- which I love- but I wanted this one to be more open.. take it wherever. Scary, experiemental, funny. Just whatever you wanted to write, do it. ::tongue::

I, personally, like both ideas and have tried them both. The harder of the two is using all seven words in one entry, but, for me, there is more satisfaction in writing something good using all seven words and less than 120 words total.

AJ

Exactly, AJ. The first time I submitted to the contest on writing.com, I thought you were supposed to use ALL seven words, not just one. It wasn't until I looked at other submissions (which I didn't before because I didn't want to get discouraged if I read something really good, lol) that I realized it was only supposed to be one word. I'm going to post it here, because no one bothered to review it over there and I thought it was pretty good--especially since I did use all the words. And I wrote it in 102 words. :P

The prompt words were skull, sand, tree, cookies, water, paper, and raven/magpie/crook (either of the birds).

The skull gleamed admist the sand, the black eyeholes glaring at the girl traversing the dunes. She stumbled toward an oasis, shimmering in the heat, where a solitary tree was growing in the desert. A smell crept through her nostrils as she walked closer, a dry smell like burnt cinnamon cookies.

There was no water.

Rather, a pile of dead bodies, mummified and dried, was snuggled up to the tree. One hand was clenched around a dirty, weather worn slip of paper.

The note, bloodstreaked and messy, read:

"Beware the raven."

She heard the fluttering of wings behind her. She screamed.

What do you think of that?? Interesting way to combine those words??

It was a very interesting way to combine the words--and I believe you actually kept them in the order they appeared on the list!!

Maybe those should be the words for your next 120 word challenge.

AJ

::biggrin:: I can't remember the exact order, but I did remember the words I had to use. I put them in the order they were in the story. ::tongue::

I think I will. These words were really fun to use.. I remember reading somewhere that mummies smelled like cinnamon cookies--that's where that came from. Whether or not that's true.. ::confused:: Poetic license?? LOL