Articles with the contest Tag
Well, we had a fantastic response to the second half of our Hook, Line, and Sinker contest this month. There were 25 total votes and of our three entries our winner was a clear favorite. I think many of us were drawn to the drama and intrigue in that very first sentence. What do you think hooked you?
Our lucky winner is:
I’m going to kill him. Caleb found comfort in that thought. And he meant it this time. It would be quick and clean, and he could leave the body in a ditch where they were widening the highway… (read more)
Congratulations L. L. McKinney!
Fantastic hook! I’ll be in touch to get your postal details so that Les and I can get your books to you as quickly as possible.
Thank you to our other entrants, Susan Swan and Robin Joy Wirth and another huge big thank you to Les Edgerton for the added support and donation of Finding Your Voice. I know you’ll love Les’ blog, “Les Edgerton On Writing”, so check it out today!
We’ll have another new contest in September and you can tell me what you’d like to see given away or what kind of contests you’d be interested in. Leave a comment below to congratulate our winners, thank Les and our entrants, and let me know what you’d like to see at The Craft of Writing Fiction in the coming months.
We’ve had some wonderful entries in our Hook, Line and Sinker contest but now it’s time to let YOU choose which of our entries takes home their own copy of Hooked and Finding Your Voice. A HUGE big thank you to Les Edgerton for generously supporting The Craft of Writing Fiction. Check out his blog!
Now it’s time to decide which of our great entries has the most compelling hook and that’s where you can help. We’re running a poll until 8am EST August 31, 2010 where you can choose which of our entries is your favorite hook. Drum up votes for your favorites by inviting your friends to choose their favorite too. Don’t forget to click “like” on The Craft of Writing Fiction’s Facebook Fan page because next month we’ll be giving away something special just for our Facebook Fans.
Are you looking forward to future competitions? After you’ve voted stop back here to let me know not only that you’ve voted but also what you’d love to win and how you’d like to enter future contests.
It’s time to give away something awesome again! This month I’m finally letting go of the extra copy of Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers At Page One And Never Lets Them Go by Les Edgerton. I first read and loved Les Edgerton’s book, Hooked, on the 16th of September 2007. I can tell you exactly because the next day I wrote a glowing review which you can read here. When I attended the Reader’s Digest Writer’s Conference in Los Angeles in 2008 I couldn’t resist purchasing a second copy intending to give it away to a lucky reader. Mine is a beloved copy with the spine cracked and pages scoured over but his sister is still pristine and really deserves a home of her own where she can feel the same love from another eager writer.
When I knew what I was going to let one of you win a copy this month I wondered what kind of competition to create to get you involved and interacting with each other. The Craft of Writing Fiction is a community of writers and we need events that promote that community feel. After thinking long and hard I was inspired! What better way to get writers involved if they want to win than to ask them to write something?
Of course, with so many talented writers I’d be hard pressed to choose who will win from among the stories you might send me so we’ll do this in two parts. This week, write a story, poem, or article with a compelling “Hook” and next week we’ll run a poll where you can each vote for the “hook” you think should win. And you can invite your friends and family to vote for you. And tell your neighbor to vote. And if your dog or kids have a Facebook account they can vote too!
So, lets define a few rules:
The Prize:
One compelling writer will win a paperback copy of Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers At Page One And Never Lets Them Go by Les Edgerton valued at $14.99 USD
This just in! Les offered to add an autographed copy of “Finding Your Voice: How to Put Personality in Your Writing” to the prize pool so our winning writer will win TWO fantastic books.
To Enter:
- Write a story, poem, or article with a compelling “Hook”.
- Word Count: 250 to 800 words.
- Share on your own blog: And link back to the competition.
If you don’t have a blog you can share directly in the comments below.
The link to this page is: http://www.craftingfiction.com/?p=4779 - Entries accepted from August 16 until 8am EST August 23, 2010
Choosing A Winner:
- Become a fan of our Facebook Fan Page by clicking “like” on the page here.
- Vote for the story, poem, or article you feel has the most interesting/compelling “Hook”.
- Invite others to vote for their favorite “Hook”. (They need to be fans too because only fans can vote.)
- Votes accepted from August 24 until 8am EST August 31, 2010
It’s time to get writing!
Brainstorm a few ideas and get the words done on the page. Then hone that opening until it’s a captivating hook that will snag readers attention and keep them riveted to your writing. Don’t forget to link to or share your story, poem, or article in the comments below.
