Fifty dollars in prize money!
Fame and the respect of your peers!
And did I mention fifty dollars in prize money?
This is the moment you've all been waiting for! It's the announcement of the stories entered in the Second Annual Halloween Story Challenge; a challenge so important it requires two judges. Yes, Bruce and I will be reading your stories, discussing your stories and even choosing one of your stories as this week's winner.
This is easily the best Friday Challenge turnout I've ever seen. Interestingly, the Halloween challenge brought us
Vidad - The Window and Tonsil (Twice the Vidad as a normal challenge; will any of us be sane after this?)
Al - Vidad's Brain, Creele's Halloween and Spore (Update:
Ben-El - Eye of the Storm
torainfor - Halloween
The Aardvark - Life...Don't Talk to Me About Life
Thinker Van Chan - Martuin's Fall
miko - All Hallows' Day
Arisia - S&M Vampire Girls
Topher - Last Hallow's Eve
Letteren - Specters of my Past and Future
passingthrough - Ghost Story
Jamison Scott - Halloween Newspaper Item
As always, even if you haven't submitted an entry this week—even if you never submit an entry in any week—you're invited to read, comment on, and vote for your favorite. Don't be shy about leaving feedback on the authors' sites, either. Writers thrive on knowing that someone out there is actually reading their words. The winner will be announced on Sunday.
And now for this week's challenge.
"Releasing Your Inner Child"
Last Christmas, I read a book on writing by Kate Wilhelm, science fiction author and long time teacher at the famous Clarion Science Fiction Workshop. The book was a combination of writing advice and personal history of the Clarion Workshop. It was a good read even if it didn't tell me much about writing that I hadn't managed to figure out for myself over the last 30 years of writing and telling stories. But one thing she wrote stood out to me.
"If you can tell stories that keep the attention of children, you can succeed as a writer." I'm paraphrasing that and, since I can't find the book right now, won't be getting the exact quote any time soon.
Even after 30 years of writing and telling stories, I found this line to be very encouraging. After all, I spend many hours every year telling stories to children who, for the most part, pay attention to the stories.
And Kate is right about telling stories to kids. They are amazing sticklers for details! Vidad read a story of mine to his four year old son and Perry caught a mistake neither Vidad nor I had caught. Kids are also easily distracted, so a story has to keep renewing their interest from beginning to end. If it doesn't, you end up with antsy, distracted kids; the bane of storytellers the world over!
So, this week's challenge is to write a children's story. It can be a folk tale, fairy tale, talking animal story, adventure story or anything else your heart desires. Just make sure it will entertain a child.
As usual, we're playing for what's behind Door #3.
You've got your assignment. Now get busy writing!
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