Welcome to the Micro-fiction Contest. The challenge is to produce a short story within the tight word limit of 250 words based on a one-word prompt. The prompt word this week is “nest.” The primary goal of this contest is to give Steem fiction writers a regular opportunity to write, and to encourage the practice of editing and refining our work. As an incentive, each week one author who writes a well-written and edited story wins 2 SBD. We collaborate with the #freewrite community and @FreeWriteHouse to give writers an opportunity to polish those freewrite fiction pieces and re-post the refined version. A thank you to @mariannewest for helping to spread the word! Contest entrants, be sure to review the rules below and include the weekly prompt word in your story. In the rest of this post you will find:
- An intro to the micro-fiction contest
- Last week’s winner
- The contest rules
About the micro-fiction contest
Micro-fiction short stories are fun to write, and they stretch your skills. The challenge is to write a complete story within a tight word limit. If you’re just trying it out for the first time, welcome! Here are a few FAQs:
- Why participate? Because it’s an interesting challenge, and a really great way to hone your fiction writing and editing skills. Oh, and it gives you something to post weekly.
- What makes a great micro-fiction story? As we all know, critique of the arts is subjective. That said, I have a few metrics for choosing the best entry:
- Is the story well-written and edited? (A compelling story line, and no spelling or punctuation errors.)
- Does it have the elements of a story? For example, a true story must have a conflict of some kind. It could be a conflict between people, an inner conflict or deep desire of a character, or a big challenge such as an oncoming storm. And there must be a resolution to the conflict. For example, the character might walk away from the conflict or breathe a sigh of relief. (Need an example? My latest one is here: The Walk.)
- Is the story satisfying to read? Remember you are writing for readers. The story must have interesting character(s) and story elements.
- What else do I need to know?
- See the rules below. There are just a few of them, especially around use of images, and there are some great image resources for you.
- Note also that the deadline isn’t as firm as a lot of contests. It’s always on a Saturday, but as long as your entry comes in before the next prompt post comes out (usually late Sunday or early Monday), it’s fine.
Writing resources
If you are not sure how to write a compelling story, see my mini writing workshop series (tagged #writingworkshop). The latest post is What is the trouble with adverbs in fiction? and it includes links to all of the workshop posts. You can also have someone else read your story and help with your storyline, grammar and punctuation. There are multiple Steem writing communities to help you:
- Inkubator
- @FreeWriteHouse
- @steemfiction
- #isleofwrite
- #speculativefiction
- @steemhousepub
Last week’s winning entry
Thank you to everyone who participated in last week’s contest: @wakeupkitty, @gaby-crb, @deeanndmathews, @botefarm, @felixgarciap, @niallon11, @universoperirdido, @redheadpei, @adncabrera and @jadams2k18. It was interesting to see what our participants did with the “window” prompt. Please read them all!
Honorable mentions
In addition to the winning entry, I would like to mention a few inspired stand-outs from last week’s collection:
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- 13 St Mellons Road, by @gaby-crb
- Window, by @niallon11
- Window, by Micro-fiction Contest newcomer @deeanndmathews
The winner!
The story I’ve chosen as last week’s winning entry is The dog in the window, by @adncabrera. Story summary (no spoilers): An apartment janitor deals with some strange characters. And not all of them are humans. Thank you again to all participants. Your work is always a joy to read!
New micro-fiction short story prompt and rules
The new prompt for this coming week is “nest.” I look forward to seeing what you come up with! The deadline is Saturday, June 1, with a grace period until the new contest post is up.
Contest rules
- Write a micro-fiction story in 250 words or less and post it to your blog, then provide a link to the story in the comments. Please do not post your story in the comments!
- Use only artwork that you have the right to use, and attribute it properly. See “Use of images” below.
- Use the #microfiction tag. If you would like to write your story to exactly 50 words or 100 words, feel free to use the #fiftywords or #100words tag, as appropriate. And finally, #flashfiction is a great tag as well.
You can use any posting tool, e.g. Steemit, Busy, Partiko, or Steampeak. Just please publish it on its own, not combined with any other contest.
Note that you are not required to upvote or resteem this post, nor are you required to support other participants. Entries will be judged on merit only. But active community participation and support of your fellow writers is, of course, highly encouraged.
Use of images
You are welcome to illustrate your story with an image, as long as you have the right to use it. One of the following must be true:
- The image is public domain, or under creative commons licensing. See the resource links below.
- It is your own image.
- If it is not one of the above, you must have actual permission.
Be sure to properly attribute the image’s source or mention that the image is yours.
Here are some creative commons and public domain image resources:
Good luck micro-fiction writers!
Invitation to current and past participants
If you are active on Steem and have participated in past #fiftywords and #microfiction challenges. I invite you to jump in and be a part of this weekly micro-fiction contest. If you prefer not to be tagged in my weekly post, please let me know! @ablaze, @adncabrera, @ahmadmanga, @anixio, @barski, @bimjer, @blueeyes8960, @blueteddy, @bex-dk, @bimjer, @botefarm, @cairi, @caleblailmusik, @calluna, @cheekah, @chireerocks, @chrisbarth, @cizzo, @cloudblade, @creatr, @darthgexe, @deeanndmathews, @deemarshall, @deirdyweirdy, @diebitch, @dirge, @dranuvar, @ducksaplenty, @eaglespirit, @elbrujo, @emergehealthier, @enjar, @felixgarciap, @gaby-crb, @galatichunter @gmatthe2, @goastrighter, @hlezama, @imaluv54, @iamjadeline, @intothewild, @jadams2k18, @jasminearch, @jmvanbreda, @joeylim, @jonknight, @kaelci, @karupanocitizen, @letalis-laetitia, @manoldonchev, @maparari, @marie-jay, @marlyncabrera, @marvyinnovation, @michaias, @missladybug, @mrnightmares, @negativer, @niallon11, @nmcdougal94, @nocturnus, @oscarina, @piandex, @poetrybyjeremy, @pokerm, @purpledaisy57, @preparedwombat, @pyemoney, @pyrowngs, @raj808, @razel, @redheadpei, @rokhani, @roxy-cat, @sayee, @sevendust04, @shanedustin, @sidekickmatt, @simonpennon, @stever82, @stinawog, @tabyington, @theironfelix, @thinknzombie, @tristancarax, @tygertyger, @universoperdido, @vdux, @wakeupkitty, @wales, @wems, @wordymouth 
