Because Hope Springs Eternal…

Or maybe because I’m a sucker for torturing myself with writing competitions, I signed up yesterday for the 14th annual NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge, which kicks off tomorrow, June 10th, and will “challenge writers around the world to create short stories no longer than 1,000 words based on genre, location, and object assignments in 48 hours. Each writer will participate in at least two writing challenges and as many as four depending on how well they place in each challenge.”

Huzzah? I looked up some past competition example assignments, and here are a few that they provided:

Genre - Drama; Location - An awards dinner; Object - press-on fingernails.
Genre - SciFi; Location - A drug rehab center; Object - a wig
Genre - Comedy; Location - a luxury spa; Object - an exit sign
Genre - Romantic Comedy; Location - an ambulance; Object - onion rings
Genre - Horror; Location - a rooftop; Object - a wheelchair

So… yeah. The location must be the predominant location used in the story. The object must physically appear at some point in the story, rather than a character simply mentioning it or it appearing as the name of a restaurant, in a letter, or on a sign (ie: The Wig Alehouse).

Everyone competes in at least round one (this weekend) and round two (August 12-14th). There may be up to 150 groups in the first round! Writers will be judged and assigned points (1st through 15th place, with 1st place earning 15 points, second place 14 points, etc). The groups will remain the same for round two but be given new assignments, and point tallies from the first two rounds will be added together to see who advances to round 3. I’m not thinking beyond that at this point in time, partly because that round won’t start until October 7th.

So wish me luck; once I get my assignment I’ll let you know!