NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Results for Challenge #2

I took third place in my group again! That means my points put me in the top 5 in my group, advancing me to the next round.

I wrote a 999-word short short with the following prompt:
*Romantic Comedy
*a B & B
*a snow shovel
 
There were 20 groups with 22 people in each group; the top 5 in each advance to form new groups now.

Tonight at midnight (well, 9pm here) I get my third prompt.

Click here to see my group's results. At that link, you'll have access to all groups and prompts and scores.

I have to admit, I'm so curious to see what it'll be like to participate in this contest when I have to write in another genre. (I've had comedy twice.) Who knows where my brain will go with Sci-Fi or Horror or Drama.

I just hope it goes somewhere!

anCay ouYay eepKay aAy ecretSay?

extNay uesdayTay: eatGray olfWay odgeLay ithway ymay idskay.

OoWay OoHay!

*In other news: I ran 27 minutes this morning; I also found out my Flash Fiction short story submission will be judged by September 13th, which means I can forget about it for a while!

A Second-Guesser Gets Philosophical

I keep thinking about the 987-word submission I made to the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge on Sunday.

I keep thinking of it because that's what writers do: a) they obsess about stuff they've sent out, and b) they second-guess the quality of what they sent out.

That said, I re-read my piece this morning and, honestly, I highly, highly doubt that it sustains itself well enough to be considered a "Comedy."

I also doubt that my one-line synopsis does anything very tantalizing.

This is where I get philosophical, though:

*In order to figure out what works, you have to be willing to do some stuff that doesn't work.

And

*You have to be willing to see what you did get out of the work you completed (or drafted).

In my case, I now have a better sense of some elements of comedy: exaggeration, deception, misunderstanding, contrast... very few of which I successfully used.

I also wrote an entire story (which might belong in another genre!) that I can now revise, polish and possibly submit somewhere. At the rate I'm writing this summer, I wouldn't have had that at all otherwise.

Final lesson?

*Play and Learn.

NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Competition

Genre: A comedy.
Location: A dance club.
Object: A motorcycle.

Twenty-one other writers in my group had the same assignment: to write a story 1,000 words or less using the above guidelines.

There were nineteen other groups,about 450 writers total, each group with a different assignment. Genres ranged from Sci-Fi to Political Satire to Romance to Fantasy to Horror, etc. Locations and Objects ranged from a bakery and a ladder, to a well and a baby carriage, to a typing class and an eyedropper, etc.

We all had exactly 48 hours to write and complete our short stories. This was Round Number 1.

Stories will now be judged and given points within their groups. See How It Works for details.

I have no idea how my story will be judged. It's a little scary to claim you're being funny; there's always the chance you'll flop. And as for plot, characterization, and setting: let's just hope I at least showed up for the right assignment!

I can't post my story here, but if it goes live on their website, I'll provide the link. For now, I'll tell you the title and synopsis I submitted:

"Still Wet" - An unpopular local earns a new reputation.

Oh boy...

P.S. In writing this story, I re-discovered the infinite number of ways there are to write a terrible, no-good, lame-o story.

But it's really fun to write for an audience with an assignment and a deadline. And it's going to be exciting to be given feedback from judges, as well as to read all the other entries. Play and learn.

P.P.S. Leave a comment and tell me: What would you have done with my prompt?