Category: Friday Fun-Day

Friday Fun-Day Writing Prompt: A Box-Shaped Mystery

As you may have seen on my Twitter or Facebook feed, I recently learned that I have been longlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association’s (CWA) Margery Allingham Short Story Competition. In honor of this news, I’ve created a writing prompt inspired by the quote which is the criteria for this contest:

Margery Allingham was the author of the “golden age” detective fiction series featuring the gentleman sleuth Albert Campion.

Image retrieved from the Margery Allingham Wikipedia Entry

The Mystery remains box-shaped, at once a prison and a refuge. Its four walls are, roughly, a Crime, a Mystery, an Enquiry and a Conclusion with an Element of Satisfaction in it.

Margery Allingham

 Here’s the prompt:

You come home from a typical day of work, running errands, chauffeuring the kids, hanging out with friends or your significant other, whatever. When you get inside you find a mysterious box set in the middle of the living room. You open the box and discover that it’s no ordinary box–it contains your worst fear.

Take five minutes to write notes on the box. How big is it? What does it look like? Is there any writing on it? What’s inside? Is it a physical object that you fear or something more existential? Why are you afraid of it? What’s your reaction when you see it? How does it make you feel and what do you do with it?

Using these notes for reference, write a short story or scene about the discovery of this box. It doesn’t have to be a mystery or a crime story, although it certainly can be if that’s what you want. It can be fantasy, horror, romance, whatever. Have fun with it.

When you’re done, feel free to post an excerpt in the comments below. I’d love to see what you come up with.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Margery Allingham Short Story Competition, the CWA, or the quote I provided above, check out this website: https://thecwa.co.uk/debuts/short-story-competition/.

Have a fun and productive weekend of writing!

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Publishing Opportunity: Hookline Books

Happy Friday once again. Today I want to tell you about a unique publishing opportunity through Hookline Books. I owe this tip to my program’s director, Dilys Rose. This chance is for students and graduates of M.A. creative writing courses.

Before I describe this opportunity in-depth, I have to make one thing perfectly clear: Hookline Books only accepts one manuscript submission per writer per year. They use this limit to ensure that people submit only their best work without having to implement a deadline or submission fee.

Here’s what happens:

  1. You submit the first free chapters of your book and a brief synopsis.
  2. Hookline Books assigns your submission to book groups to read and features it on the “Discover New Authors” page.
  3. If readers like it, Hookline Books will ask for the entire manuscript.
  4. This next part I’m going to quote directly from their site so as to not misquote them:
    • “Writers who receive a thumbs up will be offered an ebook contract. Those who receive a resounding thumbs up will have their work published in paperback and ebook format.”

There’s no deadline, no submission fee. As long as you remember that you can only submit once per year and give them your best work, you’ll have a shot at getting published. If nothing else, it’s great practice for submitting your work and word about your book can reach a wider audience.

I know it may not seem fair that this contest is specifically for students and graduates of Master’s in Creative Writing programs. Hookline Books does this because these writers have put a lot of time and money into improving their craft. The publisher just wants to give these new writers a chance.

Don’t worry. There are a lot of contests available for people who aren’t in Master’s programs. Check out my blog post on this Writer’s Digest contest for another publishing opportunity.

Good luck on this and all your endeavors!

 

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Friday Fun-Day Quote on Writing: What’s a Little Blood

Welcome back to Friday Fun-Day! I’ve been under the weather this week so I haven’t been able to come up with anything elaborate for today. I have, however, tracked down a quote on writing that gives me a chuckle.

Before I give you the quote, I have to preface it with a warning: I’m not 100% sure who said it. Some people say it’s Ernest Hemingway, others say it’s Red Smith. So I’m going to include the link to the website from which I retrieved the quote and leave you to research the original speaker for yourself:

“There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.”

Such fine words to live by. What’s a little blood when creating a masterpiece which may not even pay the bills? After all, writers are a bunch of masochists.

On that cheery note, I wish you all a happy and productive weekend of writing. I’m hoping to be back to full power by Monday, so keep an eye out for my next post on writing as a migraine sufferer.

Also, if you learn for certain which writer penned this quote, please leave that information and your source in the comments. Thanks!

 

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

 

Another Writing Contest from Writer’s Digest

Hello world and all who write in it! It’s the weekend once again, and I’m here to provide you with another excellent opportunity from our friends at Writer’s Digest.

There are no small opportunities, but this contest is definitely bigger than the last one. I’m walking about Writer’s Digest‘s Annual Writing Competition.

Here are the most important details:

  • The grand prize winner will be announced on a subscriber’s issue of the magazine, receive $5000 in cash, and much more.
  • There are nine different categories in which you can enter.
  • There are two deadlines, the early bird deadline on May 5th and the final deadline on June 1st.
  • The cost to enter varies depending on type of entry (poetry versus manuscript), number of entries, and the deadline. I normally wouldn’t recommend contests with entry/reading fees but Writer’s Digest is well-established and the contest is in its 86th year, so you can safely enter without fear of being scammed.

For full information on the contest and how to enter, follow this link:

http://www.writersdigest.com/writers-digest-competitions/annual-writing-competition

I wish everyone the best luck.

 

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Friday Fun-Day Writing Prompt: And Then the Murders Began

Welcome to another regular feature on The Writer’s Scrap Bin: Friday Fun-Day. Every Friday I’m going to dedicate at least one post to something fun, like interesting facts about a famous writer, literary crosswords, etc.

Today’s Friday Fun-Day post is a writing prompt. Three or so weeks ago my mother brought to my attention a particularly entertaining trend on Twitter. Marc Laidlaw tweeted “The first line of almost any story can be improved by making sure the second line is, ‘And then the murders began.'” As you can imagine, Twitter had a lot of fun with this concept, taking famous first lines and following them with “And then the murders began.” Thus #LaidlawsRule began.

In addition to getting a kick out of the tweets, I was inspired to create a new writing prompt.

Find a generic, horrible first line and add “And then the murders began” or some variation of it. Use this combination as the opening to a story and keep writing.

I haven’t had the time to fully pursue my idea yet, but I will put the opening as an example:

“Around here, strawberries don’t ripen until late spring. And then the murders begin.”

Make the first line as hilariously terrible as you can. Have fun, roll with it. When you’re done, post your opening in the comments. I’d love to see what everyone comes up with.

 

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011