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I have a little less than 41 days to turn a couple hundred thousand words worth of stories into a "manuscript" that is to be "less than 100,00 words" in length. 40 days and 40 nights is a pretty significant time frame; lots of Biblical references there. The grand prize for this contest is a guaranteed publishing contract with Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster; as well as a $5,000 dollar advance. It will be judged by members of a writing forum I belong to; that bothers me, because favorites will come into play I am sure. I'll just get to work, and let the cards be dealt. Time to lay them down and see if my pair of three's with a Queen high can win the pot.



Finalists will be picked based on the amount of "10 star" ratings. The lady that wrote about her arthritic poodle gets ten star ratings; but I had someone write a Haiku about my stories. Haikus are nice and all; I figure I have at least one ten star rating coming from that side of the table.

"I have tried every device I know to breathe life into my charcaters, for there is little in fiction more rewarding than to see real people on the page."

~James A. Michener



Wish me luck with allegory, allusion, metaphor and plain Southern English.



Contest info:

http://romancenovel.gather.com/



I swear I posted this already, but it looks like the forum ate it.

KB.;659380 wrote:



Wish me luck with allegory, allusion, metaphor and plain Southern English.






I wish you luck with all those things and anything else you need to do this....

This is a very cool thing indeed....

:-6 :-6 :-6

good luck and best wishes!! :-6

KB

I wish you lots of luck - your pretty creative and you'll do well.

Is there anything we can do? Can we help with any imput on the subject?

Good luck

Patsy

Patsy Warnick;659413 wrote: KB

I wish you lots of luck - your pretty creative and you'll do well.

Is there anything we can do? Can we help with any imput on the subject?

Good luck

Patsy


I've got more than enough of the subject; I've just got to make it less convoluted and trim it down a bit. Take out some things that would border on copyright infringement, and figure out a way to still use them as a vehicle to get the story moving. The well wishes are plenty, and I appreciate them.

Very Very Good...... I think your going to be famous one day:-4 I can feel it in my bones

Good luck and if you need any inspiration try our Jerry Springer files....

ok seriously mate all the best to ya, and when you get something in print I would love to buy a signed copy

M

Yeah me too, KB.

If I can do anything helpful for you, just give me the word.

What do you think of the opening two sentences? Would you keep reading,seriously?

"Salvation, not in the religious sense, but more of a personal awakening; it was a sudden spurt of life in a stagnant pond of a soul. I saw it one early May afternoon; it was full of July sky blue, the yellow of early wheat coated in sweet honey, and she held a new to the world child in her arms. "

alas i am a moron and i can not offer you any worthwhile advice but you have my best wishes of good luck ,i never ever read fiction yet i find you writings riveting that must tell you something :-6 :-6

KB.;659905 wrote: What do you think of the opening two sentences? Would you keep reading,seriously?

"Salvation, not in the religious sense, but more of a personal awakening; it was a sudden spurt of life in a stagnant pond of a soul. I saw it one early May afternoon; it was full of July sky blue, the yellow of early wheat coated in sweet honey, and she held a new to the world child in her arms. "


I like it. I like that Salvation is the first word- that's not a word to be taken lightly. I like all of it, truthfully. If not, I'd gently say so.

Have you ever read Barbara Kingsolver? You have unusual but vivid way with descriptions that remind me of her writings. She uses words that pull emotions to illustrate both events & plain inanimate objects.

I f**king love it. You will do great. Even if this contest doesn't pan out, there are plenty of opportunities for people with real talent and passion.



Good Luck :yh_shamrk

I like the opening lines.

'[love wrote: light;660235']Have you ever read Barbara Kingsolver? You have unusual but vivid way with descriptions that remind me of her writings. She uses words that pull emotions to illustrate both events & plain inanimate objects.

I f**king love it. You will do great. Even if this contest doesn't pan out, there are plenty of opportunities for people with real talent and passion.



Good Luck :yh_shamrk


Hey, thank-you. That means a lot especially coming from a fellow Tennessean. You are right this may not pan out, I don't get along with deadlines, but something will. I know that. Always good to hear someone else say it though.

"I f**king love it" That is my favorite compliment so far. Thats better than the haiku the cute chick wrote me.

minks;660240 wrote: I like the opening lines.


I'm going to cut some of it out, too much lace in it if you will.

KB.;660244 wrote: I'm going to cut some of it out, too much lace in it if you will.


hmmm stephen king always was "wordy".... careful what you cut out then

minks;660247 wrote: hmmm stephen king always was "wordy".... careful what you cut out then


Wordy is right. Thats my problem sometimes. Gonna bore people to tears with it all.

minks;660247 wrote: hmmm stephen king always was "wordy".... careful what you cut out then


He was, but I think too many words can drown your point.

KB.;660249 wrote: Wordy is right. Thats my problem sometimes. Gonna bore people to tears with it all.


wordy is good mind you.

I think back to some of the creative writing courses I took, and they really promoted detail. Again like stephen king. It's like painting a picture. You have to completely tell the feeling or the image you are trying to create.

I mean "the sky is blue" that is pretty flat eh. You have to describe the color of blue, if there is or isn't clouds, is there wind, sun, rain etc. I know it's a challenge KB I am not saying one way is right or wrong...

I think you will get it going just perfectly.

almostfamous;660250 wrote: If anything I would slim down the last sentence. 'new to the world baby' felt a little crowded.

:-6


how about I call you a g-bird and tell you to kiss my ass?



Just kidding, G-bird.

:-2



That was the one I was going to cut out, that and one other part. I got one more story to write on the myspace page before I get into full swing on this thing, and then I got to call that old Muse in St. Louis and tell her what I am doing, ask her permission to use some poetic license, and tell her thanks again before I get too involved in it all.

I spent some of the morning fixing up Ashley's myspace page, go check it out see what you think.