I write stuff for kids...and muse on writing, children's books, and the publishing industry in general

Monday, March 5, 2012

Second Campaigner Challenge (of my Fourth Campaign, February 2012)

I’ve been asked for a more difficult Challenge this time, while at the same time I know many of you would prefer not to be *too* challenged. So I’ve given you a range of different activities you could do below, all based on the same prompts, and it’s up to you whether you do one or some or all of them. I’ve determined the judging criteria in advance too, so it will enable the judge to assess all your entries equally no matter what you decide to do. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Prompt 1:

Two people are sitting together under the remains of a concrete bridge. Their backs are against a rusted bridge support. One person’s leg is cut. The other person has wet hair.

Prompt 2:

(Source)
Prompt 3

(Source)
Prompt 4

(Source)
Prompt 5

(Source)

Second Campaigner Challenge

Do one or more of the following:
  1. Write a pitch/logline for a book based on the prompts (less than 100 words)
  2. Write a short story/flash fiction piece of less than 200 words based on the prompts
  3. Write a poem with a twist using the prompts as inspiration (in less than 200 words)
  4. Write a story/poem in five sentences, each sentence based on one of the prompts
  5. Write a poem/flash fiction piece (in less than 200 words) about the water pear *without* using the words “pear”, “spoon”, or “droplet”.
For added difficulty/challenge:
  • Complete at least three of the above activities and tie them all together with a common theme (feel free to either state the theme in your post or leave us to guess what it might be)
  • Write in a genre that is not your own
  • Ask Challenge entrants to critique your writing. After the Challenge closes, you may wish to re-post your revised piece(s), and I’ll include a Linky List at the bottom of this post for those wishing more feedback on their revisions (note: revised entries will not be judged, so please label clearly your original post and your revisions. Please do not offer critique unless someone asks for it, as per the usual blogging conventions. If you do ask for critique, make sure you ask for it clearly so people know you want it, and please be prepared to receive feedback that may not be 100% glowing. If you are a critiquer, please be tactful and courteous, and remember to provide positives as well as negatives.)

Judging criteria

Judging will be based on:
  • How creatively the prompts are used (possible 5 points awarded)
  • How well the entries are written (possible 5 points awarded)
  • How engaging/entertaining/unique the entries are (possible 5 points awarded)
  • If the entrant completes more than one of the activities in their post, how well their pieces are tied together by a common theme and how strongly their theme shines through in their writing OR If the entrant only completes one of the activities in their post, how strongly their theme shines through in their writing (possible 5 points awarded)
  • Whether the judge wants to read more (possible 3 points awarded)
  • Creativeness/uniqueness of the entry’s title (possible 2 points awarded)
I hope you all enjoy!!!

Challenge details

Once you’ve posted your Challenge post on your blog, pop back here and link directly to it in the Linky List below. Please make sure you include the direct URL link to your post, not just the link to your blog! Otherwise we won't be able to find your entry.

I've also set up the Linky List so you can "Like" entries, so make sure you come back here and vote for the People's Choice Awards!!! Like voting will remain open for the week after the Challenge ends, so you can take your time reading some/all of the entries and voting. As the like voting is not a popularity contest, it is only intended that people taking part in the actual Challenge should vote. So please don't go out and get your family/friends/other bloggers to vote for you. If you only have time to read/vote for a few entries, consider randomly selecting entries or starting at the end rather than at the beginning, so that the people at the end have their entries read and voted on as well.

Entries in the First Campaigner Challenge will close on Friday, March 9th (at 11.59pm EDT), so make sure you get your post in the Linky List before then. As usual, while everyone is very welcome to take part in this Challenge, only Campaigners will be eligible for prizes.

Thank you so much to all the Campaigners who have volunteered to judge one or more of the Challenges. I'm amazed by your generosity—you all rock!!! In terms of judging, Mark Koopmans will be in touch about that very soon. I'd love you all to take a moment to pop over and follow Mark, to say thanks for all his hard work in co-ordinating the judging.

There will be a stack of prizes awarded this Challenge, both for the entries that are judged the best (by the judges and by yourselves) and through Random.org. We're talking ARCs, books, critiques, and other items galore! I'll be announcing the winners in the weeks after the Challenge finishes, so keep an eye out.

And as to that, thank you so much to everyone who donated the dozens of prizes we'll be awarding in the Challenges. I'm blown away by your generosity! And a huge thanks to Ozlem Yiciki and Kathleen Doyle for their awesome work in administering the prizes. And would everyone please take the time to follow Ozlem and follow Kathleen as a sign of your appreciation for their help - without them, I wouldn't have been able to offer prizes.

