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Announcing The Word Weaver 1000 Word SPRINT Writing Contest

Word Weaver SPRINT 1

* * * * * ANNOUNCING * * * * *

The Word Weaver

1000 Word SPRINT

* * * * * Writing Contest * * * * *

with over $300 in prizes!

img_2351-11Catch you by surprise, did I?

Our next full-fledged Word Weaver Writing Contest will be in July, and will have a theme of scary/eerie/macabre/dark. We’ll be kinda loose on that (I mean, “dark” covers a lot of ground) and we’ll look to create another scary-style anthology from the entries.

BUT!

Before we get into that, we have some things we need to address.

It’s commonly understood by editors and critique partners that writers tend to take a while to get a story up and running.

That’s hurting you, gang.

That’s a big no-no.

GRAB your reader on page one, in the first paragraph.

In the first sentence, if possible.

Then take them for a roller coaster ride.

I’ve been reading your Word Weaver stories for a while now, and editing your books, and critiquing your essays, and working with you in my Private Critique Group – so this challenge is designed to help you where you need it most. (TIPS for winning a writing contest HERE)

SPEED

Get to the point of your story quickly.

How do we do that? Practice.

YOU will have 1000 words to create a story or story segment that involves DIALOGUE and ACTION of some sort. These are the two things you guys struggle with.

Yes, one of those was a link to my book. Calm down. It’s a dollar.

This SPRINT has a 1000 word limit.

1001 words = you are OUT.

What’s a sprint? A very short story. For this contest, 1000 words.

It doesn’t need a tidy ending, either. Leave it as a cliffhanger. That’s okay. This is about getting up and running quickly.

1000 words, not counting your name and the story title. NO PROLOGUES, excuses or explanations!

DROP ME INTO A SCENE AND MAKE IT INTERESTING

LEARN HOW TO GET YOURSELF UP AND RUNNING QUICKLY

Tomorrow, I’ll give you some examples of how to do this.

Writing short stories helps you get up to speed quickly in your novel writing. Look at Game Of Thrones. The opening (prologue) of Book 1 reads like a short story, hinting at stuff but totally grabbing the reader.IMG_4189

Lucy’s most recent book, Sinister Dexter, does the same thing – it opens with an argument about stuff the characters aren’t supposed to know about.

SPEED DOESN’T KILL; SPEED IS KILLER

You have TWO WEEKS ONLY to get your story (or story segment) written and sent in. (Get some helpful hints tomorrow)

The contest entry period runs from from May 13, 2018 – May 27, 2018 at midnight Eastern Standard Time. The official announcement with be Sunday May 13, and it will look a LOT like this, but it’ll be shared everywhere. (But look! You are learning about it today! You have an advantage!)

If you already wrote something, hey, you’re ahead of the game again!

I will critique every entry myself!

img_2351-11Yep, I’ll critique your 1,000 word piece, whether you win or not, just for entering.

I will give you the Dan Treatment of your 1,000 word piece, just like I do in my private critique group. Don’t worry, I’m pretty nice and very encouraging. Most people like my crits. Not all, though. Some people are just babies.

YOUR STORY DOES NOT HAVE TO BE 1000 WORDS.

It can be shorter. If you get it in 750, you’re good to go. (This isn’t Carrot Ranch.)

Prizes will be awarded for

1st, 2nd, and 3rd place

THE FIRST PLACE PRIZE IS VALUED AT OVER $300!

I’ll probably only award 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, and that’s probably it, but you never know. If we get five or six really good stories, I may go deeper into the place winners. I do that.

FIRST PLACE PRIZE PACKAGE:

owl and pussycat promotions

A 1-Year Platinum Author Package from

Owl and Pussycat Promotions

The winning author will receive:

  • Your own Page on our website.
  • Your own Website connected to The Owl Branch with your books,
    bio, and links. (Social & Book links)
  • Social Media Promoting on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Pinterest MeWe, Alignable and Hootsuite
  • Author Interview
  • Provide special announcements for your events, book signings etc.
  • Host an author event especially for you &
  • Provide Takeovers for your event. (two times per year)

PLUS:

A Blog Tour or Author Video!

Gang, this is a HUGE prize package!

“Good luck to everyone!”

Viv Drewa, Karen Vaughan, and Dellani Oakes

and

ALL WINNING ENTRIES WILL BE FEATURED HERE ON THE BLOG

AND

THE WINNING AUTHORS WILL GET A PROFILE DONE, TOO

PLUS DOOR PRIZES JUST FOR ENTERING!

SPONSOR A DOOR PRIZE!

On the start date of the contest, May 13, 2018, and in all contest announcements, I will be showcasing our very generous First Prize Sponsor and all other sponsors and door prize sponsors. YOU CAN BE ONE!

Contact me and tell me you wanna be a sponsor, and YOUR BOOK (or your writing-related product or service) will be featured prominently throughout out contest.