Photo Credit: 03-09-10 © sellingpix
Book Cover: Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers At Page One And Never Lets Them Go by Les Edgerton
It’s TIME! Yay! It’s time to announce the winner for this months contest. If you missed out, never fear because we’ll give away something awesome in August too so stay tuned for that but lets do a round up of our entries, see some of those fantastic questions again and find out who gets to see Edwina and Cecelia landing on their doorstep very soon for free!
Don’t forget, you can order the books for yourself. Simply click, “Edwina” or “Cecelia” and you can order both from $31.18 right now!
I want to take this moment to thank each of the commenters for taking the time to write a thoughtful comment. It is wonderful to have an opportunity to interact with each of you and to share your ideas and thoughts. I know Patricia truly appreciates your feedback. You asked some wonderful questions and I’d like to open the floor for our readers, many of whom are also fiction writers, to share their own thoughts, ideas, and experiences.
- Misti Sandefur asked, “Before you begin writing a novel, do you create a character outline to use as a guide?” – Click here to share your answer.
- Patti Harris asked, “Do you stick closely with an ‘overall’ outline, or your original plot idea? Or do you set the characters free on paper to go off on their own adventure once your story is underway?” – Click here to share your answer.
- Becky asked, “Aside from solving the problems and conflicts of the plot, how do you tie things up when you write?” – Click here to share your answer.
If you haven’t had a chance to read the three parts of Patricia Strefling’s interview you don’t want to miss them:
- Writing Romance and Strong Character with Patricia Strefling
- Writing a Novel with Romance Author Patricia Strefling
- Self Publishing: Patricia Strefling Shares Her Experience
Now, without further ado, our winner!
Congratulations to Becky, who not only asked a fantastic question but commented on all three posts. Obviously increasing your odds of being the winner really does help! Thanks for your eager participation Becky and thanks again to all those who took part and those who shared the posts with their friends.
Make sure you subscribe to our new RSS Feed so you won’t miss your chance to be the winner of next month’s contest. We’ve got some great posts lined up and more interesting Author Interviews to come. Is there anything you’d like to ask your favorite authors? Who would you love to talk to about writing? Share your favorite writers and the questions you’d love to ask them in the comments below.
That’s right!
Guess who’s turning 3?
The Craft of Writing Fiction is celebrating it’s third birthday this month. We’re giving away some awesome prizes. So keep reading to find out how you can win!
Wow, can you believe it’s been three years already? Around this time each year, The Craft of Writing Fiction grows and changes. We reflect on what worked, and what didn’t. We consider you, our readers, what you’ve loved, what you’ve hated, where you’d like to see us go from here, and how you can win prizes. If you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback, we’d love to hear from you.
After a strong three years support from freelancers, I’d like to focus our thoughts this year toward Fiction and the Craft of Writing.
Last year we opened the floor to writer’s from around the world and became a true “collaborative blogging project”. The contributions so far have been fantastic. As we look forward to the year ahead I’d like to extend a special invitation to fiction writers, especially those who are interested in promoting their books. There are so many fantastic reasons to get involved and it goes beyond the opportunity to win prizes. Find out exactly “Why YOU Should Write For The Craft of Writing Fiction“.
Becoming a contributing author isn’t the only way you can promote your books here either. Ask me about our blog tours, author interviews, and book review opportunities.
So, want to know what you can win?
To kick off another year with style we’re giving you fantastic win prizes. Writers will absolutely LOVE these goodies. Trust me, I know, because I’ve loved them all myself and recommend them any chance I get. There are three prize packs and lots of ways to enter so there is no excuse not to get involved and spread the word.
1st Place [valued over $100]
- Anthemion‘s Writer’s Cafe Software with Storylines
- AND “How To Create Believable Characters” from Men With Pens
- AND “The Unlimited Freelancer” from Mason Hipp and James Chartrand
- AND Problogger‘s “31 Days To Build A Better Blog“
2nd Place [valued over $40]
- “How To Create Believable Characters” from Men With Pens
- AND “The Unlimited Freelancer” from Mason Hipp and James Chartrand
OR Problogger‘s “31 Days To Build A Better Blog“
3rd Place [valued over $19]
- “The Unlimited Freelancer” from Mason Hipp and James Chartrand
OR Problogger‘s “31 Days To Build A Better Blog“
How do you get your hands on this booty?
