Bout #1 - Maries de France vs Zom / Winner = Marie de France
Bout #9 - Word Cupcake vs Chun-Li / Winner = Chun-Li
Bout #12 - Jean Rabender vs Zola Mars / Winner = Jean Rabender
Bout #15 - JavaInMe vs Saddleshoes / Winner = JavaInMe
Cage Bout #4 - The Night Songstress vs Arcadia vs Bluebonnet / Winner =The Night Songstress
Cage Bout #5 - Jean Rabender vs Crash Override vs JavaInMe / Winner = JavaInMe
Wildcard Winner = Helveticaw
Wildcard Winner = Helveticaw
Playoff Bout #2 - Chun-Li vs The Night Songstress / Winner = The Night Songstress
Playoff Bout #3 - JavaInMe vs Helveticaw / Winner = Helveticaw
Wildcard Winner = Chun-Li (via tie-breaker)
Final - BonsaiBabe vs The Night Songstress
WRiTE CLUB Champion = BonsaiBabe (aka Solange Hommel)
WRiTE CLUB Champion = BonsaiBabe (aka Solange Hommel)
Whether
you’re serious about writing…or you just like to dabble from time to time…it’s
time to tighten those laces and put up your dukes -- WRiTE CLUB is back! This is the sixth year of the “little contest
that could” and I’m happy to announce that we are continuing our association
with the DFW
Writers Conference. The winner will be announced during this year’s fabulous
conference in Ft. Worth on April 23-24.
I’m
getting a little bit ahead of myself…let me explain what WRiTE CLUB is for anyone who is new to the contest? What started off as a modest writing competition
loosely derived from the movie FIGHT CLUB,
has grown into a writing community sensation.
You may have heard of other versions of this concept (mostly LIVE
face-to-face battles), but nothing like we do it here. This unique approach, combined with your
participation, continues to set it apart from the other writing competitions and
is responsible for its phenomenal growth.
The contests essence embodies simple, good-natured competition, with
lots and lots of fun sprinkled on top.
Here’s
how it works. Over the course of seven weeks we will be holding daily bouts
(M-F) right here on this blog – pitting Anonymous 500 word writing samples against each other. The
samples are submitted under a pen name by anyone who wishes to take part. The winners
of these bouts will advance into elimination rounds, and then play-offs, which
will ultimately lead to a face-off between two finalists to determine a single
champion. The writing can be any genre, any style (even poetry), from a larger
piece of work or flash fiction -- the word count is the only restriction. It’s a way to get your writing in front of a
lot of readers, receive a ton of feedback, all without having to suffer the
agony and embarrassment of exposure. How
cool is that?
And
the winners of each bout are determined by you -- WRiTE CLUB readers!
Wait
a minute…how can samples of different genre's and age groups compete against
one another? Broader still, wouldn’t WRiTE CLUB be inherently biased towards
YA WRiTER's since it seemed like the majority of the blogosphere (at least this
hemisphere of it) is populated by those working in the YA genre. First off, we don’t like to admit it, but
writers compete against one another everyday…in the query piles, bookstores,
library’s, and other on-line marketplaces. Which book am I going to take home with
me (or download) today? Secondly, I believe visitors to WRiTE CLUB...regardless of the genre they practice in...can recognize
excellent writing! And it doesn't matter
if that writing is YA, MG, Sci-Fi, Horror, Mystery, Fantasy, etc...etc. I'm confident that the WRiTER's that will choose
to submit their work (which I have the utmost admiration for) do so knowing
that those 500 word snippets would stand on their own, without the benefit of
plot or theme, and though there may be an element that suggests a specific
genre (vampires are a dead giveaway), it is the way the scene is weaved that
would be judged.
But
in order to step into the WRiTE CLUB
ring, you must first make it past our twelve slush pile judges. It’s their job
to read each and every submission and help me decide the top 30 entries. The
slush pile readers consist of people who are a combination of published
authors…fellow bloggers...and individuals who simply have a passion for
reading. This group has successfully
predicted the past four WRiTE CLUB
champions. The slushpile judges will be holding a couple of Twitter parties during
the month February. They’ll be tweeting about submissions that caught their
attention (all anonymously of course). Watch the hashtag #WRiTECLUB2016.
So
what’s at stake…other than exposure? First, the winner of the final round is chosen by a
panel of publishing industry professionals!
Agents, Editors, Publishers, Marketers, and well-known Authors! Secondly, the WRiTE CLUB Champion -- announced during the DFW Conference – will receive a three-chapter critique of their
work by several of the judges – and – FREE ADMISSION TO THE DFW CONFERENCE IN DALLAS FOR 2017. That is a $450 value and an experience that
cannot be missed! The first runner-up will receive a $75 Amazon gift card!
