Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Contest: A Fairy-Tale / Crime-Fiction Mashup

John Kenyon of Things I'd Rather Be Doing is sponsoring an inspired short-fiction contest. Details:
Write a crime fiction story of between 1,000 and 3,000 words (with some flexibility on either end) that is based on the premise of an actual children's fairy tale. For example, a story about a predatory thief based on "Little Red Riding Hood." Post it to your blog or web site, or find someone who will do that for you. Put the link in the comments here. Do so by midnight on Jan. 14, Cinderella, or your coach to (the relative) fame and fortune (of modest web-based attention) will turn back into a pumpkin.

You don't need to reveal which fairy tale you used as source material. While some will probably be obvious, others may not. Guessing can be part of the fun.
Read the whole thing to get all the details. Well, dear readers, I know I'm in on this one. If my hunch is right, I'm guessing that a few of you might be as well.

(Picture: CC 2009 by
kharied; Hat Tip: pattinase)

17 comments:

B. Nagel said...

How much fun does that sound?!

C. N. Nevets said...

Ugh. Foul tempter.

I need to finish my book! >:-(

Why must you drag before my eyes these tantalizing and tempting bits of interest?

Loren Eaton said...

B.,

It sounds freaking awesome, that's what!

Loren Eaton said...

Nevets,

"Foul tempter" -- has a certain ring, doesn't it?

Hey, word count is 1,000 to 3,000. That ain't bad at all.

Tony said...

I'm in the same boat as Nevets... I keep pushing off academic publications in favor of short fiction.

Oh, bittersweet distraction!

C. N. Nevets said...

Yeah, 1K to 3K is pretty darn light. This one will be really hard to resist. *sigh*

:)

C. N. Nevets said...

Under another nom de plume, I have some Western fiction projects. Among them are a couple of Western recasts of fairy tales, and a Western mystery (forensic anthropology, old school). This contest might be a good vehicle for the public launching of that sector of my writing, too.

Hmm.

Evan Lewis said...

Great idea. Hope I can make it to the party.

Loren Eaton said...

Tony,

I've been pushing off short fiction in favor of academia. Figure it's high time to reverse that.

Loren Eaton said...

Nevets,

I've never much gotten into Westerns. Have you checked out Evan Lewis' blog? (There he is! Right on the comment page!) He has some stuff up you might like.

Loren Eaton said...

Evan,

I thought it sounded fun, too!

C. N. Nevets said...

@Loren - I'll take it as a personal challenge to write a western that you find interesting.

And thanks for the tip on Evan's blog!

pattinase (abbott) said...

Mine is nearly done. Bleak as always.

Loren Eaton said...

Nevets,

I'll look forward to reading it!

Loren Eaton said...

Patti,

I've been outlining mine and will hopefully stark on it today. The audio of my pieces for Advent Ghosts has been keeping me busy.

Phil W said...

Where did you get that great photo?

Loren Eaton said...

Flickr! It's great. They have a lot of stuff licensed under Creative Commons that you can use on your blog with certain conditions.

By the way, I always link to the individual photographer in the parenthetical at the end.