So, all that remains is to enjoy. Leave a comment to let me know you're doing the Challenge. Have fun writing your post, then pop round to the other entrants, check out their posts, follow and comment, and decide which entry or entries YOU like the best!

And don't forget to add your name and post link to the Linky Link below before 11.59 pm this Friday!

CHALLENGE ENTRIES LINKY LIST

IMPORTANT: DON'T PUT YOUR NAME IN THE LINKY LIST UNTIL YOU'VE WRITTEN YOUR POST - THEN LINK DIRECT TO THAT POST PLEASE (ie, insert the complete URL to your Challenge post, not your blog address/URL)



REVISION LINKY LIST (not included in judging)



55 comments:

C.B. Wentworth said...

Oh, wow! My muse is buzzing with possibilities! What a great set of challenges to tackle. :-)

Mark Koopmans said...

OMG... what am I getting myself into !!!! :)

Hildred Billings said...

Ahahaha. This should be interesting.

Sabrina A. Fish said...

Brain overload. So interested to see what everyone, including myself, comes up with.

Sarah Tokeley said...

Right! Thinking cap on :-)

Morgan said...

Crazzzy stuff... That was hard!!!!

Carrie Butler said...

Whew! That one kick-started my imagination. No chance of sleep for a while... :)

Unknown said...

One small step for a campaign, one giant leap for a tired writer.

Melissa said...

I'm with TB. I almost didn't play, but I'll give it a shot. *goes off to begin typing...again*
= P

Deniz Bevan said...

Woo! Thanks for all the choices, Rach!

Unknown said...

Ooooh, what a challenge! *rubs hands together* I used all five prompts in a single five-sentence flash fiction piece :-)
*pats self on back*
*has another brownie*
Lol

Ann Cory said...

Whew! That's a challenge. Definitely need some tea first. And...need to be more awake. Looking forward to tackling these!

PT Dilloway said...

Good to see my complaining has paid off.

Sarah said...

Quite the challenging challenge, but yet brimming, even swimming, with so many possibilities!

PT Dilloway said...

Though also for the record my challenge idea was much less complicated while still challenging.

sue said...

That is a doozy of a challenge
can’t believe people are posted already
can’t follow comments as not on blogger
but I am too stubborn not to try - even though I don’t do pic prompts well

sue said...

whats the diff between a blurb and a pitch?

Christy Farmer said...

Done! Can't wait to read to read the other entries :-)

Unknown said...

Oh my ... this REALLY is a challenge, but I'll try my best.

YelenaC said...

Wow, that is some challenge! Will see what I want to focus on and will hopefully post my challenge response by the end of today or tomorrow.
Good luck to everyone!

Jenn said...

Oops, I'm no longer sure if we could pick a prompt or had to do all. I only chose to use one. Oh well, it was fun and sparked the idea of another YA. :)

Scott Bury said...

Okay, I'll try this one. I like the idea of describing something without naming what it's made of. And the combination of visual and textual prompts is great!

Melissa said...

"So I’ve given you a range of different activities you could do below, all based on the same prompts..."
I took this to mean whichever challenge activities we chose, we had to use all 5 prompts. Apparently others didn't read it that way. Hmm...

Nancy Thompson said...

Man, that was a hard one, Rachael! But I did my best. I'm #5. I managed to tackle two items, but even that was challenging. Hats off to those who could do more. Those prompts were really hard to all fit into one story. I hope I didn't fall flat on my face with this one.

Skippy Bo Bippy said...

Yeah.. OK.. that was haaard. I had to read the instructions like 10 times, seriously. But on the bright side, it was fun to write. Time absolutely flew by.

Cherie Reich said...

Great challenge, Rach!

Mine's up. :)

Rachael Harrie said...

Awesome to hear all your comments guys! I did intend all the prompts to be used, but it's ok if you only want to use some of them :)

@Sue, here's a link to a post that describes the elements of a pitch. Basically, it's more concise than a blurb, 2 or 3 sentences max and often only 1. http://hollybodger.com/?p=414

Hugs,

Rach

Hiroko said...

28's not my favorite number, but it is the number I show up on the list - a lot smaller than the last number I pulled!

Thanks for all the options, madam! I didn't use them all, but I could seriously go in any direction if I chose to start over.

Melissa said...

"Awesome to hear all your comments guys! I did intend all the prompts to be used, but it's ok if you only want to use some of them :)"

So, do we get extra points for cramming them all in? (Carrie tells me I'm being wayyyy too competitive. hahaha) = P

Esther Jones said...

