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Post by RAVENEYE on Jun 1, 2022 15:21:27 GMT -6
VOTING IS CLOSED
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.
YOUR THEME: Our theme this year is situational. Please consider the following phrase as you brainstorm ideas:
Abandoned a lone explorer finds an abandoned… CONTEST SCHEDULE Submissions open: Monday, June 2 Submissions close: Friday, June 17, 11:59 pm, US Central Voting closes: Friday, July 1 Winners announced: Saturday, July 2
CONTEST BASICS
One entry only, of any genre
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.
Paste this template to your entry:
Title: Genre: Trigger Warnings:
SUBMITTING YOUR ENTRY Send your entry to Caulder Melhaire via Private Message in BB Code according to THESE INSTRUCTIONS. Each entry will be posted anonymously in the 200 Words Forum. We 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 to Caulder Melhaire up to the moment he posts it for judging.
Each entry will be posted anonymously in the 200 Words forum.JUDGING 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 before 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. See the Resources below if you need help critiquing. 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.RESOURCES
WINNERS!
All Contestants: 100 Hard Honor Points for all entrants, upon submitting their entry
1st Place: an additional 200 Hard Honor Points, for a total of 300. Optional publication in the LegendFire Compendium.
2nd and 3rd Place: an additional 100 Hard Honor Points, for a total of 200. Optional publication in the LegendFire Compendium.
(Contestants must edit their Honor Points themselves within their profile settings) CONTEST PROMOTING
Tell everyone about the contest by adding the contest badge to your signature.  [img]https://i.ibb.co/JB3W7gh/abandoned2.png[/img] REGISTRATION:1. Raveneye 2. Sundrinker 3. ScintillaMyntan 4. Pelwrath 5. Soliton 6. Foxxglove 7. Alatariel 8. labrat 9.
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Post by RAVENEYE on Jun 1, 2022 15:38:48 GMT -6
Please note! You'll need to submit your entries to Caulder, not to me. I will be out of town the week of submission time. If you submit your entry to me, it won't be posted for the contest in time.
I'll be back to close the contest, however. Best of luck, all! I can't wait to see what you write.
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Post by Sundrinker on Jun 1, 2022 15:39:18 GMT -6
Woo, finally! What an interesting theme. Not sure if I'll enter just yet but I'll try brainstorming some ideas.
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Post by ScintillaMyntan on Jun 1, 2022 17:21:44 GMT -6
I'm entering. Looks like a fun one.
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Post by pelwrath on Jun 1, 2022 20:34:59 GMT -6
Oh great I need to create another opening for a story. I remeber how that Cambion came out in the wash in the last one. Oh well, I'll give a fewdasy to come up with something.
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Post by pelwrath on Jun 1, 2022 22:45:16 GMT -6
Well that didn't take as long as I thought. I have something I can sculpt, for I see the words in it.
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Post by RAVENEYE on Jun 2, 2022 8:07:19 GMT -6
Well that didn't take as long as I thought. I have something I can sculpt, for I see the words in it. Woot! Go, Pel, go! Whew, I'm gonna be strapped for time on writing this one. Totally bummed. At least it's only 200 words. I'll be squeezing any writing in between family summer stuff. Gonna be tight. And probably not so great. Especially since I have no idea what I'm gonna write about yet.
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Post by FoxxGlove on Jun 3, 2022 7:15:04 GMT -6
Does this need to be 200 words exactly, regardless if that comes in the middle of a sentence, for example?
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Post by Mazulla on Jun 3, 2022 9:20:26 GMT -6
Question: Drawing inspiration from a 100-word story I did last year, I've been really wanting to try my hand at writing an idea into an actual short story or flash fiction piece, which I think would fit this prompt nicely. Would that be allowable with starting from scratch?
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Post by RAVENEYE on Jun 3, 2022 9:22:43 GMT -6
Does this need to be 200 words exactly, regardless if that comes in the middle of a sentence, for example? Your entry can be shorter than 200 words, and if it's 200 words exactly, it may stop in the middle of a sentence.
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Post by RAVENEYE on Jun 3, 2022 9:26:18 GMT -6
Question: Drawing inspiration from a 100-word story I did last year, I've been really wanting to try my hand at writing an idea into an actual short story or flash fiction piece, which I think would fit this prompt nicely. Would that be allowable with starting from scratch? The idea may be recycled, but the content you wrote last year may not be used. I.E. you would need to use different words to describe the scenario. It's got to be original starting from June 2. However, after the contest, that rule goes out the window and your story is yours to reuse old content or keep the new version or combine the two, whatever. Make sense?
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Soliton
Ember
 
sceoquethan
Posts: 211
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Post by Soliton on Jun 3, 2022 13:47:48 GMT -6
Sign me up for this challenge. Sounds fun.
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Post by FoxxGlove on Jun 3, 2022 16:31:55 GMT -6
I’m in. No inspiration yet but I’m working on it.
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Post by ScintillaMyntan on Jun 3, 2022 18:39:59 GMT -6
To be clear, what's an 'explorer'? Do they have to be exploring on purpose, or could they just fall in a hole or otherwise get to the unfamiliar thing by accident? Do they have to explore actual forgotten or uncharted territory or could they 'explore' a well-populated town they've never been to?
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Post by FoxxGlove on Jun 3, 2022 19:41:21 GMT -6
To be clear, what's an 'explorer'? Do they have to be exploring on purpose, or could they just fall in a hole or otherwise get to the unfamiliar thing by accident? Do they have to explore actual forgotten or uncharted territory or could they 'explore' a well-populated town they've never been to? Excellent questions. The answers could very well spark my creative process a little better.
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