HOOK 'EM CONTEST 2021

As writers, we long to compose stories that our readers find too magnetic to put down. How do we begin to accomplish this? The narrative hook.

Narrative Hook = “a literary technique in the opening of a story that "hooks" the reader's attention so that they will keep on reading. The "opening" may consist of several paragraphs for a short story, or several pages for a novel, but ideally it is the opening sentence.”

Our goal for this contest is to establish the narrative hook within a story’s first 200 Words.

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Submissions open: Monday, May 31
Submissions close, voting begins: Monday June 14, 11:59 pm, US Central
Voting closes, winners announced: Monday, June 28



 One entry only
 Word limit: 200 (Your entry may be fewer than 200 words, but not more. Your entry may end in the middle of a sentence.)
 I am using THIS WORD COUNTER to ensure entries do not exceed the limit.
 Your story must be unique, written specifically for this contest. You may not submit a story you have already been working on or wrote in the past. Nor will we accept fan fiction for this particular contest.
 Do NOT disclose which entry is yours.




No template required. The prompt and word count restriction make a template rather pointless.

Send your entry to me (Raveneye) via Private Message in BB Code according to THESE INSTRUCTIONS. Each entry will be posted anonymously in the Poetry Forum. I will not edit mistakes, typos, or for readability.

NOTE: The ProBoards private message system does NOT allow us to edit our PMs. If you see a problem with your entry, you may resend it up to the moment I post it for judging.

Each entry will be posted anonymously in the 200 Words forum.



Voting is open to all Legendfirians! Every contestant is REQUIRED to vote.

Unless excused for serious reasons, you must vote on all entries. You will receive reminders of this requirement 1 week, 3 days, and 1 day prior to the end of the voting period. If you do not vote on ALL entries, your entry will be disqualified.

Please follow these steps:

1. Critique each entry according to the following questions. Answer them as thoroughly as possible. Two sentences minimum per question. The goal is to help the author improve their craft. NOTE: voters who leave one-liner critiques to justify their vote will receive warnings according to our warning system.

Technical writing elements: Which elements were technically sound in this entry? What still needs work? (Particularly surrounding the narrative hook.)
 Artistic writing elements: What appealed to me in this entry? What might benefit from revision? (Consider things like how engaging the hook is, appropriate word choice, metaphor, imagery, uniqueness, etc.)
Prompt: How well does this entry relate to the prompt?

2. Assign each area a numerical value: Rate each entry from 1 to 5, with five being the most favorable.

3. Add your scores and divide by 3 to get an average score. For example: 3.5 + 3 + 4 = 3.5 (The contest host will collect all the averaged scores for each entry and tally the overall average to determine the winners.)

 You may vote for yourself to maintain your anonymity. This vote will not count toward the final score.

 All entries must have the same number of votes for each vote to count. For example, if over half the entries receive 7 votes, we will set the final vote requirement to 7 votes per entry.








 100 Hard Honor Points for all entrants, upon submitting their entry
 1st Place winners: an additional 200 Hard Honor Points, for a total of 300. A 3500 word edit by ScienceGirl . Entry’s inclusion in the LegendFire Compendium.
 2nd and 3rd Place winners: an additional 100 Hard Honor Points, for a total of 200. Entry’s inclusion in the LegendFire Compendium.

(Contestants must edit their Honor Points themselves within their profile settings)




Tell everyone about the contest by adding the contest badge to your signature.


[img]https://i.ibb.co/fkYndrs/mythic.png[/img]

REGISTRATION

Please post below, telling me you plan to enter.

1. Raveneye
2. Alatariel
3. ScintillaMyntan
4. Cruci
5. Bird
6. Aubrey
7. wolfwriter089
8. Foxxglove
9. ScienceGirl
10. Jib
11. Frostguard
12. tglassy
13. Pelwrath
14. yankoo
15. ruhaab
16.