It’s a Steal

Derringer Award-winning author Patti Abbott, who also happens to be the queen mother of the Friday “forgotten books” series, is launching a new flash-fiction contest in tandem with Aldo Calgano and Gerald So. Entries will apparently be posted in time for Valentine’s Day, though it isn’t necessarily a contest associated with romance and boxes of chocolates and spooning on lakeshores. Abbott spells out the guidelines:

I got the idea on the Women of Mystery’s blog, where Terrie Moran wrote two lines that I wanted to steal.

So now we can all steal. Or get a kick start on a new flash from someone else’s words. Or work in tandem. Whatever.

• First, sign up to play by January 13th.

• Second, write the first paragraph of a story (say, 3-6 lines). It doesn’t need to be about Valentine’s Day.

• Third, send your paragraph to me by January 20th (aa2579@wayne.edu). I will stir the pot and send it back out to another writer.

• Fourth, write a 750- (or so) word story using [the paragraph you receive].

• Fifth, post it on your own blog or with Mystery Dawg at Powder Burn Flash on February 10th. [Send entries to Mystery Dawg’s Calgano at mysdawg@sbcglobal.net.]

• Sixth, I’ll let you know whose lines you used when it’s over.

Just write a first paragraph, something you might use yourself--the best you can come up with, and you’re off. Does this sound doable? Does this sound like fun?

It does, actually, sound like a bit of a hoot.