Finalists

Dun...Dun...Dun!


I must say you guys were incredibly cruel to me.  I had hoped that there would be at least ONE story I could write off immediately, thus making my job easier.  No such luck.

I assure you the whole process was extremely scientific.  I felt like I was back in college.  I took notes, there was a rating system.  Everything!  After a few hours of sweating and nail biting, I've come up with the finalists.

But first!  There were some that I wanted to recognize for certain reasons:

For best closing line:

S.E. Sinkhorn @ maybe genius--“'All right, girly,' I say. 'Let’s get you your happy ending. Just promise me you won’t give him his.'”  


Plus, your line about Crystal Balls was just hilarious!


For phenomenal use of acronyms:


Joshua--He did a sci-fi version of the Three Little Pigs.  Hay-Hyperbaric Atomic Yield, Wood-Warren Orbital Observation Depot, and Bric-Billet Risk Intelligence & Command.  Pure genius!


Coolest Weapon Ever (and suckiest way to die):


Palindrome--"Something wraps around my ankle. I stumble into the hair. It reaches above my head and I try to climb out but it keeps me trapped. Cold strands crawl up my arms, curling around my neck. As it moves closer, I spy several gleaming skulls tangled within the hairy mass. I kick my legs, a few strands snap as I struggle, but the hair won’t budge. I twist and turn until I’m on my back." --From her version of Rapunzel.


I wish I could keep going with the honorable mentions because all the stories were just that good, but that would make for a very loooong post.  There were some stories that were very beautifully written, there was one that pushed the sexy meter (good take on Red Riding Hood, by the way), and there were zombies.  Emily is terrified of zombies.  *chills*


I was thoroughly impressed with what you guys came up with!  But now, I guess it's time to get to the finalists.  That's what you guys are waiting for, isn't it?  You're probably yelling at me right now to just get on with it.  Okay.


But first!  You guys know that I'm not an agent or publisher and the fact that you did not end up as one of the finalists in no way implies your story wasn't good.  Seriously.  Some of the stories were neck & neck for the finals, but they were the same story and I had to pick my favorite.  In the end, I found I was personally drawn to those stories who had amazing endings or a really unexpected twist that left me either laughing or going "wow."


So, without further ado!  


The Finalists Are:


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Brad Jaeger


Stuart Sharp


Anne Riley


Vic (aspiring_x)
&
Dangerous With a Pen


!!!!!


Click their links, reread the stories, and vote in the comments here!


Some more rules:
I know, we hate them, but they're important.  Everyone is allowed to gather more voters for this contest (in fact, this is encouraged), but please do not ask people to vote for a particular finalist.  That just isn't fair for the finalists who may not have as many followers as the next guy.  If I find a finalist asking people to just come on here and vote for them, I will take said finalist out of the contest.  I'm sure you guys won't do that, but I had to say it anyway.


A recap so we all understand:  go ahead and ask people to vote, but don't ask them to vote for you or your friend.  Let's make sure this doesn't become a popularity contest.


If you wish to vote anonymously, you may do so.  Just don't get mean, people.  Again, I'm sure you won't, but it has to be said just in case.


Now get to voting!  (you may vote for one person, and one person only.  If you name two people in your comments, I will only count the first person you mentioned).


Have fun and good luck!


Edit:  I forgot to mention that you have until next Monday (Sept. 5th) to vote.


Edit #2:  Moon Unit had a bad link yesterday.  Here's the right one for all of you to read her story!

Fairy Tale Blogfest!

UPDATE:  I'm posting finalists tomorrow.  Not Wednesday.  See you there!  :D

It's here!  The day has finally arrived!  Phew!

To be perfectly honest, when I first posted about the blogfest I was a tad terrified nervous that no one would actually sign up.  When the contestants slowly started piling up, I thought well, at least there will be three winners.  And then one day, you guys just started signing up left and right!  It was wonderfully exciting!  I still can't believe how amazing you all have made this!  Thank you soooooo much for making my first blogfest such a success!

Now, let's recap on how this is going to work:

To view the submitted entries, click here.  I'm going to have to take three days to read them all (sorry, but I don't think I could get through them all today :(  ).  So, on Thursday, I will post my five favorite stories for all of you to vote on.  You'll have a week to vote so that on September 8th we'll finally have our winners!

How exciting!

I will not be commenting on anyone's blog posts for the event.  I just wouldn't be able to find the time to comment on everyone's and I don't want anyone to think I'm playing favorites.  That wouldn't have been the case at all, but when winnings are on the line, I know how antsy people can get.  Well actually, I know how antsy I can get and I just assume everyone is like me.  ;)

To kick the event off, I have also written a story!  I chose to do a micro because I don't want to take away from anyone else's stories.  Plus, I talked these little babies up so much, I decided I might as well do one.

