Tuesday, January 05, 2010
"Silhouette" Short Fiction Contest
* stands for ClarityOfNight, C?
Picture courtesy of Jason EvansWelcome to the 12th Clarity of Night Contest!! Before the post-holiday doldrums gain a foothold, let's get a little juiced up, shall we?
Here's how the contest works. Using the photograph above for inspiration, compose a short fiction (or poetry) piece of no more than 250 words in any genre or style. Send your entry to me by email at jevanswriter at yahoo dot com before 11:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 13th (Eastern Time, United States). I'd prefer attachments formatted in Microsoft Word (please see the format request below), but if you have something more exotic, you can paste the text into the body of an email (no docx formats, please). Each entry will be posted and indexed.
Now for the goodies. The following prizes are up for grabs:
* 1st Place: $50 Amazon gift certificate
* 2nd Place: $30 Amazon gift certificate
* 3rd Place: $25 Amazon gift certificate
* 4th Place: $20 Amazon gift certificate
* 5th Place: $15 Amazon gift certificate
* Readers' Choice Award 1st Place: $25 Amazon Gift certificate
But this is about more than prizes. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity to meet and interact with your fellow writers. Our different perspectives, styles, and skills shine when we all start at the same place. It's a great opportunity to learn from each other.
Rules:
1. 250 words maximum.
2. Titles are optional, but encouraged. Titles do not count toward your word count.
3. One entry per person.
4. Any genre or style is welcome. If you choose to submit poetry, you must have narrative movement within the poem if you wish to compete with the prose pieces for the prizes.
5. The copyright remains with you, the author; however, you grant me worldwide first electronic publishing rights to post your entry on this blog indefinitely.
6. Judging will be conducted by me, Jason Evans. For an explanation of the judging criteria and scoring system, see A Note on Judging. You can also read the winning entries from past contests.
7. Please provide a name for your byline. If you have a website or a blog, I'd be happy to link your site to your byline. If you don't have a website or blog, feel free to include a short bio. A bio does not count towards your word count.
8. At the close of the contest, I will give the date and time for the announcement of winners.
9. After the winners are announced, I will post what I liked most about each entry in the comments.
10. The Readers' Choice Award is awarded by vote of the contest participants. The entry with the highest number of votes wins. The rules for this portion of the contest will be posted after the entry period closes.
11. Public critiques in comments are encouraged, but must remain respectful. I reserve the right to delete comments and ban participants who do not abide by the collegial spirit of Clarity of Night contests.
12. For prior contests and their results, see the links on the sidebar.
Format Request:
These are not rules, and I will not reject an entry which does not conform, but if you follow them, my work in running the contest is much less. For that, I will be eternally grateful!
1. Single space lines, and double space paragraph breaks.
2. No tabs or indents for new paragraphs.
3. If you have italics in your text, please code it for html by putting a begin italics code <> where it starts and an end italics code < /i > where it ends.
4. Although it's rarely used, handle bold <>< /b > and underline <>< /u > the same way.
5. Write your title at the top of the document left justified in title case (first letters capitalized). On the next line write your byline left justified (example, by Jason Evans). Add two blank lines, then begin your story.
Welcome to this latest contest! Entries will be posted starting January 6th.
Help spread the word!
Posted by jason evans
**********************************UPdated Jan 12, 2010**************
Whispering Pine for a Silhouette
by Chong Yen Long
My body feels warm tonight although there is a breeze entering the room. I descend the lonely mansion onto the Port Dickson beach to seek solace of twilight and twinkle, winking stars.
Thirty years is a long time by human reckoning, but it seems like only yesterday. My body from waist up trembles -- at the thought of caressing a sixteen-year-old body sublime, me some seven years senior but not any wiser, in a fruity encounter I think subconsciously fostered by reading DH Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's :Lover" at the tender age of 13!
I look up to the study in the bungalow my rich aunt bequeathed me instead of to her children because she found me more adorable as I could paint and write adult poetry in childhood. I am also romantic; otherwise, who would imagine bringing a young neighbourhood gal to a rendezvous in this gods' forbidden territory?
A black bird suddenly takes off from a whispering pine tree as I approach a bench underneath its arching fronds. And as I look up that window, I can see the silhouette -- maybe this crow's granduncle had once stood at that window-sill peeping at two other "birds" locked in embrace?
I could still sign my lover's name in a thousand variations -- Chinese calligraphy style -- in the sands.
Tonight I celebrate the return of my first-love silhouette in a hallowed study. I can feel the electrifying sensation of a climax being scaled as we entwine in a Kamasutra pose.
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