This is the first time I've used photo prompts, and it was so much fun. I think I've managed to include all of the prompts, but they're not all very obvious. ;)

Andora Brokaw said...

Whoa. Using all the prompts was really challenging!

(If I'd known I could just pick one before I'd written my piece, I probably would have. But I'm glad I made myself use all of them even though my first thought was that there was no way I could do that, because it turned out that I was wrong about that. :)

Nick Wilford said...

Well, that was insane. But amazing fun. I'm learning serious editing skills from this Campaign, that's for sure! :)

Lauren W. said...

This is way too much fun! Like neglecting your WIP progress fun. Next time I'll be sure to officially sign up in time, but thanks for letting those late comers join in for kicks.

Unknown said...

anyone know if there is a campaign g+ circle? It would be good to use the latest social media to create groups.. including Goodreads, Pinterest ect ect. Any ideas?

Unknown said...

I just returned home after two weeks and read what the second challenge was. "Wow," I thought. Then, "Okay, I can do this."
Now, I'm going to sleep. I don't know if I'm tired from this challenge or from the trip home. "Goodnight All, and Good Luck!"

Unknown said...

Oh, and "Good Job, Rach."

Sher A. Hart said...

I never read any entries until I post my own, but now I'm anxious to check out the competition. This was the hardest challenge for me so far, but very satisfying to tie the requirements together with one theme. And I made a contest for people to guess that theme, plus the ending to my book pitch, with a $10 book prize up for grabs.

Synithia said...

Okay, I used all five prompts, but only wrote the flash fiction piece. I did go outside of my genre and asked for critiques. All in all, I appreciated the brain excercise. :)

sue said...

thanks for the link for the pitch. If you could check mine (#48) and let me know how it can be improved I'd appreciate it.
And thank you so much. I really enjoyed the two challenges and look forward to more.
Cheers
Sue

Erin Kane Spock said...

I had a lot of fun writing this. I feel both artsy and silly at the same time.

Unknown said...

I just want to apologise to anyone whose blog I left the wrong link on on Monday while I was commenting on entries. Yeah, uh, I just realized that the link I left on some blogs that said "My Entry" actually didn't lead to my entry! Complete and total blonde moment related to the fact that I had two blog posts on Monday and was linking both of them in various places!
(No excuse though...)
Please don't hate me!

Unknown said...

This one's tough, but I welcome the challenge. There's certainly more variety in submissions this time around too.

Siobhan said...

How do you become a campaigner to qualify for prizes?

Cortney Pearson said...

Wow, this hurts my brain a little, lol!! I'm glad for the extra challenge though!! Heading off to write mine now...

Golden Eagle said...

Just finished writing mine and linked up. :)

Unknown said...

That was a challenge worth of that name. And it was so very much fun :)
My take on it is now linked, and I'm looking forward to see what the other Campaigners made of it.

Unknown said...

I am pondering and writing...thanks Rach and all the volunteers for all you do for all of us!

Melissa said...

Bloggers,
Please consider turning off your Capcha. You can go here for instructions:
http://melissamaygrove.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-am-not-robot.html

Scott Bury said...

I've done it - my story is up on my blog, and I'm entry #95. (I've already tweeted about this.)

I combined ALL the prompts into one story, which could function as the opening of a novel. The story includes a very short poem about the water pear without using any of the proscribed words. I've also written the pitch for the book, which is MG and therefore well outside my "normal" genre.

Thanks for all your hard work in developing and coordinating this campaign, Rachael!

MISH said...

This was REALLY tough!
Well, I managed to use the 4 pictures and the 200-word piece is another genre... something new for me! I'm no.#103 on the linky list!

Unknown said...

So fun!

Jocelyn Rish said...

Whew, got this one in just under the wire! What a toughie this one was!

Anonymous said...

I'm enjoying reading the challenge entries but am getting really frustrated with the problems I'm having posting comments. I cannot get them to post when the blog is hosted by Blogger and Captcha is being used. I've tried with my Wordpress id, openid, and name/url. I apologize for the limited number of comments I am making.
Richard Alan

ETowns said...

I have been having so much fun reading everyone's entries and even the comments and critiques of my own writing. This has been so great. I still haven't learned how to turn Captcha off Blogger.

aisyahputrisetiawan said...


Banned complain !! Complaining only causes life and mind become more severe. Enjoy the rhythm of the problems faced. No matter ga life, not a problem not learn, so enjoy it :)

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