Form and Genre Challenge Hints and Revised Schedule
The Form and Genre Challenge isn’t just about encouraging writers to step out of their comfort zone. It also exists to foster a professional attitude and process to submitting work. The key elements of this include:
- locating suitable markets (in this case, suitable challenges)
- carrying out any research necessary.
- allocating and managing writing time to meet deadlines.
- working with others to improve your work, and in turn to improve your colleagues work via beta reading, line editing and proof reading.
- to revise and redraft work to the highest possible standard for submission.
In light of this, we urge all participants to please allocate and budget their time to publish the best possible piece of work for each challenge–this includes beta reading, redrafting and having someone help with line editing prior to publishing to your blog.
We recommend a three week writing period rather than writers rushing stories out in a single week. We’d prefer to see one or two pieces from you in a month of an excellent standard, than a piece each week of a lesser standard.
We suggest the following three-week structure as an absolute minimum (this is the structure writers involved in Literary Mix Tapes following during their collective writing and submission period):
Week 2: Beta reading and third draft Week 3: Line editing, final draft and proof reading
REVISED SCHEDULE
Each month is now structured in the following monthly format:
- genre
- form
- poetry
- and for the months with five weekends, a bonus genre challenge.
Each month also includes a rest week.
The dates given are submission dates. A reminder of each up-and-coming challenge will post a week prior.
July
01 #17 Mystery/Detective (2500)
08 #18 Letter (750)
15 #19 Prose Poem
22 #20 Space Opera (3000)
29 REST WEEK
August
05 #21 Noir (2000)
12 #22 Dialogue Only
19 #23 Found Poem
26 REST WEEK
September
02 #24 Urban Fantasy (3500)
09 #25 2nd Person Narrator (1500)
16 #26 Villanelle
23 #27 Erotica (1500)
30 REST WEEK
October
07 #28 Time Travel (3500)
14 #29 Monologue (500-700 words)
21 #30 Cinquain
28 REST WEEK
November
04 #31 Fairy Tale (1000)
11 #32 Diary (1000-2000)
18 #33 Haiku
25 REST WEEK
December
02 #34 Alternate History/Reality (3500)
09 #35 Memoir (2500)
16 #36 Sestina
23 #37 ?Punk (steam, clock, cow, diesel etc) (3500)
30 REST
January 2013
06 #38 Gothic Horror (2500)
13 #39 Microfiction (100 words)
20 #40 Pantoum
27 REST
