Writers' Bloc - Creative Writing Off Topic Thread

km85264

Mr E wrote: »

I'm going to write something for the Francis McManus short story competition.

Details and rules here:
https://www.rte.ie/radio1/francis-macmanus-short-story/

Has to be between 1800 and 2000 words, submission by May 8th (3 weeks from tomorrow).

You can also submit online.

Thanks for pointing this out, Mr E. I had a story ready to go but was feeling lazy about the whole printing/posting thing. Submittable is so much better. My story is in. I've applied about ten times now without so much as a sniff of a long listing, but you gotta keep going. Don't know if anybody saw the article with Danielle McLoughlin in this month's Writers' Forum magazine, great advice about just keep your stories moving on, keep submitting. Very inspiring.

FunLover18

pixelburp wrote: »

On another note and am dead curious: has anyone ever indulged in any "Fan Fiction"? Could be tricky to get an honest answer - given it can be something of a guilty / secret pleasure - but lately, in the absence of substantial ideas I've wondered if I might dabble myself. I'd have readymade characters, situations and tone all there - something I often struggle with - and could be an interesting exercise to write outside of a conventional comfort zone.

This is something that been at the back of my mind and since you've asked it's come forward and I've doing some research on the thing I'd like to write fanfiction about. I dabbled with a blog previously and I enjoyed not having a plan going in, just letting it all flow so I'm hoping this might provide the same experience. I'll report back.

pixelburp

1,400 written for the RTE short story. Going to scribble those last 600 words as I have an idea of how to end it, then go back and tighten / expand where necessary. I'll be submitting the first draft but don't care, would really like to get it submitted.

FunLover18 wrote: »

This is something that been at the back of my mind and since you've asked it's come forward and I've doing some research on the thing I'd like to write fanfiction about. I dabbled with a blog previously and I enjoyed not having a plan going in, just letting it all flow so I'm hoping this might provide the same experience. I'll report back.

That's interesting: I'll be interested to know how you get on so! I've always got the sense that fan-fiction has something of a bad rep, though probably thanks to "slash" fiction and 50 Shades... being the most famous piece of fan-fiction done good.

Livvie

Which fan fiction would everyone indulge in? Mine was Lord of the Rings.

pixelburp

2052 words after a couple of drafts. So close, but I think I can find 52+ words to excise. Overall happy enough with the shape, has come out better than I initially thought. Think the main character's motivation is kinda ropey, so may do a final tweak to the characters' voices.

Livvie wrote: »

Which fan fiction would everyone indulge in? Mine was Lord of the Rings.

My moderator status might give a clue: I like Dr. Who so been thinking of something from that universe. What I particularly like is how as a franchise it has no specific or constrained sense of theme or tone. It can be horror; farce; satire; melodrama etc. that's a nice bit of creative wriggle room.

Scuid Mhór

Hello all. I've never posted here before but I've had fiction, poetry and non-fiction published here and there. I'm currently 800 words into an attempt for the RTE short story prize after abandoning my initial effort.

Mr E

Mr E wrote: »

I'm going to write something for the Francis McManus short story competition.

Details and rules here:
https://www.rte.ie/radio1/francis-macmanus-short-story/

Has to be between 1800 and 2000 words, submission by May 8th (3 weeks from tomorrow).

You can also submit online.

Reminder: 1 week left.

pixelburp

For some reason, I thought the deadline was Tuesday; excellent, a smidge of extra.

Scuid Mhór

2900 words with the first draft completed, so need to cut down the word count by 33%. Having a week to edit seems like a lot of time.

pixelburp

~1990 words and needing a title now. Last line needs a little work so that final 1% may yet kill me mind you

Scuid Mhór

Down to 2,300 words. If I can cut three hundred more words and keep the story intact, I will be very happy with myself.

Scuid Mhór

2,000 words exactly! This could be it.

nigeldaniel

Best of luck to everyone who sent into the RTE comp. Hopefully, we will see some feedback from posters who get their stories over the line.

pixelburp

Done, I think. 1997 words after a few read-throughs, with some tidy up of punctuation and dialogue formatting (always something I miss). Even got a title too. Will sleep on it, and submit tomorrow, all going well. If I'm feeling particularly cavalier, might even post it on the forum

edit: just reading the rules, https://www.rte.ie/radio1/francis-macmanus-short-story/generic/2013/1031/483791-rules-and-regulations/ worth reminding folks to take a look & make sure their work adheres by them. No idea how severe the judges will be re. punctuation, grammar et all...

pixelburp

And submitted! 1,995 words.

That makes it the first story I've submitted to public criticism in years (bar the odd writing class). Yikes. Broadly happy with how it turned out, especially for something spitballed & drafted in a week. I don't even hate the ending that much.

