Storysmiths: October 2009

Once upon a time (a.k.a in the summer of 2006), a group of four friends (who happened to be related) decided to have a weekly gathering to consider and critique each others' work in children's and young adult fiction and to hone their skills through a variety of challenges and exercises. The results are often hilarious...and occasionally profound. The following examples are provided for your entertainment--please enjoy!
(To view entries by author or category, you can click on one of the labels to the left, about halfway down the page, or use the search box, also on the left above the labels.)

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Visit The Book Report to win cool free things

The Children's Book Reporter, our personal favorite review blog, is having a contest... You can win a free SIGNED copy of Forest Born, by Shannon Hale, among other things.
Check it out here:
http://thechildrensbookreporter.blogspot.com/2009/09/another-contest-to-win-free-stuff.html

The Challenges

3-minute-dash: Follow a writing prompt..as fast as you can. You have only three minutes to come up with something decent.
5-minute-dash: Like the 3-minute, with a little more meat.
10 (or more)-minute-dash: Like the 3- and 5-, with considerably more finesse.
Copycat Balder-dash: A selection from a chapter of a published book is chosen and read by one member. All the others are given a time limit (varies) to creatively continue the excerpt with their own writing. All passages, including the real McCoy, are read by the chooser, and writers vote on which they think is the real one. Occasionally, we rejoice in our genius. Generally we bemoan the fact that we still can't write as well as T. H. White...or Mark Twain...or Neil Gaiman.
Blurbs: Write the synopsis of a new story in the form of a dust-jacket blurb. Then write a first sentence or paragraph for that story.