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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 4 days, 4 hours ago
Did you write your story in first- or third-person POV? If it’s the former, I can see why you might want to add headings, but in third person, the narrative would probably indicate that you’ve switched POVs since the character’s name would change. So, in short, it’s fine to do that; I’m just not sure it’s necessary. 🙂
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 1 week, 2 days ago
The entry fee is mentioned right above the note about our supporters getting in for free: “A $10 submission fee must be tendered at the time of entry. This fee is nonrefundable. After you fill out the form and click Submit, you’ll be redirected to PayPal to pay the fee.”
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 3 weeks, 4 days ago
Our system doesn’t send automatic email responses, but I did receive your story and have added it to our stack, so you’re good to go. 🙂
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 3 weeks, 4 days ago
Haha! I shall await it eagerly, then. 😉
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Brianna Storm Hilvety replied to the topic Writing Life : Getting a Professional Edit in the forum Weekly Theme Discussion 1 month ago
I’m going to invade Jess’s guild for a minute because I’m very sorry to hear that you’ve had a bad experience with editors. From what you’ve said, it sounds like whoever you worked with wasn’t qualified, which I’m afraid is the case with many alleged “professional” editors. A line editor should do much more for your prose than c…[Read more]
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Brianna Storm Hilvety replied to the topic Tone… dictionary… something?? in the forum General Writing Discussions 1 month, 1 week ago
The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi might be helpful to you. It doesn’t cover tone, but it gives suggestions for how to effectively convey emotions through a character’s body language. I’m wondering if the problem is that you’re not infusing enough emotions into the scene and that’s why it feels sterile. These posts from…[Read more]
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 1 month, 1 week ago
Last year’s first place winner: https://storyembers.org/first-place-winner-backstays-of-the-sun/
And the second place winner: https://storyembers.org/second-place-winner-endbringer/
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 1 month, 2 weeks ago
If you want your byline to be a pen name, enter it in the form like this: Rachel Jones (Pen Name: Violet Nelson). We’ll contact the winners before their stories are published, though, so you could potentially specify then that you’d prefer to use a pen name. 🙂
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 1 month, 2 weeks ago
You can use a credit card to pay through PayPal even if you don’t have an account, so in a way, yes, you can. 🙂
I love when brainstorms happen at opportune moments. 😉 I can’t wait to see the words you rain onto paper!
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Sounds like a flavorful story! 😉
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 1 month, 2 weeks ago
We don’t have an age limit, although I wouldn’t recommend that elementary schoolers enter since the competition would probably be tough for their age level. 😅
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 1 month, 2 weeks ago
An excellent motto. 😉
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 1 month, 2 weeks ago
We wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to considering your story for publication at a later date (especially if it received an honorable mention or landed among our top ten during the elimination process). However, we’d generally discourage this to avoid getting flooded with unchosen stories once the winners are announced. 😅 If you feel strongly tha…[Read more]
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Ditto to that! 😅
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 1 month, 2 weeks ago
So you already have a story up your sleeve, huh? Kudos to you! 😎 I shall await it eagerly.
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 1 month, 2 weeks ago
I hope you do! 😉
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Yay for extra incentives! 😄 Experimenting with short stories can be valuable writing experience. It gives you an opportunity to hone characterization, plot, theme, and style on a smaller scale. 🙂
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Brianna Storm Hilvety commented on the post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Nope! The ineligibility rule only applies to current staff members, guild masters, interns, etc. So you’re free to enter. 🙂 I look forward to seeing what you whip up!
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Brianna Storm Hilvety wrote a new post, Enter Our Second Short Story Contest! 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Do you have a story burning inside you? Are you up for a challenge? Do you like prizes?
If so, you’re in for a thrill, because we’ve decided to make our short story contest an annual event, and we hope you’ […]
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Brianna Storm Hilvety replied to the topic RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARC II: THE LEGEND OF THE FORBIDDEN BURIAL GROUNDS in the forum General Writing Discussions 2 months, 1 week ago
I love how I knew where Josiah hid the clue and am leading the writing team on this quest. 😂👍🏻👍🏻 (That’s actually a fairly accurate representation of how I interact with our publishing personnel…which is probably information I should not be disclosing to the public. 😛 So shhhh.)
