Next Writing Contest

Discuss writing, including writing tips & tricks, writing philosophy, writer's block, etc. If you have grammar questions, marketing questions, or if you want feedback on a poem or short story you wrote, please use the corresponding forum below.
Featured Topic: How to Get Your Book Published
Forum rules
If you have spelling or grammar questions, please post them in the International Grammar section.

If you want feedback for poetry or short stories you have written, please post the poem or short story in either the Creative Original Works: Short Stories section or the Creative Original Works: Poetry section.

If you have a book that you want reviewed, click here to submit your book for review.
Post Reply

What do you want the next writing contest to be?

Poll ended at 10 Sep 2015, 10:54

Poetry Contest
5
45%
Short Story Contest
4
36%
Novella Contest
2
18%
 
Total votes: 11

User avatar
margaretmbrooks1
Posts: 6
Joined: 01 Mar 2016, 01:09
Bookshelf Size: 0

Re: Next Writing Contest

Post by margaretmbrooks1 »

Participating in writing contests are empowering our writing skill. This will give an extra stamina and confident for writing.
User avatar
lirique6
Posts: 6
Joined: 27 May 2016, 23:13
Bookshelf Size: 0
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-lirique6.html

Post by lirique6 »

this sounds fun!
User avatar
P_hernandez
Posts: 146
Joined: 19 Jan 2016, 18:31
Currently Reading: Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children
Bookshelf Size: 39
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-p-hernandez.html
Latest Review: "Anna's Way" by D.F.Jones

Post by P_hernandez »

Is there a current contest?
Latest Review: "Anna's Way" by D.F.Jones
User avatar
Rokkababy
Posts: 3
Joined: 08 Aug 2016, 13:26
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Rokkababy »

I'm completely new to this!! Would love to work my mins in to writing again
dpuckridge
Posts: 33
Joined: 05 Jul 2016, 07:14
Bookshelf Size: 2

Post by dpuckridge »

When will the next "Writing Contest" be
User avatar
Sindhu Srinath
Posts: 857
Joined: 19 Sep 2016, 04:28
Currently Reading: Last Dance
Bookshelf Size: 272
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-sindhu-srinath.html
Latest Review: Terms of Service by Craig W. Stanfill
Reading Device: B06Y66GMC5

Post by Sindhu Srinath »

It would be good to be informed of the writing contests. I am totally interested! Please let me know!
User avatar
ebeth
Posts: 410
Joined: 02 Jul 2016, 16:31
Currently Reading: The Color of Destiny
Bookshelf Size: 69
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-ebeth.html
Latest Review: "Audiobooks.com Book of your Choice" by Audiobooks
Reading Device: B0097BEFA4

Post by ebeth »

I've always been interested in trying to write so I might even think about posting for the writing contest.
Latest Review: "Audiobooks.com Book of your Choice" by Audiobooks
User avatar
Lanyea
Posts: 3
Joined: 01 Nov 2016, 10:50
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Lanyea »

I have to mention i'm shocked that the Poetry genre won within the poll. though many folks wish to write poetry, i am unsure there's a large audience for poetry books. simply my opinion.
User avatar
cjohns105
Posts: 63
Joined: 17 Dec 2016, 17:37
Currently Reading: The Diary Of An Immortal (1945-1959)
Bookshelf Size: 137
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-cjohns105.html
Latest Review: "The bible's last message to a dying world" by Khurshid ali

Post by cjohns105 »

As many others have said, I would love to know when the next writing contest is! And since it appears that it has been a while since the last one, is there anywhere (or any way) that those of us who are interested could go to get the ball rolling on a new contest?
Latest Review: "The bible's last message to a dying world" by Khurshid ali
User avatar
karolinka
Posts: 213
Joined: 11 Oct 2016, 15:06
Bookshelf Size: 20
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-karolinka.html
Latest Review: "Loose Threads" by J. O. Quantaman
Reading Device: 1400698987

Post by karolinka »

I would love to take part, if the short story wins. I am not that good in writing poetry, and I am not sure if there is a good market for it.
"How to be a writer. Step one: Write."
- A. Beauchamp.
Latest Review: "Loose Threads" by J. O. Quantaman
User avatar
cherryalakei
Posts: 135
Joined: 07 Jan 2017, 19:13
Currently Reading: anita blake burnt offerings
Bookshelf Size: 61
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-cherryalakei.html
Latest Review: "30th Century: Escape" by Mark Kingston Levin

Post by cherryalakei »

Forgive me if this is in the wrong place, but is there going to be a contest this year? One of my goals this year is to try to write more, and work on finishing one of the several stories I've been working on and off on for awhile and hopefully try to get something published, even if it is through self publishing. I would love any info on the contests, that sounds like fun!

-- 11 Jan 2017, 18:37 --

I'm sorry if there was a misunderstanding, I'm not an author and I've never written anything other than just as a creative outlet.i an not trying to promote anything or sell anything or whatever, I was just browsing the forum and came across this, so I decided to ask, just wasn't sure who or where to ask. A contest sounded cool since one of my goals this year is just to practice writing. I'm sorry if this was in the wrong place or out of policy.
Latest Review: "30th Century: Escape" by Mark Kingston Levin
User avatar
karolinka
Posts: 213
Joined: 11 Oct 2016, 15:06
Bookshelf Size: 20
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-karolinka.html
Latest Review: "Loose Threads" by J. O. Quantaman
Reading Device: 1400698987

Post by karolinka »

I would love to participate! When does the contest start?
"How to be a writer. Step one: Write."
- A. Beauchamp.
Latest Review: "Loose Threads" by J. O. Quantaman
User avatar
anadmanni
Posts: 1
Joined: 19 Feb 2017, 06:46
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by anadmanni »

Seven Ways To Win A Story Contest

Would You Like to Win a Short Story Contest?