Because I like to give as many people as many chances to win prizes as possible there are lots of ways you can enter. Some methods are worth more than others based on the effort required but it’s worth making a little extra effort to increase your odds.
- Leave a comment listing your top 5 all-time favorite CF posts. (5 entries)
- Write a blog post on your own blog: (10 entries)
- Fiction Writers: a fiction story about a birthday
- Non-Fiction Writers: interesting non-fiction birthday facts
You must include a link back announcing this contest to your readers.
- Stumble this contest with StumbleUpon (2 entries)
- Share this contest via Twitter. (max 1 entry in 12 hours totaling 2 entries per day)
- Share this contest with Plurk. (max 1 entry in 12 hours totaling 2 entries per day)
- Share this contest on Facebook. (max 1 entry in 12 hours totaling 2 entries per day)
- Add @laffarsmith on Twitter, Plurk, or Facebook. (1 entry per network)
- leave a comment if you were already my friend on any of those networks for a free entry.
Remember to come back here and leave a comment to let me know you’ve done any of the above. If you forget you can’t win prizes!
What about rules? Any of those?
Actually, not a whole lot. I’m going to reserve the right to disqualify for unsportsmanlike behavior. But anyone can enter and anyone can win. There are no limits on age, gender, or location. You can tell all your friends and talk them into entering even if they don’t want the prizes so that you can score them. You can bribe people to help you win. You can shamelessly promote the contest. So long as you’re keeping it fun and lively then you rock!
I guess the only really important rule is the deadline. We’re going to rock up those entries for three party-hard weeks! So you still have a chance to win prizes but only if you hurry! Entries close Friday June 25th 2010.
And YOU MUST LEAVE A COMMENT when you complete any of the above ways to enter so that I know you’re entered and can track all of your entries.
One final note before you go.
I’m sponsoring this contest myself but I’m hoping to offer more contests in the future and want to invite prize donations and competition sponsors to step up and help me out. If you’re an author would you consider giving away a copy of your book? Do you make cool pens? Do you ship wicked gadgets and gizmos? I’d love to plug your stuff and your business in exchange for the opportunity to give some goodies to the thousands of CF readers eager to win prizes.
Ok, now bring on those entries!
Let’s get this party started!
Don’t forget to leave your comments below when you enter!
This month, talented writer-mother, Cindy Hudson, tours the blogosphere with her latest book. And, to celebrate, one lucky winner will have a free copy of “Book by Book, the complete guide to creating mother-daughter book clubs” (Seal Press, October 2009) in their letterbox. There are lots of chances to win but time is limited so get your entries in before 8am EST Monday the 17th of May so we can announce the winner in two weeks.
Next Monday, I’ll share with you a fantastic interview with Cindy where she shares her ideas for including family in our reading and writing passion. Meanwhile, read the competition rules below and get your entries in now!
Book by Book Contest
To enter the contest you must answer the following question in the comments below:
“How do you, or could you, share a love of language with your children?”
Rules for eligibility:
1. You must answer the question in the comments below.
2. Your answer counts as your first entry.
3. You must leave a comment to notify me of any additional entries.
4. Additional entries are only counted if you already answered the question.
5. You must be 13 years of age or older.
6. Entries close 8am Monday, 17th of May.
49 additional chances to win
- Share this contest on Twitter (earns 1 additional entry up to once per day)
- Share this contest on Plurk (earns 1 additional entry up to once per day)
- Share this contest on Facebook (earns 1 additional entry up to once per day)
- Stumble this post (earns 2 additional entries)
- Share this competition in a post on your own blog (earns 2 additional entries)
- Follow @laffarsmith on Twitter (earns 1 additional entry)
- Follow @momdtrbookclub on Twitter and tweet (earns 2 additional entries) the following:
- “I’m following @momdtrbookclub because of her blog tour (and contest) at @laffarsmith’s awesome Writer’s Round-About!“
Double Check Those Rules
Double check those rules and take advantage the 49 additional entries to increase your odds of being our lucky winner and don’t forget you’ve only got until
8am EST Monday May 17th to enter.
Good luck!
Get started by answering the question now!
“How do you, or could you, share a love of language with your children?”
