Hello fiction writers! We invite you to join another 100-word short story contest, hosted by The Writers’ Block. In this post we will announce the winner of the previous contest and provide the new two-word prompt for the next round.

The Winning Entry

Thank you to everyone who participated in the last round of our 100-word short story contest. We had some excellent stories, which made it a huge challenge to choose just one winner. The contest judges were @jayna, @rhondak, and the TWB workshoppers. The criteria:

Write an engaging short story in 100 words.
Include one or more characters, a conflict, a story arc, and a resolution.
Include the two prompt words.

Congratulations to the contest winner, @freedomtowrite, with "Essence of a Promise." We loved your entry because it tells a haunting, mysterious story, with impeccable mechanics, consistent POV, tense, and voice. You didn't use excessive filters, it is properly formatted, and there are no basic grammar or spelling mistakes.

Another entry stood out for us but lacked the prompt words so it couldn’t be considered for the win. This was “Thunder,” by @bohemian.machine. Riveting story! We hope to see more participation by this author in future contests. Two other stories missed the word count in this round, one by being slightly under, and the other by being significantly over. Delivering an exact word count in a contest like this one is important because doing so requires a particular skill set, and it’s one we look for.

New Prompt and Contest Rules

That was so much fun. Let’s do it again! This time, we’re adding a twist. This round will have two phases. One will be the same as always. Everyone will follow the contest rules we usually post. Then, instead of announcing a winner, we’ll pick the top five and assign each author a mentor. This mentor will help polish the story before the second round of judging. The prize for the winner will be 20 Steem this time instead of 10. Here are the Phase One contest rules, the deadline, and the two prompt words you need to incorporate into your story.

Write a story in exactly 100 words. (Note: This is a short story contest, so make sure you submit a story, not poetry or non-fiction.)
Incorporate both of the following prompts in your story: oxygen, answer.
Use the following tag: #twbwritingcontest
Post your story to your own blog and provide the link in the comments of this post.
If you include an image with your story, it must be your own original work, Creative Commons, or legally licensed to you for commercial use. For more information, HERE is a helpful resource. Be sure to provide attribution, even if it is your own artwork or photography.
Submit your story by the contest deadline of Monday, October 1st, 2018, by 23:59 EST.

While it is not a requirement, we will appreciate it very much if you upvote this post and resteem. Thank you!

Contest Tips

This contest is about writing tight fiction. It’s about honing your craft by writing within a strict word limit and taking the time to make every word count. Writing micro-fiction is an excellent vehicle for sharpening your skills because you have a succinct piece of content to write and polish.

How to be a contender

Take the time to write and edit your story.
To be a contender, make sure your story includes these elements:

One or more characters.
A conflict. This can be anything that creates a challenge for the character(s), including a disagreement, a threat, a loss or a longing.
A story arc. Build the tension. Make us feel wary, excited, fearful, etc.
A resolution. Bring it all to a close in a satisfying way.

Get objective evaluation of your work, preferably by someone with editing or critique experience.

Typically, winners of our contests (which are judged by mainstream publishing standards) are writers who've workshopped with us or with another pro-level writing group. This isn't favoritism. It is simply an acknowledgement of those who've done the work and logged the time learning how to deliver high-quality fiction.

The same opportunities that have been afforded to them are afforded to everyone on the Steem blockchain. This is one reason we added an extra step to this contest, because many regular participants in this contest have the potential to win, but need a tiny bit of guidance to pull all the elements of their story together. We look forward to reading your entries!

About The Writers’ Block

The Writers’ Block is a community of writers and editors devoted to supporting high quality fiction and poetry, and we have many exciting plans in the works to raise the visibility of quality content here on Steemit. To read more about our upcoming plans, see the post, The Triangle Theory. Join us on Discord! Click the gif below for directions. :-)

Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://www.writersblockcentral.com/uncategorized/100-word-story-results-and-new-contest-for-9-25-18/