As I've mentioned in past posts, I'm been competing in a creative writing contest at Writing.com since August 30th. There were nineteen competitors, but after three elimination rounds we are down to just me and two other participants. On October 20th, the final round closes for judging, and based on our entries we will be placed either first, second, or third overall. (Last year I made it this far, too, and ended up placing third. Naturally, I'm shooting for higher this time ;)
The group hosting the contest specializes in Speculative Fiction, but in this final round, we are not bound by genre or word count. Sky's the limit. However, we have to write our stories based on what is, I think, the most creative prompt evah! Here's how it works:
We were directed to this Wordpress blog. I'm quite certain it was created by the host group. The blogger's name and gender are not disclosed. The ten posts are short, almost scattered-brained, and dripping with voice. Our challenge is to create, guided by the post content, a character around which our story is based. The instructions include this blurb:
"Your challenge is not to continue the existing blog of the individual, or write their next likely 'day in the life.' And, as you will find from the reading, this character need not even be your protagonist."
I had a truly inspiring experience working on this story. Whether or not I was successful in the end is up to the contest judges and readers. But for me, it was awesome.
I'm still in the final, spit-shining stage of this project. Of course, any feedback will ultimately help me tighten it up. If you have the time or inclination, I'd greatly appreciate hearing what you think of it. It is Speculative Fiction, falling under the genre of (dark) Slipstream. (Slipstream is set in our world ~ almost. There are slight, uneasy making distortions in our reality or else the protagonist has fallen out of the consensual reality but is not insane in any way.)
It has 3292 words, and here's the link --> ~Silenced~
I hope you have a great weekend!