In part 3 of our 4-part interview with Rachel Swirsky, she discussed Secrets of Dialogue, Character, and Plot. But genre fiction — science fiction and fantasy, in particular — have their own rules for both writing and marketing your work. With more than 10 years experience as a widely-published science fiction and fantasy writer, Hugo and Nebula Award-nominee Rachel Swirsky shares her best genre-specific tips.
Dawn: Your latest novelette, “Eros, Philia, Agape,” plays with conventions established by Isaac Asimov’s Robot series. I don’t want to ask you that tired old question of “where do you get your ideas” but I am curious: Where did you get the idea for that specific story?
Rachel: The story has been compared to Asimov’s work a number of times, but I didn’t have his work in mind when I was writing. The major inspirations were two-fold.
I had recently participated in a flash fiction contest with open judging wherein there were a number of robot stories, which my friend Ann Leckie and I started calling coin-operated boy stories.
One in particular involved a woman who had ordered a robot as a sex toy, but she didn’t enjoy sex with it. She would have sex with it–which is, essentially, masturbation–but it read to me as this totally passive event, like she was having sex with the robot for the robot’s pleasure. I thought it was a bizarre construction of female sexuality. There’s this idea that women only have sex because men enjoy it–and that’s odd enough. But why would you masturbate with a robot if you didn’t get some pleasure out of it? Since the robot in the story wasn’t sentient, that’s like having sex for the dildo’s enjoyment. So that was the most shallow inspiration–my character was going to want her robot as a lover, not passively accept it for the robot’s benefit.
After I committed to writing a coin-operated boy story, I started thinking about something Octavia Butler said about how the American consciousness is shaped by slavery. She said it has distorted our ability to love. I chewed on that for a long time. In “Eros, Philia, Agape“, Lucian is, essentially, Adriana’s slave. He’s a coddled slave, and I think Adriana has made a sincere effort to give them freedom and make them equals. But she can’t really–Lucian’s origins are still in slavery.
I believe that people who love each other often wreak terrible things on each other through best intentions–and this is a story that involves that, too. They all love each other, but love is not a panacea.
I imagine the story as an essential moral ambiguity. There are no right choices for anyone to make; no ways for everyone to be healed; everything that happens involves pain. At least, that’s my interpretation. Others have read the story differently.
Dawn: It sounds like you follow the adage that a writer reads, constantly!
Rachel: This is good advice for other kinds of writers, too, but there are some reasons it’s a good idea for science fiction and fantasy writers that are specific to the genre. The kinds of technology and world-building that appear in science fiction and fantasy stories tend to build on each other in ways that you have to know if you’re going to write relevant material.
Technology that’s introduced in one set of stories–for instance, in stories by William Gibson–becomes foundational for subgenres, as Gibson’s did for cyberpunk. You don’t want to reinvent the science fictional wheel. Also, idea is primary to many science fiction and fantasy stories in a way that it’s primary to very few literary short stories. There’s a push toward innovation, to describing a kind of new technology idea that no one has ever seen before, or rendering an entirely new treatment of an old concept. You can’t innovate if you don’t know what the old material looks like.
Dawn: Yes, exposition is another challenge more prevalent in science fiction and fantasy, right?
Rachel: You have to build a world as part of your exposition. It’s a knotty problem. That’s why workshops aimed at mainstream writers sometimes fail for science fiction and fantasy writers. Most mainstream writers have never thought about how to solve exposition issues. They may also get distracted by things like not understanding what, say, a generation ship is, or that salamanders are associated with fire–things your audience would already know.
That doesn’t mean mainstream-oriented workshops can’t be useful to science fiction and fantasy authors — they have been massively useful for me — but it’s good to be aware of their limitations. Reading people who handle their exposition well (Orson Scott Card names Octavia Butler as a master at it, and I agree) seems to be the most useful tool.
Dawn: How can science fiction and fantasy writers market their work?
Rachel: There are a couple of websites– ralan.com and duotrope.com come to mind–that keep track of salient details of short story markets. Of course, they’re not going to do all the work for you. You have to figure out where to send.
It may be tempting to start with small markets where you feel like you have a higher chance, but don’t do it — a top-down marketing strategy is best. Aim high. Then, if the best market doesn’t take your stuff, try the second-best market.
You might start with Clarkesworld, Fantasy Magazine, Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, Realms of Fantasy, Asimov’s Science Fiction and Fact, Analog, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Weird Tales, Interzone, Chiarascuro, and some of the other big hitters, and then make your way into the semi-pros, the well-respected token paying markets, and so on.