Red Riding Hood, Werewolf Hunter

Some poor fool with an axe lied ripped apart at her feet, his blood running against the soles of her boots.  But with her P90 pressed firmly against her shoulder and a round of shots ringing through her ears, Red watched as the last werewolf died.

Now go get to reading the other great stories out there!  :D

~Emily White

1...

We interrupt this regularly scheduled countdown for a public service announcement:

I am now on Twitter.  Please click the button on the sidebar to the right to follow.  Thank you.

We now return you to the coolest countdown for the coolest blogfest ever.  :D

2...

Two days, you say?

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3...

Countdown...begun!

I hear there's a blogfest coming!  In what?  Three days??

Did Someone Say Blogfest?

Because we're going to have one right here in four, that's right, FOUR days!  There's been a lot of excitement around this contest and I want to keep it going!

Tell everyone where you're at with the story writing process!  Are you done and twiddling your fingers in anticipation for the big day?  Sooooo close to being done and loving it?!  Halfway there and feeling confident about the deadline?  Not even started and wondering how on earth you're going to get it done??

Let us know!

If you're that last one, remember, you still have the option of doing a 50 word micro story.  It takes literally minutes to write and can be a LOT of fun!

Good luck everyone!

~Emily White

Countdown to August 30th! And other good things

Seven days and counting until the Fairy Tale Blogfest/Contest!  If you haven't signed up yet, what is wrong with you??  :D

Recap on the prizes:

1st Place--$100 gift certificate to B&N OR Amazon

2nd Place--Need, by Carrie Jones (Amazing, by the way.  Seriously, if Stephen King did YA, this is what he'd come up with) and a partylite votive holder (for those quiet reading moments).

3rd Place--A character in Hansel and Gretel based on you.  

Amazing, aren't they?!  Yes.  So sign up if you haven't already!  And if you have, get to working on those stories!  :D

Other good things:

The Erratic Muse is giving away The Art & Craft of Writing Christian Fiction.  Who doesn't love winning free stuff?  Head on over and good luck!

Any cool stuff you wish to inform the blogging world about?  Feel free to do so in the comments!  Sharing blog love is always a good thing.

~Emily White

Monday Update

I mentioned on Saturday that I officially entered first draft writing mode on Friday!  Whoo hoo!  Like I said before, that essentially means I'm back to writing one chapter a day (aka very little brain activity left for other things).  But don't worry, I still intend on blogging!  Unlike the last time where I took a couple weeks off.

So let me give you a rundown on where I am on everything:

ELEMENTAL:


I'm working on my query letter at this point and have it out with my beta and a very trusted fellow writer some of you may know--Matthew Rush.  If you haven't visited (and started following) his blog, The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment, I suggest you do so today.  He's been showing all of us his query writing journey as well as examples of some absolutely stellar queries from other authors that got those much anticipated and hoped for requests.

I've also purchased Elana Johnson's From the Query to the Call and have rewritten my query based on her amazing advice.

So, as you can see, my query is in good hands at the moment.

HANSEL AND GRETEL:

Officially started!  I toyed around with it when I first completed my first draft on ELEMENTAL, but with edits coming to a close on that work, HANSEL AND GRETEL has now jumped up to the top of my writing list.

After working on it for two days (I always take Sundays off), I'm already well into chapter three.  At this rate, I'm hoping to be done with it in no more than six weeks.

Wish me luck!

Fairy Tale Blogfest/Contest:

One week away!  That's right!  Next Monday is the BIG DAY!  Are you ready?  Don't worry.  I plan on reminding you every. single. day.

In fact, if you haven't even signed up, you can do so here.  There are some awesome prizes you just don't want to miss out on.

My beta--Victoria Caswell (aka aspiring_x):

She is having the coolest blogging week ever!

Today she's talking about music and writing, tomorrow is all about character theme songs, Wednesday is soundtracking your novel, Thursday is all about Not Without Grace (her go-to-writing-music band), AND Friday she will be interviewing Chris Franzen from that very band!!!  Amazing!



So how are you guys doing with your WIPs?  Still plugging forward?  Any requests out there?

~Emily White

Saturday Fun Time! Sebastian's Tunes!

I officially started first draft writing mode yesterday!  For all of my new followers and those who may not remember, that essentially means I'm back to being a brain dead zombie (i.e. writing a chapter a day).

When writing like this I have to, and I mean I HAVE TO listen to music.  I took a couple minutes to think of what would be exactly right and realized Sebastian (the MC of Hansel and Gretel) loves listening to Linkin Park and Muse.  So, in honor of him, I'm going to post a video from each band.

