55 fiction writing contest | The Colors Magazine

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Home » Literary Corner: fiction and poetry

Contest Announcement

22 September 2009 42 Comments

I am very happy to announce the very first fiction writing contest on The Colors Magazine.

As we all know contests are a great opportunity to share your writing and experience, to get valuable feedback on your creations. But more than that it is always a wonderful chance to meet people who love writing just as you do, to share perspectives and to learn. Yes, we do learn from each other and that’s the best part of all the contests.

The first contest on The Colors Magazine is dedicated to 55 Fiction. I am sure many of you have heard about it if not tried yourself. For those who don’t know or have forgotten about it I will explain one more time.

Criteria for 55 Fiction

A literary work will be considered 55 Fiction if it has:

Fifty-five words or less (A non-negotiable rule)

A setting,

One or more characters,

Some conflict, and

A resolution. (Not limited to moral of the story)

The title of the story is not part of the overall word count, but it still can’t exceed seven words.

Elements of 55 Fiction

As the limit on words is strictly put, the words of a good 55 Fiction have to be chosen very carefully. The following constitute the main elements of a 55 Fiction:

Drama: Most 55 Fiction works are dramatised so as to get the effect in limited time.

Suspense: This is regarded as an essential element of 55 Fiction work. Never until the last sentence, does the actual theme of the story emerge.

Shock: Most 55 Fiction works incorporate what is known as a Last Sentence Shock. This is usually done carefully by adding double meaning or confusing words throughout the story so as to misguide the reader into thinking about a different theme for the story. This results in a shock for the reader who comes to know about the story’s actual theme in the last sentence itself. Mostly, it translates to the reader having to read the story again to convince himself/herself that the plot is consistent.

*Source Wikipedia

What I want?

The keywords in criteria for 55 fiction are a story and a conflict. I want them. Simple as that. I don’t want just a scene from your not finished novel or already published story. I want good original interesting STORY. I want a CONFLICT. I want EMOTIONS. I want your stories to make me feel, to make me cry, smile, hate, sympathize with. I want them to be real.

Guidelines and Rules

1. 55 words, title (optional) does not count towards word limit.

2. Any topic. Any genre. No limitations. But stay clean, please. No violence, nothing pornographic. Such entries will be disqualified automatically.

3. Original work. Should not be published previously on your blog or site. The copyright remains with you, however, you grant me worldwide first electronic publishing rights to post your entry on The Colors Magazine. I request you not to post your entry on your own blog/site less than in a week after its publishing here.

4. Entry is free.

5. One entry per person.

However you can send the second entry if you write about the contest on your site/blog linking to The Colors Magazine. In this case add a link to your post along with your submission.

And you can even send the third entry if you do one of the following:

Subscribe to my feed. You can receive the updates just by filling in the form below.

Follow The Colors Magazine on Twitter
Join our Facebook Group

If you submit more than one entry, please let me know in the mail what exactly you have chosen - Feed, Twitter or Facebook along with your name/id on both networking sites.

6. Entries should be mailed in the body of e-mails preferably to contests@thecolorsmagazine.com

Along with your entry/entries please add your name and your website/blog url. Short bio (up to 100 symbols) is allowed.

Deadline

October 1st 2009, 11 PM, Moscow time (simpler for me) - UTC +4

Judging

I am the only judge. Hope you don’t mind. I know what I want (read above) and I know what I like. I might be biased in a way but I am honest about my opinions. I will choose the best story as I see it.

Prizes

Yes, we have prizes too. How good is that? There is no fun in contests if there are no prizes, right?

And now I am happy to introduce the sponsor of our contest - Sai - Kiran Publications.

Sai - Kiran Publications is a publishing house to promote the work of new writers. The house might be young but itsurely has a bright future. They provide encouragement, support and ideas for improvement for first timers. That is a tough job, but it pays off because we as readers get to know new names in the writing field.

The managing director of the company Arti Honrao agreed to give books as prizes, shipping included.

So here we go:

1st Prize

One month featuring on The Colors Magazine with a banner on the sidebar and a link to your website/blog
Between The Moons - Haiga and Taiga. Volume I by Janice Thomson

2nd Prize