Are
you bouncing up and down with excitement, wondering how to submit your sample? Here’s
some Q & A that will answer all of your questions.
1 How do I enter? - It’s really simple…follow the format below (in a Word attachment, or a format
compatible with Word) and send your submission to WRiTECLUB2016@gmail.com.
My wife is the only person monitoring that email address and she will log in and assign every entry a number – then remove the writer’s name. You will be receive a confirmation email from her once your entry has been logged.
My wife is the only person monitoring that email address and she will log in and assign every entry a number – then remove the writer’s name. You will be receive a confirmation email from her once your entry has been logged.
1 How long do I have to submit? - Submissions are open from now until February 26th. After that date a panel of a dozen judges
will read all of the entries and select 30 of the best writing samples to climb
into the ring.
2 What happens after I submit – how will I know if I’ve been selected
to fight? Last
year we had 171 entries, so just getting selected to participate in the contest
is reason to celebrate in itself. Thirty participants will selected by our
slush pile judges and in order to find out if you’re one of then -- you must
follow the contest and watch for your pen name to appear.
3 Is there a limit to the number of times I can enter? You are allowed to
enter two different writing
samples – each in separate entries under the same pen name – but only
one will be eligible to become part of the 30 contestants. You can attach both
entries in the same email. The sample
that does not get selected can be used for future rounds, if you’re lucky
enough to advance.
4 What happens if I make into the play-off rounds? If you progress
past the first round, you’ll be asked to provide additional 500 word pieces (as
many as four total).
5 I don’t intend to enter a submission, can I still vote on the bouts? Absolutely! All
we ask is that you leave a brief critique for both contestants. Although our
contestants are anonymous – voting is not.
6 When you say anonymous…just how anonymous? No one (other
than my wife)…not even the judges being used to pre-select the 30 contestants,
will see the true identity of any sample.
Not even me.
7 What changes can we expect this year?
Because the DFW conference is earlier this year, the contest had to
adapt its timetable as well. There will
be 15 bouts instead of 20 – meaning we can only take 30 contestants – 10 fewer
than last year. We will also introduce the concept of a cage-fight during the
elimination round, where three contestants will go up against one another and
only one will raise their arm in victory.
How can I help spread the word? We’re game to just about anything. Write
a blog post, mention it on Facebook, Tweet about it (#WRiTECLUB2016), talk about it on any writer forums you visit,
heck…send up smoke signals if you have to. Take note – you cannot drive traffic
to promote a specific piece of writing, that could get a writer disqualified,
just ask people to read and vote their hearts.
Here
are the general rules that have guided the WRiTE
CLUB competition for six years, which are loosely based on the Fight Club rules.
1st RULE:
You MUST talk about WRiTE CLUB - Spread the word far and wide so we can involve as many
writers as possible. Display the WRiTE CLUB banner prominently on your
own blog. Write a post about it (I’m
more than willing to guest post on your blog).
Tweet it. Make videos and post
them on Facebook. Heck, send up smoke signals if you can. And once the contest
starts, keeping banging that drum so we can attract as many voters as possible
and give our contestants as much exposure as possible.
2nd RULE:
You DON’T talk about WRiTE CLUB – No one is allowed to solicit votes for a specific
contestant. All of the writing
entries are anonymous, and we want it to stay that way. This is not a
popularity contest! Ask others to vote – YES. Ask others to vote for a specific
contestant – NO. Violators will be immediately disqualified.
3rd RULE:
Anyone can WRiTE, but it must be
original material. Your submission can not have been
published anywhere else before! (That includes your blog)
4th RULE:
Bouts will continue for only seven weeks - No matter
how many submissions we receive.
5th RULE: No
shirts, no shoes - Come on, tell me you didn't giggle
at that one.
6th RULE:
If someone taps out, WRiTING is over
- Tapping out means a WRiTER can decide at any time during the competition to withdraw
their name from the pool. If that happens the next writer from the slush pile
with the most votes will move into that spot.
We started accepting your 500 word submissions
today…the cut-off date is midnight on February 26th…and then Mar 7th
the first bout will be held.
Here is this years list of celebrity judges (and
their bios) for the final round. The majority of our panel will
be attending the DFW Conference, so if our winner attends he/she will be able
to shake their hands and thank them personally.
Barry Lyga has been called a
“YA rebel-author” by Kirkus Reviews. He’s published fourteen novels in various
genres in his nine-year career, including the New York Times bestselling I Hunt Killers. His books have been or
are slated to be published in a dozen different languages in North America,
Australia, Europe, and Asia.
