Writer's Digest blog - Promptly - Winning Stories

Did your story take home the Promptly gold?

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:05:03 GMT

It’s that time again — time, alongside a Writer’s Digest comrade, to gnash our teeth, hold our breath and force ourselves to pick a top story from the past month’s creative cavalcade of responses to various prompts.

For August-September, with the help of magazine staffer and WD Books Editor Scott Francis, we selected Megan Hyman’s “Cynic!” piece. As Scott said, “the voice and the tone are so telling that though the story is short, you come to understand the emotions of the characters.” For her story, Megan will receive a copy of Bang The Keys: Four Steps to a Lifelong Writing Practice by Jill Dearman, Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us by Jessica Page Morrell, Sorrow Wood by Raymond L. Atkins, a copy of the WD Novel Writing special newsstand publication, and a copy of the WD Guide to Creativity newsstand publication.

As always, thanks to everyone who shared their work here in the last month. It means a lot to me, as the blog’s curator, and I’ve heard from other people at WD and scattered about the country how much they love reading all of the pieces, too.

Every time you write a story here it could take home some picks from the WD office swag bag, but perhaps most important, it may help other writers get their creative wheels turning, and it flexes and sharpens that strange muscle—the one most of us don’t have a hope in the world of burying or setting aside, even if we wanted to.

Here’s to hoping we never do.

*Megan, please send an e-mail to writersdigest [at] fwmedia [dot] com marked "Attn: Zachary Petit," so I can get the goods shipped out to you!

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WRITING PROMPT: From the Attic
To respond to the following prompt, courtesy of Scott Francis (check out his blog at seescottwrite.wordpress.com) post your stories, in 500 words or fewer, in the Comments section of Promptly:

You are awakened in the middle of the night by a strange tapping noise coming from your attic. You decide to investigate, and after moving a few old boxes, you find what appears to be a telegraph receiver hidden in a small hole in the wall.

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The October issue of WD is now on newsstands. Check out our community issue here, featuring writing forums, online collectives, bestsellers riffing on writers’ organizations, and even the keys to making the most of a nightmare conference. What’s worth your time these days?

And the Winner Is . . . (Plus Photo Prompt)

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:43:20 GMT

Hey writers,

After combing through all of the stories from the last month, battling indecision, falling for many pieces, and filtering everything through our own negotiable subjectivity, we have a favorite pick from the July/August prompts.

Guest judge/WD Editor Jessica Strawser and I selected Beth Cato’s “That Strange Day” response to claim this month’s swag. She’ll grab a copy of Jill Dearman’s Bang the Keys: Four Steps to a Lifelong Writing Practice, Patricia T. O’Conner and Stewart Kellerman’s Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language, the Writer’s Digest Novel Writing newsstand publication, and The Writer’s Digest Guide to Creativity newsstand publication.

Below you’ll find a photo prompt from the Kentucky State Fair. I’d go into detail about the goings-on in the photo, but don’t want to sully your impressions of the character. Although he was wily. And feisty. And wearing make-up.

Also, Jessica is writing over at Jane Friedman’s publishing blog this week. Check out her post on “thought viruses” and how they can poison your creativity.

Finally, a sincere Thank You to everyone who wrote in the last month, vets and fresh voices alike—and for doing it here. How you all produce the stories you do—with the frequency and in the time frames you do—continues to baffle.

Yours in promptland,

Zachary

*Beth, please send an e-mail to writersdigest [at] fwmedia [dot] com marked "Attn: Zachary Petit," so I can get the goods shipped out to you!

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PROMPT: Life in the Booth
In 500 words or fewer, funny, sad or stirring:

Write a scene about this man—perhaps a pivotal moment in his life—in the dunking booth, or elsewhere.

And the Kick-Off Winner Is . . . ?!

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:18:09 GMT

Hey writers,

After gobbling up mobsters, distopian doctors, cracked families and even old ghosts, it’s time for the results of the Promptly Kick-Off Breaking-Block Challenge. Even though I was frequently overtaken by interrobang-like feelings (?!) of indecision, I won’t go into the usual long-winded rant about how difficult it was to pick a winner.

Or how I lavish special props on my heroes who entered all three prompts, some of whom even tied them together in incredibly cool ways.

Or how we loved how everyone took the prompts and spread them out in their own directions and genres.

Or, simply, how appreciative I am to everyone who participated, and how I hope they’ll stick around for more stories.

In the end, longtime WD editor/online guru Brian A. Klems and I selected Patricia A. Hawkenson’s* “Hedge Fund” and its lively, weighted lines as our favorite entry. For winning, she’ll lay claim to a stack of swag containing The Whatchamacallit: Those Everyday Objects You Just Can’t Name (And Things You Think You Know About, But Don’t), Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde English to Email, the Tangled Story of English Spelling, a copy of Writer’s Digest’s new Novel Writing magazine, and a one-year subscription or renewal to WD magazine.

From now on, our favorite-story swag will be dolled out on a monthly schedule. So don’t stop writing. Ever.

Thanks again to everyone who jumped into the challenge, and see you all tomorrow with a new prompt.

Yours in writing,

Zachary

*Patricia, please send an e-mail to writersdigest [at] fwmedia [dot] com marked "Attn: Zachary Petit," so I can get the goods shipped out to you!