The winners’ posts and profiles for the recent Word Weaver contest received over 1,750 views in just 8 days!

That’s a lot of eyeballs on your book, author!

Yes. yes it is.

OKAY, HERE ARE THE RULES

NO LIMIT ON ENTRIES BY ANY ONE PERSON. You wanna enter 10 stories? Pay 10 fees. I’m totally okay with that.

You must enter an original piece of your own writing and pay the entry fee. Please don’t exceed 1000 words because you’ll be automatically eliminated from winning (but I’ll still critique your first 1000 words because I’m a nice guy). You can do it. Entries can be as short as you want. FEEL FREE  TO USE A SECTION OF YOUR UNRELEASED BOOK. (That’s what I’d do.)

THEME: NO real “theme” per se, but your story must incorporate DIALOGUE and ACTION of some sort. Don’t feel too limited. I’m pretty loose with this aspect.  Wanna have some insights into what I like? Check out some winning entries from prior contests (April, July and November) and not just the first place winners.

All entries must be submitted on or before midnight Eastern time on May 27, 2018. THAT’S ABOUT TWO WEEKS. It’s okay to enter early, but not late. There is NO restriction on genre. Go crazy. You can have love in your psycho thriller. You may submit a chapter or passage from your book if you so desire (I would – this is great publicity), but it should be an unpublished work.

HOW TO ENTER

You MUST submit your entry via the Contact Me button and pay your $10.00 entry fee in UNITED STATES CURRENCY (which means some of you will need to do a little math with the exchange rates), via PayPal.  (That’s the U. S. link; you will need to use the one that works for your country by doing a quick internet search for PayPal and creating an account. It’s free and easy, trust me.)

Please use the PayPal “friends and family” method to send your fee to  dalatorr@verizon.net

PLEASE SEND A WORD DOCUMENT (WordPress text and PDFs mess up the formatting). Simply send me a message using the Contact Me button saying you want to enter and I’ll email you back; from there you’ll be able to attach your piece. IF YOU DO NOT GET A REPLY WITHIN 24 HOURS, ASSUME AN EMAIL SCREW UP AND EMAIL ME AGAIN. (Not using Word? Attach it in whatever you used. If there’s a problem, I’ll let you know. But please try to use Word, okay?)

LEGAL STUFF

Void where prohibited. ALL entries will be subscribed to my email list. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you. (I don’t know how.) A lot of the entries’ email addresses don’t get on the list because it’s work and I’m lazy. Maybe you should save me the trouble and just sign up yourself, okay? Winners will be notified here on the blog in a big announcement, and they will be contacted by email, either by me or by the sponsor donating the prize, to make arrangements to get their prize – that might include a mailing address to deliver a paperback to. Winners who live outside of the country of the sponsor whose prize they won may be limited to a prize that can be emailed or sent electronically, like an eBook, audio book, PDF, or Amazon gift card. You still get your work published here, and the profile, etc., if you win those things, but sorry; mailing a paperback from here to Canada and other places is super expensive, so we’re letting you guys into the contest but we have to limit the costs that way. I’m sure you understand. NO LIMIT ON ENTRIES BY ANY ONE PERSON until our preset number is reached. You wanna enter 10 stories? Pay 10 fees. By entering you agree to all this stuff and that I pretty much get free reign in selecting the winners and everything else but it’s probably gonna be stuff that appealed to me. Typos matter but content matters more. The door prize winners will mostly be by random drawing and I’m not above awarding stuff to a really great fourth place entry. Or not.

WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON OR AROUND SUNDAY JUNE 3, 2018

unless I get an overwhelming amount of entries, and then I’ll delay that part but trust me you’ll know way in advance because I’ll be whining about it here on the blog.

You are probably a better writer than you think. Time to launch your rocket!

Tic, toc. May 27, 2018 will be here before you know it.

PLEASE TELL EVERY WRITER YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS CONTEST!

img_2351-2REBLOG this! And please SHARE this post on Facebook and Twitter! Your friends need to know about this contest, too.

See those little buttons down below? Put on your glasses. There they are. Click them.

Dan Alatorre is the author of several bestsellers and the amazing paranormal thriller “An Angel On Her Shoulder.”  Click HERE to get your copy of Angel – FREE on Kindle Unlimited!

 Available in paperback format, too!

 

 

 

23 replies on “Announcing The Word Weaver 1000 Word SPRINT Writing Contest”

Thank you. (I think someone else may have technically come up with it.) My readers tend to get their short stories up and running pretty fast, but not always, and I have come to learn that other people’s readers don’t, so we can all work on it.

Should be fun!

Liked by 2 people

A challenge that will be sure to have many folk reaching for their pens or keyboards.
Reblogged

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It certainly is.
I would be tempted to try, but am currently in Half-Marathon Mode on a Fantasy project with a lot of slow burn and character insight which is great fun but a durn style for me to currently get out of.
My best wishes to everyone involved.

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