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  DISCOVER 
 our writing ezine The VERB


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Subscribe and receive your copy of
Ten Steps 
to a Killer Story!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Print it!  (PDF)

Deadline:
July 15, 2009
(Midnight, PT)

 

"Listen."
"I hear nothing."
"Nor I. No birds, no crickets. It's all gone so quiet."
"Quicken pace."

 

The words that flow from real people are not the same as those that flow from fictitious ones. We may engage in idle chit-chat from sunrise to sunset, with no goal in sight, but they who emerge from the imagination may not enjoy such leisure. From the moment they open their mouths, they have a job to do: reveal character, advance the story.

And there is nothing more dynamic than a well-crafted conversation. 

Share your characters' gift of gab. Write a complete storynot a scenethat consists of pure dialogue. No narrative whatsoever, not even a he said or she replied. If it isn't spoken, and within quotation marks, it can't be on the page.

 



$100

  Story published in The VERB

Story Opinion, also published in The VERB
($29 value)

 


 

Entry Fee: None

Length may be up to 1,000 words. But not a word more. (Your contact information and your title are not included in the word count.)

Entries must be original and unpublished. Send only your best. Once submissions arrive, no revisions will be accepted.

Open to writers worldwide. (Payment to winners outside the USA are made via PayPal only.)

Unlimited. You may submit multiple stories.

The judge for this contest is Elizabeth Guy. Read her bio on the Readers page.

Winner will be notified via email August 3, 2009. The winning story will be published in the August ´09 issue of The VERB. 

Only the winning entry receives a free Opinion. Read previous Opinions here.

After the results have been announced, the remaining entrants will have the opportunity to receive a Contest Opinion at half price ($14).

As always, complete contest results will be announced at the Contest Café.

NEW! Read about the judging process and our new method of posting contest results!

 


ALL contest entries must be submitted electronically. You may paste your text within the body of an email or send it as an attachment in a PDF or a Microsoft Word.doc. We do not accept any other formats.

AT the top of your submission, please provide:
   ~ your name
   ~ your mailing address
   ~ your email address
   ~ genre
   ~ word count 

CAPITALIZE title. All submissions must have a title.

FONT should be black 12-pt. Arial, Courier or Times Roman, double-spaced.

SEPARATE scenes with a few centered pound signs: ######.

CONFIRM we've received your entire submission by including the words: The End.

SUBJECT: Dynamic Dialogue Contest

YOU are now ready to submit your work.  
(If clicking this link doesn't automatically open your email, send your work to
contest--at--readingwriters.com
AFTER you've replaced the --at-- with the @ sign.)

WE confirm receipt of every contest entry. If you haven't received a confirmation within 24 hours, we haven't received your entry. Please re-send.

WE don't, however, acknowledge spam-blocking filters that require us to fill out a form to join an approved list. If you use such an address for this contest, you won't receive emails from us.

 

 

·  RIGHTS  ·

Winner grants ReadingWriters, publisher of The VERB writing ezine, First Electronic Rights. Simply put, this means you allow us to publish your story first on the Internet. After August 2009, the story will move to The VERB archives and remain there until you ask us to remove it. You, the winning author, retain all other rights to your work.

These First Electronic Rights apply to the winning entry only.
 
Remaining entrants retain ALL rights to their work.

 

 

 

Making a Scene
with
Mush Pump and Ice Noodle

Elizabeth Guy

  View the book trailer!

   "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Let me go." Ice Noodle fell to the ground, fighting for air. He stretched out on his back and stared up at the clouds until his breathing calmed. "Daryl thinks Reva's in love with his brother. And it's killing him."

   "Hark!" Mush Pump raised a hand to his brow. "We've made contact!" 

   "Fine. I can do that." Ice Noodle sat up. "Daryl goes down to his studio and bangs out a tune on the piano. He's a musician. Logical reaction."

   Mush Pump glared down, folding his arms.

   Ice Noodle tried again. "Okay, he bangs out a sad tune."

Paperback  $15.50
 Download  $7.00 

 

 


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