What do judges look for when awarding prizes in a story contest?

You’d expect every reader to bring their prejudices to the table – and they do – but professional judges usually agree to a remarkable degree on which stories merit an award.

How do I know? I’ve just judged several hundred entries in the Writers’ Village international short fiction contest.

To ensure fairness, I then submitted the shortlisted entries to a further panel of judges, all acclaimed authors. Their verdicts were almost identical.

How did they select the winners, among so many excellent stories?

The judges were not greatly moved by lyrical language, snappy dialogue or deep insights into the human condition. They looked for evidence of structure. Provided a story was competent in other respects, its structure, or lack of it, was the deciding factor.

How can you strengthen story structure? Ask these seven key questions of your story – and you’ll know!



1. Have you focused on just one protagonist?



A short story should have just one protagonist whose viewpoint the reader will occupy. A story may be told by several narrators, or through more than one point-of-view (pov), but one protagonist must clearly predominate to sustain the reader’s engagement in the story.

Chaucer told The Canterbury Tales – a collection of short stories – through 24 different points of view, but the presence of a single protagonist, the host Harry Bailey, is always implicit.



2. Do you bring on the protagonist quickly?



The main character should appear in the first 400 words of a short story or no later than page one. Readers bond with the first strong character they meet. It’s important that the first person they meet is not a bit-player who subsequently disappears.



3. Is conflict introduced almost at once?



The protagonist should be involved in one or more meaningful conflicts almost at once. The conflict(s) may be physical, emotional or psychological, but they must represent two or more forces opposed within the protagonist’s mind.

The conflicts in the stories of the late Tom Clancy might appear at times to be entirely military or physical, but the protagonists are simultaneously wrestling with inner conflicts such as self-doubt or divided loyalties.



4. Does your protagonist change?



The conflict must change the principal protagonist in some way; s/he should be a different person at the end of the story.

Stories presented as a serial may appeal because the reader knows the protagonist will not change their character from story to story. But s/he must still arrive at the end the story having learned something significantly new about themselves or human nature. Otherwise, the tale is a cartoon strip.

For example, Sherlock Holmes is a serial character. Nobody expects him to be a different person at the close of every conundrum he solves. But the stories usually end with him making some wise observation to Watson. The great detective has learned something new from each encounter and, to that degree, he has been changed. (Indeed, his meeting with Irene Adler in A Scandal in Bohemia radically changes his attitude towards women.)



5. Is there a single underlying theme?



Theme is the underlying significance of the plot. A short story should have just one prevailing theme, and a single master plot. All sub-plots, if any, and ensuing conflicts should support that theme.

The French scholar Georges Polti said there were only 36 master plots in all the stories of the world. For example, Polti’s first master plot involves a Persecutor, a Supplicant and a dubious Power which may favor one side or the other. Doesn’t that remind us of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, where the merchant Antonio is persecuted by Shylock but saved, after Portia’s entreaties, by the Duke of Venice?

The theme of this master plot? The power of mercy over hate…



6. Does your story close by revisiting the theme?



The close of your story should revisit, in some way, its theme. The central problem may be resolved, or the tale might close upon a note of tantalizing ambiguity. There might even be an acceptance that the issue(s) will never be resolved, but it must return – no matter how obliquely – to the theme. If it doesn’t, there’s no closure.

Even Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, which seems to end with no conclusion, does close. Because it returns the reader to the problem posed by the narrator at the start. What (really) is Truth? That problem defines the story’s master plot.



7. Have you engaged the primal emotions?



The theme must engage the protagonist’s, and, by extension, the reader’s, primal emotions or carnal drives. Defined in the crudest terms, these include sex (or procreation), physical survival (for self, family or tribe), emotional comfort (love, friendship and community), and spiritual survival or advancement.

The theme and ensuing conflicts in a strong story should involve one or more of these primal drives. If the protagonist is not personally threatened or engaged in these primal areas s/he must become emotionally involved with a character who is challenged in one or more of them.

For example, the crime stories of Kathy Reichs appear, at first glance, to involve no primal drive. They’re grim whodunits, escapist entertainment. But Reichs’ heroine, the forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, is obsessed with a passion to avenge the dead – to re-assert the values of a civilized community and so protect the ‘tribe’. That’s a primal drive.

The author can invoke a primal drive overtly, as in a suspense thriller, or tacitly, as in a literary story which fits into no obvious genre. But it must be done.



If your stories tick all these boxes, and are otherwise well-written, they deserve to be short-listed for an award.

If they don’t incorporate these elements, no tricks of plotting, characterization, dialogue or the like can help you. Because your stories will be dead. They won’t engage the reader.

Of course, there’s a lot more to writing great stories. No doubt, you can easily think of stories that broke each of these rules, yet won.
User avatar
Mannie913
Posts: 80
Joined: 28 Oct 2016, 08:11
Currently Reading: Sweep Volume 3
Bookshelf Size: 114
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-mannie913.html
Latest Review: "Audiobooks.com Book of your Choice" by Audiobooks
Reading Device: B00GDQDRPK

Post by Mannie913 »

Would love to see another contest!
Latest Review: "Audiobooks.com Book of your Choice" by Audiobooks
User avatar
Arvind Passey
Posts: 5
Joined: 02 Mar 2017, 03:16
Bookshelf Size: 3

Post by Arvind Passey »

When is the next writing contest here? I have written more than 1200 articles on my blog, have over 2000 poems still in diaries and notebooks.

I write on technology, travel, sports, politics... and have over a hundred book reviews to my credit.
Post Reply

Return to “Writing Discussion”