After
graduating from Yale with a degree in English, Lyga worked in the comic book
industry before quitting to pursue his lifelong love of writing. In 2006, his
first young adult novel, The Astonishing
Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, was published to rave reviews,
including starred reviews from Booklist and School Library Journal. Publishers
Weekly named Lyga a “Flying Start” in December 2006 on the strength of the
debut.
His
second young adult novel, Boy Toy,
received starred reviews in SLJ, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus. VOYA gave it
its highest critical rating, and the Chicago Tribune called it “…an astounding
portrayal of what it is like to be the young male victim.” His third novel, Hero-Type, according to VOYA “proves
that there are still fresh ideas and new, interesting story lines to be
explored in young adult literature.” Since then, he has also written Goth Girl Rising (the sequel to his
first novel), as well as the Archvillain
series for middle-grade readers and the graphic novel Mangaman (with art by Colleen Doran). His latest series is I Hunt Killers, called by the LA Times “one
of the more daring concepts in recent years by a young-adult author” and an
“extreme and utterly alluring narrative about nature versus nurture.” The first
book landed on both the New York Times and USAToday bestsellers lists.
Barry
lives and podcasts in New York City with his wife, Morgan Baden, and their
nigh-omnipotent daughter. His comic book collection is a lot smaller than it
used to be, but is still way too big.
Russell C. Connor – Russell C.
Connor has been writing horror since the age of 5, and has been in the
self-publishing industry for a decade. He has published 8 novels and 4 novellas
in both paperback and eBook, including the Box Office of Terror Trilogy and
"Whitney," an epic horror novel about hurricane survivors fighting a
washed-ashore sea monster. He also designs books for clients and assists them
with self-publishing endeavors through his company, Dark Filament Publishing Startup. Contact him
through darkfilament.com, or on twitter @russellcconnor.
Monica Odom joined Bradford Literary Agency in
2015. Prior to joining Team Bradford, she worked for five years managing
finance, subrights and social media at Liza Dawson Associates, and became an
associate agent there in 2013. Monica earned her Masters in Publishing: Digital
& Print Media from New York University in 2014, and has a B.A. in English
from Montclair State University.
Laura Maisano - Laura has an MA in Technical writing and is
a Senior Editor at Anaiah Press for their YA/NA Christian Fiction. She’s
excited to release her debut YA Urban Fantasy SCHISM, and she’s finishing up
the sequel UNITY.
Her
gamer husband and amazing daughter give support and inspiration every day.
Their cats, Talyn and Moya, provide entertainment through living room battles
and phantom-dust-mote hunting. Somehow, they all manage to survive living in
Texas where it is hotter than any human being should have to endure. Check out
her blog at LauraMaisano.blogspot.com.
Gordon Warnock
is a founding partner at Fuse Literary, serving as a literary agent and
Editorial Director of Short Fuse Publishing. He brings years of experience as a
senior agent, marketing director, editor for independent publishers, publishing
consultant, and author coach. He frequently teaches workshops and gives keynote
speeches at conferences and MFA programs nationwide. He is an honors graduate
of CSUS with a B.A. in Creative and Professional Writing.
Joanna MacKenzie
joined Browne & Miller Literary Associates in 2003. She began her career in
publishing as an assistant under Jane Jordan Browne and Danielle Egan-Miller.
Now an agent, Joanna has prepared, submitted, and successfully placed all types
of projects, but her true passion lies in commercial fiction. She’s looking for
exciting new voices in women’s fiction, thriller, new adult, and young adult
genres. She enjoys working with writers
who embrace the full creative process (read: don’t mind revisions) and has
helped to shape many client manuscripts into books that receive stellar
reviews, award nominations, and which have gone on to become national and
international bestsellers. Joanna holds a Master of Arts in Film Theory and
Criticism from the University of Chicago as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts in
Drama from the University of Calgary, Canada. Follow her @joannamackenzie.
Jodell Sadler
earned her MFA in Children’s Writing from Hamline University. She is the author
of Picture Book Lunch: 20 Tools for Pacing and Writing Picture Books to Wow,
and has produced five Writer’s Digest University Tutorials on Children’s
Writing. Her published articles include “Picture Book Pacing: Verbal and Visual
Tools for Writers, and Picture Book Pacing: The ultimate 20 editing tools for
your work,” in the Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market, 2011 and
2013, respectively. Visit her Picture Book Lunch website and find her on
Facebook.
Eric Smith
is an associate literary agent at P.S. Literary, with a love for young adult
books, sci-fi, fantasy, and literary fiction. He began his publishing career at
Quirk Books in Philadelphia, working social media and marketing on numerous
books he absolutely adored. Eric completed his BA in English at Kean
University, and his MA in English at Arcadia University. A frequent blogger,
his ramblings about books appear on BookRiot, The Huffington Post, and more. A
published author with Quirk Books and Bloomsbury, he seeks to give his authors
the same amount of love his writing has received. Which is a lot.
