Tag: Prompt Contest

Light-Themed Prompt Contest

Cassandra4 Comments

We could all use a little more light right now, don’t you think?

The Prompted contest for May was light-themed, partially because of the need for more light, partially because my flash fiction story “Secret Agent Lampshade” was published today only on Havok. (Sorry I’m posting this so late. Marit, my fellow judge, and I had a hard time coordinating schedules.)

As usual, the stories were to be 150 words or less, which is a difficult challenge, to be sure. But they all did marvelously!

Here are the Instagram posts:

Now for the winners!

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Flower-Themed Prompt Contest Winners

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Happy Valentine’s Day, friends! Whether you’re celebrating it with a significant other or single and working all day like me, I hope you have an amazing day!

So, as some of you may know, I just ended my first flash fiction prompt contest of 2020. It went even better than I had hoped for. There were over 100 comments on two of the prompts (most were not entries–people were interacting with each other regarding the stories), and it was amazing to see.

Here are the prompt posts on Instagram if you want to see all the entries:

The abundance of participants also meant that this contest was even more difficult in terms of choosing a winner. Shaina and I deliberated for an hour last night trying to decide who would win. After talking with her, I might end up doing first and second place winners in future contests. We’ll see.

Anyway, onto the winners!

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One-Prompt Contest Winners

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This month is NaNoWriMo, which means that I, like many other writers out there, am attempting 50,000 words in one month. Crazy, right?

I’m at 27,000 words currently. It’s been exhausting and stressful, contributing to a lot of late nights, but seeing the progress on my WIP and feeling the thrill of accomplishing so much has made it worth it for me.

However, it meant that I didn’t want to do a full prompt contest this month. Not only did I figure that most of you wouldn’t be contributing much, but also I didn’t have the energy or time for it. Instead, after receiving some feedback from you, I decided to hold a one-prompt contest.

The Prompt

This picture is from Pinterest. It does not belong to me.

The contest was supposed to be in celebration of my short story “Skinthief” being published on Havok. But due to some scheduling complications, I had to hold the contest after the story was already published. This was a problem because Havok only keeps a story available to the public for 24 hours; otherwise, you have to be a member to read it. So, if you want to read it, you’ll have to become a Havok member (which is really cheap, by the way, but I totally understand if not).

Now onto the contest itself! The word limit this time was 150 words (I just can’t help lengthening the word limit! We’ll see what the next one will be!).

I want to give a big thanks to everyone who participated. I loved reading all the creativity, and I wish I could choose more than one winner, but I can’t. (Unless you count the separate Facebook and Instagram winners.) So here are the winners!

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“The Will of the Sky” and Contest Winners!

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As some of you may know, my short story “The Will of the Sky” was published on Story Embers today! Story Embers is an incredible website, and I was so honored to receive second place in their short story contest this year. Finally, it has been shared with the world! (You should also check out Kate Flournoy’s “Ella,” which won first place. It’s well worth the heartbreak. Go New Wessex!)

“The Will of the Sky” is a desert fantasy about a man from an honor-shame culture who has been shamed by his son and wrestles with whether to forgive or exile him. It deals with the complicated nature of duty and family, honor and love. I hope you enjoy it.

The Contest

So, in honor of that win, I decided to make my third flash fiction contest desert-themed. Choosing winners is always so hard because of how many incredible stories I receive. I would recommend you check out all the entries, winners or not.

Here are the Instagram posts:

Here are the Facebook posts:

The Judge

This time, I had the honor of judging the contest alongside the lovely Shaina Merrick!

Shaina Merrick spins her web of stories from the Western Side of the Rockies. The mountains surrounding her show up in one way or another in many of her stories. Her favorite part of writing is the first blush of a story begging to be written. The germ of an idea carries her through the rest of the draft, and all the way through the editing process. As well as a healthy amount of chocolate and hiding in a cave of pillows with a good book. Books are the reason she began to write in the first place, the stories written down on paper whispered of the stories she could write, if she ever put the book down long enough to start them. The stories that inspire her the most are written by Maggie Steifvater, N.D. Wilson, and Jeanne Birdsall. If she could craft stories that are even half as compelling as those, life would be perfect.

I met Shaina at Realm Makers this year, and we became fast friends, holding deep conversations and giving lots of hugs. Having her help with the contest was not only fun but also helped me choose the winners! I’ll be switching off judges every month (though there will most likely be repeat judges over the months). If you’re interested in helping me judge, let me know!

Also, I hope you guys enjoyed the Facebook contest. I think it did decently well, so I plan to keep the Facebook contest running for at least another month to gauge its sustainability. As always, please let me know if there is anything I can do to better my contests. I want to make them the best they can be.

So, without further ado, here are the prompts and their esteemed winners!

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