Indie e-Con 2018 Writing Contest




As this year's e-Con theme was genres, we focused our contest on genres.
So, instead of covers nodding to the publication process, we did genre-oriented prompts.

With a twist.

Each of the prompts below was assigned a genre. HOWEVER, the twist is, that you couldn't write your story in the assigned genre. You had to look beyond the obvious and discover the hidden stories in these prompts.

These 



Not to be written as Contemporary:
Best story - The Trouble with Abductions by Oliva Ann

Not to be written as Fantasy:
Best Story - A Shroud of Glitter by Hosannah Emily

Not to be written as Historical Fiction:
Only story - Higher Glyphs by Rachel Roden

Not to be written as Mystery:
Best story - Love Blind by Angie Thompson 

Not to be written as Romance:
Best story - Code by Angie Thompson

Not to be written as Science Fiction:
No entries
Second Place: 
Shroud of Glitter by Hosannah Emily
Congratulations! You've won a cover design by Victoria Lynn and a five chapter beta by Emily Mundell.

First Place:
Love Blind by Angie Thompson
Congratulations! You've won a cover design by Rachel Rossano (To be used within the year), a GiraffeCrafts critique, and a GiraffeCrafts Blog Tour. 

The Finalists will be posted on this blog over the course of next week. And to those of you who didn't win - I skimmed over every one, and there was a brilliant display of talent. I don't know how my judges chose between you guys. 

Comments

  1. Ooooh. I'm getting ideas. :D
    Quick question mostly relating to the romance prompt: you say it can't be in the romance genre, but does that mean there can be no romance in it? Or just that romance can't be the primary genre? Because I'm getting Beauty and the Beast retelling vibes from it- probably some kind of urban fantasy thing- and yeah.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Also, do you qualify steampunk as more sci-fi or fantasy? Because it's basically a crossover between those two and historical fiction.

      Delete
    2. The point of this contest is to look beyond the obvious. It will ultimately be the choice of the judges, but one of the criteria that I will give them is the distance you put between your story and the prompt's genre. Including it as a subplot doesn't distance it by much. Perhaps you could try to make a platonic B&B retelling?

      I classify steampunk as sci-fi stuffed in Historical fiction, with the occasional sprinkling of fantasy. Provided you don't include any magic, I'll let you use the Fantasy prompt, and since steampunk is typically the Victorian era, and my HiFi prompt is not obviously Victorian era, I'll let you use that one too, but not the sci-fi prompt.

      Delete
    3. Platonic is potentially possible. We shall see where my mind goes. If all else fails, I'll steal the prompt to write a story not for the contest.

      Huh. I actually had an idea for the HiFi prompt already, but making it steampunk could be interesting . . . but the sci-fi prompt was the one I was asking for, because I have a steampunk storyworld (heavy on the fantasy) that the prompt would've fit marvelously in . . . but oh well.

      Thanks for the clarification!

      Delete
  2. Does the prompt itself have to be the first line of the story?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No. Doesn't even have to be IN the story. I just have to clearly recognize that you used that prompt to baseline your story.

      Delete
  3. LOOKS SO COOL. I just might participate (if I have time). This was an amazing idea, btw!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AND I'M ALSO SUPER TORN UP WHETHER TO SIGN UP TO BE A JUDGE or try to enter. *cries* Are there any criteria/requirements for being a judge?? :DD

      Delete
    2. There's no requirements, though I'd prefer it if you were published author or a professional editor. I'm not hurting for judges at the moment, either.

      Delete
  4. This looks cool! I have a couple questions.

    1) I noticed someone else already asked whether we have to include the prompt as the opening line, and you said that no, it doesn't even have to be in the book, it just needs to be clear that we used it as a starting point. Can we use the prompt in a slightly re-worded way (i.e. "it was hot enough to fry an egg on the street" instead of sidewalk) in the story?

    2) May we use characters/the general plotline of a story that came to us as the result of a different writing prompt elsewhere on the Internet? As in, if I started a story a while ago going off a different prompt, can I use the same characters/elements of the same plot if I change it around a little to fit this prompt?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sure and sure.

      *could have sworn that she'd already answered your question. Guess I did it in a dream...*

      Delete
    2. Just submitted mine! Whew! *wipes brow*

      Delete
  5. What are the requirements for being a judge for the contest?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Um ... being able to read???? I'd prefer you to be a featured author or a professional editor, though. Also, I'm more in need of entries than I am of judges at the moment.

      Delete
    2. Okay, sounds good. I was just curious. I would love to get in on this particular contest, but I'm already working on two projects right now, so, maybe next time.

      Delete
  6. Super late I know but are we allowed to combine prompts? And if so, do we have to pick one category to enter it as? For example if I combined the Not-Contemporary and Not-Fantasy prompts, should I say "Not a Fantasy or Contemporary" when sending it in? Or just "Not a Fantasy" (or "Not a Contemporary")? (I'm planning to use both the lines directly in my story)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Due to the fact that I will be sorting the stories out to the judges by prompt ... sticky question. I think, if yes, it will count as two entries and I'll send it to both the judge for the non-fantasies and the judge for the non-contemporaries.

      Let me get back to you.

      Delete
  7. I might be interested in participating. Do you have more details on the prizes now?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, I unfortunately do not. My life took a turn for the crazy, and I'm only just now getting the form out to the authors who volunteered to give out prizes. I do know that it will probably be editing/formatting/art/marketing services, and the one confirmed prize I have is a cover design by Alea Harper. There may be a GiraffeCrafts blog tour, as well ... depending on what the other authors offer.

      Delete
  8. Aw man! I just found out about this! And I have a few ideas too!! Is it possible that I might be able to still join? Or is it really too late? (If so, that's fine, I'll be sure to keep an eye out next year!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, spaghetti! I completely forgot to change the date on this post. I actually extended the deadline on this contest, due to a lack of entries. You have until May 7th to enter.

      Delete
    2. Oh sweet!! I'm joining!! Got two great ideas, and I'll try to spread the word!!

      Delete
  9. Congratulations to the winners!! Especially on the note that it sounds like we made it hard on them!! Way to go!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Eeeep!!! So excited!!!

    Thanks for the ideas and the motivation, Kendra! I had a lot of fun with these, and they definitely helped to pull me out of my writing slump. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ahh, how exciting! Thank you for these creative writing prompts, Kendra. I wished I had time to enter all the categories, as they were such good ideas. =) And I'm eager to read the other entrees!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm very interested to read yours, too, Hosanna! I had an idea in mind for the not-fantasy prompt but it spiraled out of control on me, and I didn't think I could keep it within the word count. I would love to see what someone else did with it! :D

      Delete
    2. The same to you, Angie! Actually, I had a hard time with word count as well. Somehow, I read the instructions wrong, and I was trying to keep my story under the minimum word count (and then discovered that my story could have been much longer...oops!). This contest was a good way for me to seek the story God put into my heart... so thankful for this opportunity! <3

      Delete

Post a Comment

Find this post helpful? Leave a comment and let me know!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Popular posts from this blog

Introducing: The Arista Challenge

Accurate Dialogue with Kelsey Bryant

Handling the Physical with Tammy Lash