How to use this Page

Dear fellow CoN entrant:

I have utmost respect for all of your efforts; truly. Previous CoN contests have taught me, however, that I will drive myself insane (literally) if I spend as much time commenting as I have in contests where there were less than 150 entries.

As I said, I know how much time and effort writing this piece may have taken you. I want to acknowledge and support the process by offering constructive criticsm.

My goal, therefore, is to choose one thing I love about your entry and one thing I might suggest changing.

Thanks for helping me become a better writer.
Cheers,
Aerin

Display Comments Add a Comment

Jason Evans has officially opened his twelfth flash fiction contest.

I'm a bit feverish with dread. 

You may not have put the two together, but I literally quit blogging (and began my six-month hiatus) due to the burnout I experienced on the last flash fiction contest Jason held. 

It's not the writing that tires me - it's the reading.  Rather, the commenting.  To do so for each and every 125+ entries makes me cross-eyed.  Then I get a headache.  Then I drink.  Then I get grumpy so I drink some more.

Okay, not really.

Still, I feel as though I need to work out a strategy for making it through all the stories that are submitted.  Any tips? 

"Silhouette" Short Fiction Contest

Welcome to the 12th Clarity of Night Contest!! Before the post-holiday doldrums gain a foothold, let's get a little juiced up, shall we?

Here's how the contest works. Using the photograph above for inspiration, compose a short fiction (or poetry) piece of no more than 250 words in any genre or style. Send your entry to me by email at jevanswriter at yahoo dot com before 11:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 13th (Eastern Time, United States). I'd prefer attachments formatted in Microsoft Word (please see the format request below), but if you have something more exotic, you can paste the text into the body of an email (no docx formats, please). Each entry will be posted and indexed.

Now for the goodies. The following prizes are up for grabs:

• 1st Place: $50 Amazon gift certificate
  
• 2nd Place: $30 Amazon gift certificate
  
• 3rd Place: $25 Amazon gift certificate
  
• 4th Place: $20 Amazon gift certificate
  
• 5th Place: $15 Amazon gift certificate
  
• Readers' Choice Award 1st Place: $25 Amazon Gift certificate

But this is about more than prizes. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity to meet and interact with your fellow writers. Our different perspectives, styles, and skills shine when we all start at the same place. It's a great opportunity to learn from each other.

Rules:

1. 250 words maximum.
   
2. Titles are optional, but encouraged. Titles do not count toward your word count.
   
3. One entry per person.
   
4. Any genre or style is welcome. If you choose to submit poetry, you must have narrative movement within the poem if you wish to compete with the prose pieces for the prizes.
   
5. The copyright remains with you, the author; however, you grant me worldwide first electronic publishing rights to post your entry on this blog indefinitely.
   
6. Judging will be conducted by me, Jason Evans. For an explanation of the judging criteria and scoring system, see A Note on Judging. You can also read the winning entries from past contests.
   
7. Please provide a name for your byline. If you have a website or a blog, I'd be happy to link your site to your byline. If you don't have a website or blog, feel free to include a short bio. A bio does not count towards your word count.
   
8. At the close of the contest, I will give the date and time for the announcement of winners.
   
9. After the winners are announced, I will post what I liked most about each entry in the comments.
   
1 Comments on Clarity of Night Flash Fiction Contest NOW OPEN!, last added: 1/5/2010
Display Comments
pjd said, on 1/5/2010 9:03:00 PM


I did not put the two together. I figured it was... something else.

I have no real tips to offer on the reading except to do it in chunks, spread it out over several days, and do NOT try to beat Aniket or Laurel to the finish line.

To retain sanity, ignore the comments and just drop your $0.02 in the box. I skimmed most of the comments before writing mine, which adds to the burden. But I wanted my comments to be (a) original, (b) witty and/or insightful, and (c) kind. The absolute hardest comments to write were the ones where I needed to be kind to an entry that sucked. In the end, though, I commented on everything, for two reasons: (1) I kind of felt it was my duty, and (2) I figured if I READ the piece, I might as well get credit for doing it and leave my name. I may or may not put that effort into it this contest... it really is a HUGE drain.

