Hello everyone,
Our online writing group, which started in 2018, usually asks participants to write a story of 500 words based on one or more monthly "prompts". The stories are posted to a dedicated blog and are read by all the writers who contributed that month. Everyone has 2 weeks to comment, offer feedback and critique each piece.
For March 2020, we're changing things up a bit. You are all invited to write a piece of FAN FICTION instead of something based on a prompt. And because this is so challenging, we're relaxing the word limit. Feel free to exceed 500 words, but no more than 750.
Anyone may participate! Send your piece in to us via email to whitesborowriters@gmail.com with a doc attachment and your story will appear on the blog after 6 PM on March 17. Sorry but we're unable to post stories after the deadline.
So what exactly is fan fiction? Basically it is a fictional story from your own imagination based upon characters and/or situations from a well-known published novel, TV show, film or play. In the publishing world it's really difficult to get permission to publish fan fiction for profit, but that doesn't stop fans from wanting to keep their favorite story arcs going.
Wish you could write like your favorite writer, or think you can do as well as he or she did? Want to retell a story from a different point of view? Here's your chance! Be bold...
Special guidelines for this writing challenge - due March 17, 2020 by 6 PM EDT
1. Identify the original you're riffing off of (title of book, film, series and author).
2. Give us a short (up to 100 words) synopsis of the original story so we know what's it about. This will help readers to evaluate your story in context. If your story is really famous (such as the Wizard of Oz or To Kill a Mockingbird or Star Trek), you can probably omit this step or be very brief.
3. Try to imitate the style of writing from the original. For example, if the author used short sentences (like Cormac McCarthy in The Road) or a more complicated vocabulary that has you reaching for your dictionary (like in the sample story posted here, as did David Foster Wallace in Infinite Jest), do the same. If they used mostly dialogue, imitate that. If mostly narrative, do that.
4. Feel free to add footnotes.
5. Most importantly, have fun!
Questions? Post them to Facebook, or in the comments below, or email us, and we'll get back to you.
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