A moment of greed and a contest prep plea (UPDATED)

 

UPDATED WITH NEW INFORMATION (SEE BELOW)

I wants it.  That's even better than my "WWTFSM Do?" shirt.  (Pastafarians, unite!)

I'm slapping together a few blog posts this a.m. and then I am going to sit down to work on Magus of Athlinar.  I might even hammer out a few flash fiction stories so I can meet my meager personal goal of one story published per year.  (Why, yes, I AM an underachiever.  But it really has a lot to do with working so much.)  Flash fiction, while probably more difficult to forge into a gripping tale due to its brevity, is nevertheless more doable for me because I can get from start to finish quickly. 

Which brings me to another topic. I'm holding a flash fiction contest shortly and need pre-contest input for the prompt.  So, blog pals, would you kindly help spread the word?  If you are willing, please link to or repost the following blurb in your blog, Facebook and/or Twitter.  The more the merrier!

CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT:
In honor of the 4th bloggaversary at Writtenwyrdd, I plan to hold another contest.  I intend this to be another writing contest won by reader votes, just like the Halloween/Samhain contest in October 2009.  This time, however, we're going for shorter entries of 200-250 words.  (Don't sweat it if you are slightly over or under; the point is writing a complete story.) 

The general story will be urban fantasy this time, or at least a story that's set in something approximating our reality!  However, in order to have a contest, we need a topic.  And I would appreciate some assistance in generating it. (The better to get something truly tricky, er, unique and fun!!!  Yeah.  That's it.)  So, if you want to play along, please do the following*:

1. Go to the nearest book (or, if you are a writer, you can open your current work in progress or trunk novel) and pick a page approximately in the middle.
   
2. Working down from the top of the page, find the first incomplete sentence you see.  Post that sentence (and the source, if you don't mind) in the comments on this post. 
   
3. Pick your favorite word in that sentence and indicate it in the same comment. 
   
4. When we have enough entries, I'll start by using your favorite words and see what comes up for a prompt. 

TIMELINE.  I'll have a prompt for the story submissions somewhere between next Friday, August 13th and Friday, August 20th. [UPDATE 8/11: I am getting enough input that I have posted the contest prompt today, 8/11.  That will give you all more time in which to create your entry!]  Submissions to close on Sunday, August 22nd, a week prior to the bloggaversary itself, August 29th.  Winner to be chosen by reader voting.  I'll announce the prize as soon as I figure out one cool enough.  (Let me know if you have any further suggestions besides the cards.  I don't have enough to make a good prize.  I can, however, include the remainders with the grand prize.)

*This is a version of 'found poetry,' an exercise I did in college for a poetry class.  You select several sentences from several books, using a random rule for sentence selection such as flipping it open and stabbing your finger on the page and using that sentence.  Then you take the lines you select that way and use it as the start of a poem.  It's useful for idea generation if you want something truly random to start with.  Your creative mind does the rest.

Comments

[Charles Gramlich]

I'll put up a mention of the contest. As for the word selection. I opened my current WIP, pulled the mouse down to about the middle. The first two lines of the page read:

Yellow eyes in the early darkness. Unholy shine.

I think my favorite in there is "unholy."

[writtenwyrdd]

Thanks, Charles! I love that word!

[Sylvia]

"Many injectables can be created into a solid with the addition of high-intensity sweetener."
From my WIP: Excerpts from The Geusian Ladies Society Food InfoManual

My favourite word is injectables because I thought I made it up and then discovered I hadn't. But my second favourite is intensity.

[fairyhedgehog]

"I smiled, kissed his cheek, and was through the netting and diving into the water before" p131 Trick of the Light by Rob Thurman.

No favourite word there! It was just the first incomplete sentence. If I had to pick I suppose I'd have to go with diving.

I am away from August 14th to 28th so I may have to sit this one out.

Prize: notebook, pens, paperback, anything made by you.

[G]

Hopefully I'm doing this right.

"She was wearing a clean pair of half army fatigues that were held up by a interlocking weave of black widow spiders and scorpions."

From my current WiP entitled "Dandelion Tears".

As for my favorite word, I would have say "weave".

[jjdebenedictis]

First incomplete sentence (fragment):

"And accurately."

From my WIP, titled "The Blooddrinker and the War Angel".

I guess I'd better go with "accurately" as my favourite word! "And" would be a bit dull.

[writtenwyrdd]

Those are some intriguing suspenders, G.

[writtenwyrdd]

However, and is a highly useful word, so if you want to go with that... ;)

[writtenwyrdd]

And I shall chime in with mine, from a stalled work in progress, "The Beauregrave":

"But it wasn't sunlight, it was a darkness so deep it was the precursor to light, and the light of my world blinded me in contrast."

My favorite word is precursor.

(And, reading that, I'm not even sure that sentence makes sense!)

[G]

Belt.

I would never, ever inflict what I actually wear on any of my characters.

Would rather re-read the original versions of The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries from when I was a lad back in the 70's

[Carolyn Crane]

Okay, no book in the area, but this is the most inventive damn contest evah! Must tweet.

[writtenwyrdd]

Ouch, harsh punishment indeed! I read most of both series when I was a kid, too.

[writtenwyrdd]

Thanks!

[mckoala]

Why, I remember that contest rather well...

OK, this is perfect for the August Koala Challenge bonus point, so I'll post it on my blog. And, as for my words, let me go grab a book.

[mckoala]

Incomplete sentence.

...surprisingly hard quills and touched clammy flesh.
Regeneration, Pat Barker

Fave word - probably 'clammy', because of Keats and his bees' 'clammy cells'.

[nitebyrd]

"I control my lepoards ..."
from Narcissus In Chains by Laurell K. Hamilton

control is my favorite word.

[writtenwyrdd]

McK, that mean's a point for me,too. Yay!

Nitebyrd, thanks. I hope you submit something.

[Peter Dudley]

"Ordinary people, but not like her."

I grabbed a folder of old typewritten paper out of my bookshelf, pulled out a paperclipped glob that seemed a coherent whole and flipped to the middle. Skimmed down, found the above sentence fragment. Turns out it's from my very first ever completed short story that I submitted anywhere. Of course it was rejected, me having so much to learn from that point, but thank you for allowing me to remember this bit of my own history.

Favorite word in the segment is, of course, "ordinary."

[writtenwyrdd]

That's neat, Peter. Ordinary is a great word, isn't it?

[Whirlochre]

As will she, apparently.

So I vote for "she".

[Simon Kewin]

From Hedge WItch - a novel of my own :

It filled most of the cavern, curled up, its eyes

And I suppose I like the word "cavern" from those!

[Simon Kewin]

That is a great tee-shirt. And, hey, I've just noticed you're a Pastafarian like me! All hail his noodly appendages!

[writtenwyrdd]

Pasta on, Simon.