Mark Falkin.
Licensed in Texas, Mark has practiced entertainment and intellectual property
law for 17 years, representing hundreds of artists (a platinum seller and
Grammy® winner among them), entrepreneurs
and businesses, shopping artistic projects, drafting and negotiating
entertainment contracts, securing trademarks and copyrights, licensing and
selling intellectual properties, establishing businesses, litigating disputes. He’s
completed 3 novels (and a chapbook of poems), with two more in rough draft
stages. One, literary, is long, self-published and well-reviewed (Days of
Grace). Another, an upmarket supernatural thriller, garnered an agent at a
venerable NYC agency (Howard Morhaim). The most recent is a near-future
suspense tale called Contract City published in hardcover by longstanding
Baltimore indie publisher Bancroft Press which is currently in screen
development with a studio in Los Angeles (Booklist: "it's hard to put this
down."). And then there’s the ongoing and continual What I’m Working On
Now.
Jason Yarn
is a member of the Association of Authors' Representatives and an attorney
registered in the state of New York. He graduated from Georgetown University
with a BA in English and from Brooklyn Law School with a JD. He started his
career in publishing with Writers
& Artists Agency and then continued with Paradigm Talent Agency for ten
years, acting as both a literary agent and a business affairs executive.
Tiana
Smith – Tiana was the
first WRiTE CLUB champion back in
2011. She is represented by Rachel Marks of Rebecca Friedman Literary and
writes YA contemporary -- the more kissing the better. When she's not knee-deep
in edits, she dabbles in design (theblogdecorator.com) and watches Disney
movies while eating as much mint chocolate chip ice cream as possible. She's a
mom, accomplished violist and insomniac, though not necessarily in that order.
She graduated with double bachelor degrees in Honors and English from
Westminster College.
Mark Hough – Mark was the
2012 WRiTE CLUB champion. Mark and
his wife Faith live and work in Southern Connecticut, a short drive away from
the music centers of New York City and Yale School of Music in New Haven. Mark
is not only a talented writer, but he has been making violins, violas and
cellos for 13 years, since he completing his 3-year apprenticeship with
Lawrence Wilke in 1998. He is a member of the Violin Society of America, which
has awarded Mark's violins two Certificates of Merit for workmanship
Tex Thompson – Arianne
"Tex" Thompson is home-grown Texas success story. After earning a
bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s in literature, she channeled her passion
for exciting, innovative, and inclusive fiction into the Children of the
Drought – an internationally-published epic fantasy Western series from
Solaris. Now a professional writing instructor and editor for the DFW Writers
Conference, Tex is blazing a trail through writers conferences, workshops, and
fan conventions around the country – as an endlessly energetic, relentlessly
enthusiastic one-woman stampede. Find her online at www.TheTexFiles.com
and
on Twitter as @tex_maam!
Dan
Koboldt – Dan was our 2014 Champion and a genetics
researcher slash fantasy/science fiction author. He has co-authored more than
60 publications in Nature, Human Mutation, The New England Journal of Medicine,
and other scientific journals. His debut novel The Rogue Retrieval,
about a Vegas magician who infiltrates a medieval world, was published by
Harper Voyager in January 2016. Dan is also an avid hunter and outdoorsman. He
lives with his wife and children in St. Louis, where the deer take their
revenge by eating the flowers in his backyard.
Lisa
Dunn – Lisa won WRiTE
CLUB 2015 with samples of her current work-in-progress, a contemporary YA
titled Commando Grace. She believes in heartfelt characters, intriguing plots,
and wondrous worlds. Her first two books, Grit of Berth and Stone and Heir of Koradin were published by
Anaiah Press in 2015. The final book in the Chasmaria series, Child of Thresh, will release August 2016.
Lisa is on Facebook and Twitter, and occasionally blogs at
https://waitingforaname.wordpress.com.
I think you’ll agree with me that we’ve compiled quite
a remarkable group of writing professionals once again. But no matter how impressive the list, it
means nothing if you don’t submit that writing sample and try your luck in the
ring. Deadline for submissions is February 26th!
Are you willing to WRiTE for what you want? Then crack those knuckles and get ready to flex that imagination. And whatever you do, tell your friends!
This
is WRiTE CLUB, the contest where the audience gets clobbered!
I didn't make the cut last year. Here's hoping for this...
ReplyDeleteExcellent, thank you. Have you considered proof-reading your post, though. Loads o'typos.
ReplyDelete