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Perfectly timed! I just began working on a new short story project only a few days ago. The only challenge will be keeping it under 5k xD
Question before I get too excited: am I disqualified since I was previously a guildmaster? (I had to stop last October). Totally fine if that’s the case. I just thought I’d ask before I get too attached to the idea of participating in this contest 🙂
Nope! The ineligibility rule only applies to current staff members, guild masters, interns, etc. So you’re free to enter. 🙂 I look forward to seeing what you whip up!
This sounds awesome! I’ve never written a short story before but I’ve been wanting to try it out, and this sounds like a good way to test my skills and brains to come up with an idea and actually finish it. 😉
Yay for extra incentives! 😄 Experimenting with short stories can be valuable writing experience. It gives you an opportunity to hone characterization, plot, theme, and style on a smaller scale. 🙂
Yes, every time I’ve tried to write a short story or even a novella it turns into a full-out novel! XD Hopefully this time it’ll go better.
YAY! This is so exciting! I’ll see if I can come up with something…xD
I hope you do! 😉
So you already have a story up your sleeve, huh? Kudos to you! 😎 I shall await it eagerly.
Wow! It’s crazy to think it’s been a year since the first contest!
Ditto to that! 😅
If a writer’s story doesn’t win, can he still submit the story for publication on the blog through the normal submission process?
We wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to considering your story for publication at a later date (especially if it received an honorable mention or landed among our top ten during the elimination process). However, we’d generally discourage this to avoid getting flooded with unchosen stories once the winners are announced. 😅 If you feel strongly that your story is high quality but you don’t win, then shoot me an email, and I can let you know whether we have any interest in acquiring it outside of the contest.
If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.
Year two. 🙂
An excellent motto. 😉
YAS! “Rejection is God’s redirection.” 😀 I feel you!
Perfect motivation for an idea that’s been cooking in my brain for awhile to finally spill onto the pages!
Sounds like a flavorful story! 😉
Hi there! This sounds pretty awesome, but I’m just curious if there’s an age limit? Thanks so much! 🙂
We don’t have an age limit, although I wouldn’t recommend that elementary schoolers enter since the competition would probably be tough for their age level. 😅
Hi there! This sounds pretty awesome, but I’m just curious if there’s an age limit? Thanks so much! 🙂
Is it possible to pay the entry fee if I don’t have a PayPal account?
Also just YESTERDAY I got a really exciting idea for a short story! And I missed the contest last year…so I’m really excited! Thanks for putting this on!
You can use a credit card to pay through PayPal even if you don’t have an account, so in a way, yes, you can. 🙂
I love when brainstorms happen at opportune moments. 😉 I can’t wait to see the words you rain onto paper!
If you want your byline to be a pen name, enter it in the form like this: Rachel Jones (Pen Name: Violet Nelson). We’ll contact the winners before their stories are published, though, so you could potentially specify then that you’d prefer to use a pen name. 🙂
Had an interesting idea and started writing. Now I’m at *only* 5,230 words.
Um, oops. Guess I need to go on a little diet there. 🙂
Anyway, what I wanted to ask is: do you have a link where we can read the stories that have won last year? It would be really helpful to have the inspiration and/or examples.
Thanks,
-E.L. Fletcher
Last year’s first place winner: https://storyembers.org/first-place-winner-backstays-of-the-sun/
And the second place winner: https://storyembers.org/second-place-winner-endbringer/
Thinks!!!
Thinks!!!
HEY! I have a short story I’ve been working on and it might actually work!!
*zooms off to finish polishing*
Haha! I shall await it eagerly, then. 😉
Our system doesn’t send automatic email responses, but I did receive your story and have added it to our stack, so you’re good to go. 🙂
HI! So, i had seen that there was a free entry for those who are supporting StoryEmbers, but i didnt see an entry fee for if you arent…. little help? (=
The entry fee is mentioned right above the note about our supporters getting in for free: “A $10 submission fee must be tendered at the time of entry. This fee is nonrefundable. After you fill out the form and click Submit, you’ll be redirected to PayPal to pay the fee.”
The short story I’m writing for the contest goes back and forth between two POVs. Am I allowed to add a heading (the name of the character whose POV it’s in) to each scene as a way to show whose POV the scene’s in?? I wasn’t sure, since the rules say to use *** for scene breaks, but I want to be sure to clarify whose POV I’m writing in. Thanks! 🙂
Did you write your story in first- or third-person POV? If it’s the former, I can see why you might want to add headings, but in third person, the narrative would probably indicate that you’ve switched POVs since the character’s name would change. So, in short, it’s fine to do that; I’m just not sure it’s necessary. 🙂