One more caveat on the RTE form BTW: you add your story in a plain-text field, which I hate. All your tidy formatting goes out the window, leaving a Big Wall O' Text (it even stripped out my attempts at basic indenting). Feels like postal submissions have am automatic leg up for being more readable by default, but hey ho

Good luck to others submitting

Scuid Mhór

Nice work pixelburp!

I've got it down to 1,999 words exactly and, after getting some feedback/constructive criticism on it and incorporating proposed edits, am really happy with it. No idea if it's anywhere near good enough to place in the competition, but always good to reach the end of a project after a week and a half of solid work!

I wish everyone here the best of luck. I know I've never posted in this thread/forum before, but maybe it would be cool if we could spot another competition to submit to sometime? It's easier to write when I know other people are working towards the same thing.

echo beach

pixelburp wrote: »

Done, I think. 1997 words after a few read-throughs, with some tidy up of punctuation and dialogue formatting (always something I miss). Even got a title too. Will sleep on it, and submit tomorrow, all going well. If I'm feeling particularly cavalier, might even post it on the forum
...

Not sure of the rules on this one but in general you can’t submit something that has been published and that includes on any public part of the internet so keep it to yourself for now. We’ll hear it when it is amongst the winners.😀

paperdaisy

pixelburp wrote: »

And submitted! 1,995 words...

One more caveat on the RTE form BTW: you add your story in a plain-text field, which I hate. All your tidy formatting goes out the window, leaving a Big Wall O' Text (it even stripped out my attempts at basic indenting). Feels like postal submissions have am automatic leg up for being more readable by default, but hey ho

Good luck to others submitting

Well done pixelburp and everyone. This is my first time posting here AND writing a short story AND entering a competition. Like you I was perturbed to see the lack of formatting on the online submission form. I had assumed I could attach my lovely Word doc. I've emailed RTÉ to query it

km85264

Well done to everybody who submitted or is about to, give yer selves an almighty clap in the back and then get your story out to the next competition, plenty of them out there

https://www.dystopianstories.com/writing-competitions-contests/

My favourite is writers forum magazine, £11 to enter the competition plus get a critique.

https://www.selectmagazines.co.uk/category/story-entry/

I learned a lot from the critiques.
On a sad note, it looks like New Irish Writing is on its way out

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/new-irish-writing-a-remarkable-journey-1.4241184

Raise a quiet glass to Ciaran

Mr E

My girlfriend sent me this one. Wondering if it's worth the entrance fee? Has anyone heard of it?

http://www.nycmidnight.com/Competitions/MFC/100/Challenge.htm

Scuid Mhór

km85264 wrote: »

On a sad note, it looks like New Irish Writing is on its way out

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/new-irish-writing-a-remarkable-journey-1.4241184

Raise a quiet glass to Ciaran

Wow, getting rejected from New Irish Writing was like a monthly routine for me. Weird to think it's gone. Hopefully it will return in some way in the future after this pandemic.

pixelburp

Mr E wrote: »

My girlfriend sent me this one. Wondering if it's worth the entrance fee? Has anyone heard of it?

http://www.nycmidnight.com/Competitions/MFC/100/Challenge.htm

100 words?! That's nuts, I couldn't even begin to think how that might be coherent. Would be a helluva challenge - anyone got any examples for those of us too lazy to Google?

Mr E

I think it would almost have to be lyrical or poetic to do well.

Scuid Mhór

Alright. After two weeks of writing, editing, workshopping and editing again, I think I've reached my final draft for the RTE competition at 1998 words. Going to submit it tonight.

Mr E

I submitted my story today. It was a rewrite of an older (unpublished) story that I wrote 4 years ago, but I love how it turned out. It's better than the original.

My girlfriend said it was the first time I made her cry (in a good way.... I think)

pixelburp

Think if you get an emotional reaction from a piece of writing that can be considered a success

Fair point from the previous poster expressing caution over posting works here, but I'm dead curious to know what everyone wrote. A fair mix of styles and approaches no doubt!

Scuid Mhór

Submitted mine just there. In for a penny, in for a pound!

Scuid Mhór

Submitted poetry and prose to the Mairtin Crawford Awards today. Did anyone else? Got my eyes on one or two more competitions in June.

Mr E

Congrats, Scuid Mhór!

What competitions are you entering for June? Any links?

Scuid Mhór

Mr E wrote: »

Congrats, Scuid Mhór!

What competitions are you entering for June? Any links?

Thanks.

I actually got the deadline for one wrong - that's not until August so I don't see the point in mentioning it just yet.

The Moth Short Story Prize is [I think] the highest amount of money offered as a prize in Ireland. Its deadline is the end of June. 5,000 word limit I think.

If we all submitted something for the RTE Prize, I think we should work towards submitting something to this at the end of next month!