New writing contest (Page 1 of 2)

I have an idea that is daring, risky and provocative, so it will probably never happen.  I mean, we are so polite here.

Write a sex scene between 1000 and 5000 words. Make it hot, make us blush, but keep it classy; the kind of thing that pushes the main-stream envelope, but not something that would end up in a Hustler magazine forum.

I honestly think this would both challenge us as writers, and get us to exercise a often neglected muscle (no pun intended.) 

When that idea gets rejected, let's do a Halloween writing contest.

New competition! Yay!

Perhaps

If the competition stipulated a distinct yet general theme of an abstract nature; say, (and these are just random examples for illustration rather than actual suggestions), the end of a relationship: the death of a family member: a great victory or the overcoming of odds: an act of revenge: a survival… etc. etc.

Then all genres and styles of both storytelling and poetry could enter. I’d like to see the poets admitted, ideally with entries judged on two classes of winners… Short Story and Poem.

Soo many Xylophone stories!

How about giving the authors an idea around which everybody must elaborate? The idea doesn't need to be literately quoted, even though authors are free to do so. However, the idea must be present in the story. For example:

"When John arrived at his house, the fact all lights were on called his attention. It was quite late for everybody to be up. Besides, why were the lights downstairs on as well? And even the backyard? Was his wife throwing a party?"

And that should be it. The idea doesn't need to be the start of the story, it can be the middle, or even the end. The character's name doesn't need to be John, and the authors can turn him into a woman if they prefer to do so. But the underlying idea, the fact that somebody arrived home late at night and found an unexpected situation there--one of which signs was all the lights turned on--must be part of the story.

It'd be interesting to see how creative the participants are, moving away from cliches and from the obvious.

Kiss,

Gacela.

PS. Please don't do the erotica idea. It's a very particular genre not all of us cultivate.

How about a contest showing when the two main characters first meet. Their chemistry and attraction or if not a romance how these two characters drive the plot.  Also like A T Schlesingers idea....

Since there seems to be quite a bit of discussion on site about genre and the attention each gets or doesn't get or even what is part and parcel to a particular genre, then perhaps a contest where one must pick three (3) genre from a list provided by Sol for the contest and incorporate elements of each within the story. Many, if not most, stories already contain elements of more than one genre, so such a contest might prove helpful to those who are reluctant to read or write a specific genre. You might even add the caveat (or not) that the author must denote (as a footnote) where/how in the story each genre is represented with the judge(s) to determine the effectiveness of each genre in the story along with the overall quality of the story. Too complicated? Well, it is a contest to hopefully decode the secret of writing a good story. Take care. Vern

LOL! Take care. Vern

Oh, I had no doubt of that; love your sense of humor and loved that image which was hilarious. I really did laugh out loud even later thinking about it while watching TV. As for the judges, if we can manage the writing, the judges should be able to buck up to the task at hand. Take care. Vern

Edited for clarification.

I also like this idea as it is simple in terms of parameters, thus allowing all genres a broad scope if the phrases are universal, thereby being attractive to writers from different galaxies and star systems to participate. Seriously, this is a good idea TZ

A horror short story? The title of the conteste might be: A Horror Short Story Contest: Make Us Pee in Our Pants.

Kiss,

Gacela

Lots of excellent ideas so far. I'd like to hear many more weigh in and I'd like the contest to have many entrants. But if there's a huge turn-out, we might have to limit how many entries each writer could submit. Three or four for instance. Too, I think that length of the work is not - as someone said earlier - that big a deal. I mean if someone writes a top-notch haiku and it speaks volumes more... Heck, if someone wrote out of any genre and said the most and the best in three or four words... And another thing is that if someone is not a native speaker/writer of English, why not allow them to enter their story in their language - provided someone would act as an interpreter and write the English version? Maybe that's already been done? Whoops! Thought I was finished... what about including written songs? I don't know how many on this site write them, but it would add another interesting layer...

MiJ

Would be nice to have a contest where you write something contradicting. Like putting two people that are like oil and water and write a big action scene where their differences really show. Then make them the closest thing on the planet in the end. How to go from one extreme to the other. Don't have to be romantic, we'll get to see everything from buddies, family to lovers here. Also rewarding for writers to read how other writers use their action writing and then tweak things until it becomes something completely different. It would be something we all could learn from in our own writing in the end?