It’s relatively easy to figure out who the pro markets are because the Science Fiction Writers of America keeps a list of magazines that meet their qualifying criteria. Read widely, and then submit to the magazines that publish stories you like.
I do not recommend submitting to magazines whose stories you don’t like because you figure you can do better than that and they must be desperate for quality. Either they will reject you because they don’t like the kind of thing you do and you’ll feel bad, or you’ll be embarrassed by the credit later because it will associate you with fiction you think is inferior.
You can read stories and poetry by Rachel Swirsky at:
Tor.com
Subterranean Magazine
Fantasy Magazine
Weird Tales
Beneath Ceaseless SkiesFind out more at RachelSwirsky.com
Dawn: What about networking in the science fiction and fantasy community?
Rachel: Find places where science fiction and fantasy writers hang out, on Absolute Write, or Livejournal, or the Codex Writers Group if you qualify to join it–or wherever else–and keep your ear to the ground. Short story writers talk about magazines constantly, so you’ll learn the buzz. Those are the best methods, but if you’re still looking for stuff, I also recently wrote a brief article at Ecstatic Days about some of the ways I decide where to submit my work that lists a number of smaller magazines I like.
Later this month, Sue William Silverman, author of “Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir” is visiting Writer’s Round-About as she travels the Web on her August Blog Tour hosted by Wow! Women On Writing. But before she gets here, I need YOUR help!
When Angela and Jodi of Wow! asked if I would take part in Sue’s blog tour this August I knew I wanted to be involved but I wanted to do more than just review “Fearless Confessions”. I wanted to give Sue as much launch as WRA could offer and not just for her book but the whole idea of writing fearlessly! As many regular WRA readers know, I’m a writer frequently plagued by fear and the idea of taking fear out of the writing experience appeals to me. What is the real secret to writing Fearless Confessions and can Sue’s guidance regarding memoir be taken into other writing genres?
Questions! The questions that sprung to mind compelled me to ask Sue to meet with me for an interview. But, to be honest, I’ve not had much experience with interviewing. That is where you come in. Sue is making herself available to our questions, I have a few of my own but would love to include your questions in my interview. What would you like to ask Sue? Do you have any questions about writing with fear?
As if having this opportunity to ask you questions might not be enough I want to give a copy of “Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir” to one special WRA Reader. I don’t know how many of your questions we will be able to include in the interview (hopefully Sue will have time to answer any that are not covered when she visits) but one of the questions submitted and selected for the interview will earn a copy of Sue’s book.
It really is that easy. Ask your questions in the comments between now and August 17th and you could win!
Wow, July just flew by didn’t it? I hope you had a fantastic month. I’m excited because, after a couple of lean months, the beginning of August has brought me a few new gigs. Others around me have found business picking up too! Is this a sign that the economy is improving, or that our marketing skills are blossoming? How is business for you?
This month we have some exciting features. The most notable being a fantastic Blog Tour with Sue William Silverman, author of “Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir“. I will share my review of her book on the 10th of August but in a few days you will have an opportunity to suggest questions for inclusion in my interview of Sue (tentatively scheduled for the 17th) and enter this months contest for a chance to win a copy of “Fearless Confessions“. Sue joins us again on the 21st with a fantastic post about using Sensory Description.
I have a few other posts lined up from me and I hope some other writer’s will consider adding contributions of their own this month. If you’re not involved in our collaborative blogging project find out how you can become a WRA writer!
With this fantastic line-up be sure to subscribe via RSS so you don’t miss a thing. Is there something you want to read about or a topic of particular interest to you at the moment? Leave your suggestions in the comments or send me an email. What would you like to see on Writer’s Round-About this month?
I really love having an opportunity to share this fantastic interview with Christina Katz. I’ve been a fan of Christina’s for a long time and was fortunate enough to meet her at the Writer’s Digest Writer’s Conference in L.A. last year. She really is as lovely in person as she sounds in her books.
While I was at the conference, I picked up an extra copy of her book, Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids, and I’d love to give it away to a lucky Writer’s Round-About reader!
How do you win? It’s easy, just leave a comment here and you go into the draw. It really is as simple as that. Of course, if you tweet the contest you’ll get a second entry into the draw and if you add a comment to Christina’s interview you’ll earn a third. Entries close May 31st, 2009 so act now!
