Friday, September 08, 2006

24 Hour Contest!



First a couple announcements regarding the book of New Beginnings. I'm concerned that I'm hearing from so few authors of the openings. The continuations list is filling up quickly. I'm also concerned that after hunting down as many authors as possible, I'll discover that email permissions aren't worth the electrons they're written on, and I'll have to start over. So I'll put together a permission form or a simple contract, which can be downloaded, signed, scanned, and emailed back. Those who can't scan can mail or fax it to a volunteer who will forward them to me.

If you submitted your first 150 words, or a continuation, and haven't contacted Evil Editor, here are the questions again:

Is it okay if your contribution is printed in a small book, for which you won't be paid?
If so, which ones are yours? (If it's a continuation, the list at the bottom of evileditor.net/ may help you narrow it down; if it's an opening, you can simply describe it, I'll find it.)
Under what name should you be credited? (anonymous is acceptable). Would you like to be credited on this blog as well, and if so, under what name?

Before hunting down Opening writers, it's probably best that I cull out the ones that aren't good enough to make this book. No point in hunting down an author and then not using his opening anyway. Quality is determined solely by the continuations. Once I've identified the weaker ones, there may be a window of opportunity to come up with a better one.

Sorry if you tried to comment anonymously recently and weren't allowed. No idea why the setting changed.

Now the contest.

Below are 5 of Evil Editor's favorite Guess the Plots. It's two thirty P.M. Eastern time, Friday. You have until the same time Saturday to write the opening (100 - 300 words, don't go over) of a work of fiction (novel, short story, whatever) based on one of them. Email your response. Include your name (blogger or real) if you want to be credited. Winners will be posted on this blog, others at Evil Editor's Openings. Enter as often as you like.


1. Lumberjack Cal Calson's deepest secret--the vestigial conjoined twin on his back--has come to life, and is trying to convert him to conservationism.

2. When Josie grabbed the last pair of rhinestone-studded, stiletto-heeled slingbacks in the shop window, she didn't know Veronica would eat her heart out. Literally.

3. Kyle Polo's best pitch man has just returned from his Swedish vacation--as a woman! Can they still land the lucrative, and deeply conservative, Churchworld account?

4. Satan does have a charming side, and Alice fell for it. Telling her parents about her new boyfriend will not be easy.

5. When rookie cop Sarah Baxter is sent on her first undercover mission, she must catch the killer quickly... or miss her thirteenth birthday party.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can we write on more than one, or is it one entry per person?

Evil Editor said...

Enter as often as you wish, each entry on only one GtP, of course.

braun said...

Are you looking more for humorous or serious openings? Play it straight or no?

Evil Editor said...

Humor is always desirable here. But if it sounds like it's real, that's also a good thing.

Angel Feathers Tickle Me said...

Love to all.....

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, I'm an artist, not a hack. I simply cannot be creative under such restrictive conditions. Please leave me be; I shall retire to a darkened room...

Anonymous said...

Dear anon 7:54 am,

I am a hack. This kind of exercise appeals to me. I would not have chosen these fake plots, but that makes it easier!

But alas, time and the black curtain of a migraine has made it difficult. Only one submission from me.

Good luck to all.

Anonymous said...

Burnt dinner, broke printer, froze PC - but scribbled an opening in 1 1/2 hours.

Am I cheering? Yep.

Am I bitterly regretting it? Yep.