The First Rule of Being a Professional Writer is:
Paying work on deadline always takes priority.
For those new to this site, The Friday Challenge is some respects a collateral descendant of the now-closed blog, The Ranting Room. However, the intention is that this site will be considerably more focused than that site was. To this end this site is the collective work of many minds and hands, including significant amounts of reader-generated content, and with the exception of this post, we hope to adhere to the following fairly rigid posting schedule.
Monday, 7 A.M.: The keynote piece for the week; a moderately lengthy post on some topic of interest to writers. We're especially interested in "What works for me"-type articles, and if you'd like to write one, please contact us at the email address on the masthead.In addition to the major scheduled items, we hope to run a number of asynchronous and ongoing sidebar discussions, which you will find listed in the left column. For example, there's The Idea Exchange, where, if you're looking for an idea about something to write, we'll have a list of ideas that are free for taking. All we ask is that if you someday come up with an idea you know you'll never develop yourself but wouldn't mind seeing someone else use, you consider dropping it off there. Similarly, there's The Recipe Exchange, because writers cannot live on words alone—and to be blunt, if you're trying to live on a writer's income, you can probably use some help stretching the grocery budget.
Wednesday, 7 A.M.: Review Day. We're looking for reviews of websites, books, and (from time to time) movies of interest to our readers. In particular we're looking for reviews of books on writing; some days it seems there are more of them published than actual novels, and we'd like your opinions. Are there any of these books that you've found useful or that you'd warn other writers to stay away from?
We are also especially keen to run reviews of websites that publish fiction. We are increasingly of the opinion that the old-line print magazines are tiny cellulose sarcophagi where stories go to be embalmed forever and writer's careers go to die and be forgotten. This is the 21st Century: all the exciting action is online. Are there any websites you feel we should be reading, or new and emerging writers you think we should be keeping an eye on? Particularly, if you've submitted content to any of these sites, we want to hear about your experience as a writer. Don't keep it a secret; share your news.
Friday, 7 A.M.: This is what this site revolves around, of course; The Friday Challenge, a rather relaxed sort of writing contest. Each Friday we post a new writing challenge, and you have one week to respond. A week later we all gather together again to read and vote on the responses; a winner is chosen and a new challenge issued; and so on, and so on...
There is a method to the madness, and we'll have more to say on that in a moment, but first, let's finish laying out the weekly schedule.
Saturday, 7 A.M.: Open Topic day. Ideally, we'd like to see this become a "What I Did This Week" bulletin board. If you're writing a novel: how much progress did you make this week? If you're writing short stories: did you finish anything or submit anything? Above all we'd really like to see this become a place to share your success stories—but in order to have success stories, you must first write something, and then you must finish what you write!
So what sort of progress did you make on your writing this week?
Sunday, 7 A.M.: It's Curse of the Were-Weasel day. If all goes according to plan, it's also the day on which the winner of the previous week's Friday Challenge is announced.
The one we've begun with the most trepidation is The Story Morgue. This is not the place to workshop fiction you're still hoping to sell. Rather, this is the place to dump the bodies of stories you've given up all hope of ever selling and the dismembered remains of novels you've given up all hope of ever completing. The emphasis here is on literary necropsy: we already know the thing is dead; the question to be answered is, what killed it? Colonel Mustard, in the library, with the pipe wrench? Read the story on the slab and give us your best theory.
(However, be advised that we will be watching this area quite closely, as we've had some bad experiences in the past with "critique sadists" and we do wonder if putting work out there on this basis won't draw obnoxious jerks in the same way that a rotting buffalo carcass draws buzzards, blowflies, and maggots. Which we also feel adequately describes what we think of said jerks.)
Sidebar to the Sidebar: The question also has been asked as to whether The Story Morgue might be an invitation to plagiarism. The uncomfortable truth is that the reason it's newsworthy when a big-name author steals material from a relatively unknown author is because it happens so rarely. Generally, the sort of people interested in plagiarizing other people's work are looking to steal successful work.
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