I don't like telling people ahead of time that I'm submitting a story somewhere -- that way, if I get rejected, I don't feel publicly humiliated. However, I'm breaking that habit, at least this time. Lots of people who are writing an entry for this contest have submitted a short synopsis of their projects, which all got published here today, mine included. I call it "The Rose-Covered Cabin" right now, and it's 7th from the top.
And today I went ahead and made an "inspiration board" for this story on Pinterest. I've never done that before, but it was kinda fun!
So now you know.
Wow, Hamlette! Thanks for telling us - and good luck! :-)
ReplyDeleteNaomi, thanks! I'm gonna need it :-)
DeleteWay awesome! So glad you shared too :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jamie! Here's hoping...
DeleteCongrats, Hamlette! Your story sounds and looks great. Wishing you all the best. :)
ReplyDeleteRissi, thanks! My two-sentence synopsis is solid, anyway. Now to whip the story into shape!
DeleteIt sounds quite interesting, Rachel! I'm excited for you. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carissa! I'm pretty excited too -- been a long time since I submitted any fiction anywhere.
DeleteGood luck! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Charity!
DeleteQuite predictably, I think this is an awesome idea. :) Love your inspiration board! I hope your story wins, so I get to read it sometime.
ReplyDeleteElisabeth, you are an inspiration to me! Glad you like my Pinterest board :-D And if it doesn't win, maybe I'll follow in your footsteps and try self-publishing? We'll see!
DeleteYou're writing a western retelling of sleeping beauty....!!!!! *makes lots of ridiculous and frightening noises* THAT IS SO COOL. When I first read about this contest I considered entering for about two days, but then I thought, naaahhhh...not this time. But hooray for you for entering! I'm very intrigued now. :-)
ReplyDeleteEmma, I am. It's true. Actually, I've been tossing around the idea of westernizing fairy tales for a couple years now, though the one I was thinking of starting with was "The 12 Dancing Princesses." And actually, that was my initial response to the contest too -- Heidi told me about it, and I was like, "Oh, bummer, I don't really like Sleeping Beauty." But then... I had an idea. :-D
DeleteI'm intrigued by your story synopsis! The fact that you set the tale of Sleeping Beauty in the Old West is so cool. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Natalie! I'm glad it intrigues you :-) We'll see how it all works out!
DeleteGOOD LUCK! Your story sounds like a lot of fun! I wish I could write a Western myself someday, but I don't know if I'd ever be able to get the atmosphere right. Honestly, I've never lived on a farm or even really visited one . . . and I'm really pretty bad at imagining/writing interpersonal conflict. I don't think I could ever conjure up a proper gunfight. That's why war fiction seems to be working well for me, I think--because you don't really even need an actual "villain." You just have "Death" as the major enemy, and it's all good.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jessica! I come from farming stock (my grandparents both owned farms, and I spent time on one of them as a kid), plus I've taken horse-riding lessons and know enough about tack, how to put them on the horse, how to pick hooves, how to shovel manure, and so on to get by. Gunfights in westerns are in some ways simpler than gunfights in war stories, for me anyway, because there are fewer weapon options. Nobody's gonna lob a grenade at the marshal.
DeleteHowever, even in war stories, you still need an antagonist, don't you think? "Not dying" is something everyone's trying to do -- not a lot of conflict there, and conflict is the spice of fiction.
Oh, absolutely, conflict is what makes fiction exciting . . . but what I mean is, in a war story it doesn't necessarily have to be interpersonal conflict. That is, it doesn't have to be the "I hate this other guy because he did X to me or my family" kind of conflict. It can be just, "I'm all upset because my best friend just got killed and now I'm in love with his girlfriend but I feel super guilty about it and I don't know what to DOOOOOOOOO." (Poor Joey :) ) Like, that way there can be a lot of drama and a lot of tension without necessarily any personal animosity.
DeleteBut that's interpersonal conflict too, isn't it? Conflict between the guy and the buddy's girlfriend surely must be going on, both between each other and within themselves.
DeleteYes, but they're not either of them MAD about it. They're just . . . kind of . . . confused. And upset. Which is why I don't exactly think of it as "conflict," although I could definitely see why you would call it that. For me, it's more like just "tension." You see, I personally always associate the word "conflict" with somebody having done something WRONG, and somebody else being mad about it . . . which hasn't happened here. Nobody's done anything wrong. They're just struggling with Life In General.
DeleteBut probably, a more objective definition of "conflict" would just be "a tense situation arising from an unresolved problem," which is definitely present in my story. So yeah, there's conflict. I just don't like to CALL it conflict. Illogical, I know :)
Conflict doesn't have to be anger. It can be disagreement. Or just one person wants something, and the other doesn't. Tension is like a low level of conflict, really.
DeleteYeah. That makes sense. Although, at present, there's no actual disagreement between Joey and Maisie (that's Fran's girlfriend) because Maisie has no idea Joey cares anything about her. She's not a particularly perceptive kind of girl. Not stupid, you understand, just not very astute at "reading" people. So it's more like Joey is in conflict with HIMSELF, I guess you could say.
DeleteWell, internal conflict is useful too :-)
DeleteIt is indeed! :)
DeleteBy the way, I just found out that all three episodes of S&S 08 are actually posted on YouTube, although they're really pretty bad quality (the sound is fine, but the picture is very dark). If you want to see/hear the actors for free, though, it might be worth a shot :)
Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLNBU8AYGBM
That's cool, thanks! /let's see if I find tome for it before it disappears.
DeleteI hope you can! It's such a great movie.
DeleteI hope you win!!!! I get what you mean; entering story contests are thrilling but nerve racking to say the least! XD
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jamie! Nerve-wracking is a good way to put it.
DeleteWow! Great job! I was debating entering this contest and then promptly decided that my skills probably need to be honed just a lottle before I'd be comfortable doing so XD Best of luck with the writing!
ReplyDeleteOlivia, thanks! "Sleeping Beauty" is not one of my favorite fairy tales, so making it more interesting for me has been a big part of why I decided to try this :-)
DeleteThat's great to hear Hamlette! Good luck with it and I'll be looking forward to hearing more about the story!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Birdie! I'm sure I'll be mentioning it again whether I win or not :-)
Delete