Add a Comment

Just when I thought I would shrivel up and die from withdrawal, Jason has announced the eleventh Clarity of Night Short Fiction contest.

The next contest is entitled In Vino Veritas (you expect lawyers to throw Latin around, don't you?) and opens on July 8, 2009. Yes, that's right. You have several weeks to prepare a 250-word flash fiction piece inspired by this picture:

Winning a CoN contest is like catching the bouquet at a wedding. It's practically a guarantee you'll be the next agented/published bride, or, er, author. My goal this contest is to keep my place in the Clarity of Night Forties Club, which is made up of all of us who pay Jason $40.00 who score at least a 40/45 possible points.

I am particularly thankful that Jason chose to post common issues that cause people points. Read it!

Not only do I expect all of my RCWC participants to enter (as always, you get your full 1000 points for the month if you enter a 250-word story); I would like your help in pressuring encouraging the Co-Dictator of the Universe to enter.

Display Comments Add a Comment

I first made acquaintance with Stuart Neville through the blogosphere community that frequents Jason Evans's Clarity of Night flash fiction contests, before he even landed his agent.  I've enjoyed being one of the groupies, cheering as Stuart humbly recounted tales about landing Nat Sobel as an agent, finalizing the publishing deals, getting celebrity (and non) feedback for his debut novel The Twelve, and caving to peer pressure to join Facebook.   


(Okay, okay, and I admit: I totally have a crush on him.  Fear not.  My thinking he's a dreamy Irish hunk had no impact on my journalistic integrity - these 7SS being so serious and all.)

Step #1

LIGHTNING ROUND

• stout or lager? Lager - can't stand stout.
• Bransford or Moonrat? Oh, don't make me choose! Um, Moonrat, but only because I've met her in person and she took me to a karaoke party.
• David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar? Roth, of course.
• coffee or tea? Tea - can't stand coffee.
• celebrity crush: Just one? Any female news reader - Fiona Bruce from the BBC News, for instance. Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls. Jenna Fischer from The Office. Oh, and Cindy Pon, now that she's all famous.
• a phrase you use often: "Sorry I'm so late," usually followed by a poorly thought-out excuse.
• music you write by: All sorts, but recently it's been Mutter, and album by German industrial metal band Rammstein.

Step #2
TELL US about any of your weird writing habits or idiosyncracies. (ie, What’s one “thing” you need to write, the thing without which the creative juices would cease to flow?)
I need a guitar to hand at all times so I can noodle on it while I think. It's kind of like how people will doodle with a pen and paper.

Step #3
TEACH US one or two of your favorite vocabulary words.
Pishmire, which is a local expression for someone grumpy or miserable. It's come from an old word for piss ant. That's about as clean a word as I can think of for now...

Step #4
BOOK BLANKS

• The last book I finished reading was BLOOD'S A ROVER by James Ellroy.
• I gave it 5 stars.
• One word to describe it is surprising.

(in fact, dear readers, you can find Stuart's review of that book here.)

Step #5
QUESTION: What was the most difficult part of The Twelve’s journey to publication?
Being on tenterhooks for what seemed like forever as it was doing the rounds at the UK publishers. You hear of book deals being struck in minutes, but my auction seemed to go on for weeks.

Step #6
QUESTION: What has surprised you most about the publishing process itself?
How eagle-eyed my editor at Harvill Secker, Briony Everroad, is. Her eye for detail is staggering. And also how generous people in the writing community are, from struggling hopefuls to big-name best selling authors.

Step #7
GIVE US THE SCOOP. Tell us something about yourself that’s exclusive to In Search of Giants (ie, has never been publicized in print or podcast interviews.)
I, a fully grown man, can't ride a bike. And I don't mean a motorcycle, I mean a bicycle with pedals.


Obviously I was hoping that Stuart's "scoop" was that he was naming a character in his next book after me, but, whatever.  Thanks for letting me interview you, Stuart!

Display Comments Add a Comment