Deadline
May 15, 2010
(Midnight, PT)
I can't remember if I cried
when I read about his widowed bride.
But something touched me deep inside
the day the music died."American Pie"
Don McLean
Your protagonist is about to have a day. He doesn't know it yet, but it's going to be a day that, for him, will live in infamy. A day she will point to, years later, as the specific moment when something in her soul changed. It can be a teeny tiny change or it can be a ginormous change. But it has to occur in the light of day.
The first line of your story must begin with: The sun rose...
The last line of your story must end with: ...just as the sun went down.
That which occurs in between—be it drama, comedy, mystery, romance, fantasy, etc.—is entirely up to you. What changes your dawn character to the one we shall see at dusk?
$100
Story published in The Verb
Story Opinion, also published in The Verb
Entry Fee: None
Length may be up to 1000 words. But not a word more. (Your contact information and your title are not included in the word count.)
Short stories only. No poetry, essays or plays.
Entries must be original and unpublished. Send only your best. Once submissions arrive, no revisions will be accepted.
Open to writers worldwide. (Payment to winners outside the USA are made via PayPal only.)
Limited. Only one story per author.
The judge for this contest is Elizabeth Guy. Read her bio on the Readers page.
Winner will be notified via email June 7, 2010. The winning story will be published in the June '10 issue of The Verb.
Only the winning entry receives a free Opinion. Read previous Opinions.
Remaining entrants may order an Opinion after the results have been announced.
As always, complete contest results will be announced at the Contest Café.
Read about the judging process and our method of posting contest results.
All contest entries must be submitted electronically. You may paste your text within the body of an email or send it as a .pdf, .doc, .docx or .rtf. We do not accept any other formats.
At the top of your submission, please provide:
~ your name
~ your mailing address
~ your email address
~ genre
~ word countYour submission must have a title.
Font should be black 12-pt. Arial, Courier or Times Roman, double spaced.
Separate scenes with your favorite symbol. We don't care which one you use, as long as it clearly signifies a break.
Confirm we've received your entire submission by including the words: The End.
You are now ready to contest@readingwriters.com ?subject=Once Upon a Day Contest" style="font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none;"> submit your work.
(If clicking this link doesn't automatically open your email, send your work to contest--at--readingwriters.com AFTER you've replaced the --at-- with the @ sign. Subject: Once Upon a Day Contest.)We confirm receipt of every contest entry. If you haven't received a confirmation within 24 hours, we haven't received yours. Please re-send.
We don't, however, acknowledge spam-blocking filters that require us to fill out a form to join an approved list. If you use such an address for this contest, you won't receive emails from us.
· RIGHTS ·
Winner grants ReadingWriters, publisher of The Verb writing ezine, First Electronic Rights. Simply put, this means you allow us to publish your story first on the internet. After June 2010, the story will move to The Verb archives and remain there until you ask us to remove it. You, the winning author, retain all other rights to your work.
These First Electronic Rights apply to the winning entry only.
Remaining entrants retain ALL rights to their work.
