Micro-fiction contest results and new prompt for the week

Hello and thank you for checking out the weekly Micro-fiction Contest. Your challenge is to produce a short story within the tight word limit of 250 words. If you're familiar with the #fiftywords contest, this is the next generation. You now have an additional 200 words to work with.

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 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. The word this week is "wild." 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: Noise.)
- 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 Who are you writing for? 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:

@thewritersblock (now Steemhouse Community)
Inkubator
#isleofwrite
@FreeWriteHouse

Last week's winning entry

Thank you to everyone who participated in last week's contest: @stever82, @wordymouth, @adncabrera, @theironfelix, @nocturnus, @felixgarciap, @piandex, @jadams2k18, @blueeyes8960, and @deirdyweirdy.

As always, it was difficult to choose a top story! We had some remarkable dystopian and Orwellian tales of control. Please read them all!

For the winning entry, I chose Ready, Aim, Fire, by @wordymouth. Story summary (no spoilers): It is the scene of a firing range, and terrible choices must be made. Nice work, @wordymouth! Your reward is on the way.

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 "wild." I look forward to seeing what you come up with! The deadline is Saturday, March 30, 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, @chrisbarth, @cizzo, @cloudblade, @creatr, @darthgexe, @deemarshall, @deirdyweirdy, @diebitch, @dirge, @dranuvar, @ducksaplenty, @eaglespirit, @elbrujo, @emergehealthier, @enjar, @felixgarciap, @gaby-crb, @galatichunter @gmatthe2, @goastrighter, @hlezama, @imaluv54, @iamjadeline, @intothewild, @jadams2k18, @jasminearch, @joeylim, @jonknight, @kaelci, @letalis-laetitia, @manoldonchev, @maparari, @marie-jay, @marlyncabrera, @marvyinnovation, @michaias, @missladybug, @negativer, @niallon11, @nmcdougal94, @nocturnus, @oscarina, @piandex, @poetrybyjeremy, @purpledaisy57, @preparedwombat, @pyemoney, @pyrowngs, @raj808, @razel, @rokhani, @roxy-cat, @sayee, @sevendust04, @shanedustin, @simonpennon, @stever82, @tabyington, @theironfelix, @thinknzombie, @tristancarax, @tygertyger, @vdux, @wakeupkitty, @wales, @wems, @wordymouth Animated signature

Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://jaynalocke.com/2019/03/25/micro-fiction-contest-results-and-new-prompt-for-the-week/

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calluna (63) 5 years ago (edited)

A fair bit of encouragement from @gaby-crb and braving an entry for this round in the 50 word category, not ready to go for it as a post, but this was a fun one to write. I had the idea the moment I saw the prompt, thinking of my little wild fern looking out the window.

Outside, the high rise building cast it's shadow over the afternoon, obscuring the dappled light glancing the window. The city had swallowed the fields years ago. Huddled in the corner of the sill, feathered leaves lo-lopped after the sun, sprawling wayward in a fern fountain. A shrine to what was.

$0.05

2 votes

jayna (74) 5 years ago

Very nice, @calluna! Welcome back!

$0.00

gaby-crb (59) 5 years ago

My entry: https://steemit.com/microfiction/@gaby-crb/bad-hair-day-a-micro-fiction-entry-in-50-words

Finally found the time to enter :)

$0.04

niallon11 (75) 5 years ago

An entry for this week.

https://steemit.com/esteem/@niallon11/wild-micro-fiction-entry

$0.03

theironfelix (62) 5 years ago (edited)

Here be me entry for this contest here!
Imma be a wild person now :p

3 votes

wordymouth (61) 5 years ago

Thank you. This was a tough one for me.

I am sure it was. It was very tough to read. I think fiction can help us to imagine, and hopefully avoid, the patterns and tendencies that can lead us into terrible places. But sometimes it does seem like it could happen despite our best efforts.

Posted using Partiko iOS

co-in (55) 5 years ago

This post has been manually selected, curated and upvoted by CI mod staff team. Supporting all posts that are in high quality and don’t get enough recognition.