Linkin Park:



Muse:




Yeah, I listened to these two songs a few times yesterday.  Sebastian was happy.

Don't forget to sign up for the Fairy Tale Blogfest by clicking that pretty little picture in the sidebar to the right! Less than ten days to go!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

~Emily White

Guess that Character Blogfest: Day Two!!

Nope, that picture isn't my character (no peaksies for you guys!).

This blogfest is so much fun and the guesses so fun to read, I thought I'd give a breakdown.

Out of 39 guesses...

6 of you thought my character was a man. A couple of you weren't sure on the gender.

21 of you thought my character had brown or black hair.  One of you thought my character was hispanic (love that guess, by the way!)

Quite a few of you were SO close to being absolutely right.  One of you came the closest to the looks, but she might have had a slight advantage being my beta and all (though, she would have only known the hair color for sure).

The closest:

Rose Cooper:

"I see a young girl. scrawny. Petite. Her voice contradicts the way she looks as her voice is much stronger than her body. She's weak and a mess. Her hair, once lovely, is now an uneven mess to her shoulders thanks to a do-it-yourself attitude and a pair of dull scissors. Her clothes are ragged and dirty but she's determined to overcome her obstacle and become the strong person that nobody believes her to be."    Besides the hair trim, you're pretty much dead on (she just never had access to scissors).


Genie of the Shell:


"Uh, HUNGRY. Skinny to the degree of looking emaciated, dull skin and thin, brittle hair, large eyes, petite build. My general impression is of someone sickly but scrappy, small but tough. I pictured a young female in her late teens or early 20s."


ONE of you had Ella's height exactly!


Brenda Drake guessed 5'8".  For all of you guessing shorter, you were absolutely right.  When the average height is 6'2", 5'8" is pretty darn small.


Krisin Rae's guess of dark circles under the eyes was right on.


and Dianne K. Salerni:


"She's thin and malnourished, with pale colorless hair that is raggedly cut and uncombed. She's dirty and dressed in ill-fitting clothes. Her hands are so thin that her wrist bones jut out, and her skin is pale enough to see the veins through it. Her eyes are large in the hollows of her face and darkened by shadows, but there's a fire in them. She has not surrendered her spirit."


Now, I bet you're waiting for the picture, aren't you?  Well, aspiring_x guessed my character looked like Amanda Seyfried and it was so absolutely close that I immediately fell in love with it!

The chin is a tad too pointed, but other than that, great job!

This is who I pictured when writing Elemental:

                                              

Only, without the glittery stuff around her.  This is what Ella could potentially look like if she was healthy.  At the point of the book where I pulled the snippet, she is an extremely malnourished version of this.  She has slightly yellow skin and dark circles under her eyes.  Her hair is pulled back into a messy ponytail and she has practically no muscle mass whatsoever.

Great job, everyone!  I loved reading all of your guesses!  :D

Guess that Character Blogfest!!

Jen over at unedited is hosting a pretty amazing blogfest today.  In fact, it's a two day blogfest!  

Day One:  I post a snippet of my WIP and you have to guess what my character (Ella) looks like based only on this little bit.

Day Two:  I post a picture of my character and everyone gets to see if they were right!  Or close to being right.  Or just completely off.

Sounds like fun doesn't it?  Let's get started!  Don't forget to click this link to see all the other snippets out there!

             I spotted one of the silver containers Malik had brought in earlier on the floor, next to the cot I was sitting on.  I picked it up and ripped it open.  There was food inside.

            I moaned and opened the first vacuum-sealed package I found.   It was some kind of sandwich.  I didn’t care which kind.  I shoved it to my mouth before I had even taken it completely out of its plastic wrapper.  I’m sure it tasted good.  I didn’t really notice because by the time I had gotten the whole thing into my mouth, I was already ripping open the next one.  This one was brown and gooey, and had a sweet taste that was impossible to ignore.

            By the time I was shoving the contents of the last package into my mouth—some type of bitter drink—my stomach had started protesting.  It hit me then as the acids lurched up into my throat that I should have taken my first big meal a little slower.  I clamped my mouth shut and swallowed.  It burned all the way down.

            I threw the empty packages to the floor and lay back down on the cot, while clutching my very angry stomach.  I should have known something as simple as eating would have ended badly.  I lived in opposite world.  When I expected bad, good happened.  When I thought nothing but good could come from something, that’s when fate decided to kick me in the butt and screw me over.

            I groaned.  My food wanted to come up again—I could feel it—but I refused to let it win.  If I couldn’t control my own body, how could I possibly control the outside influences of the world around me?  No, my body would bend to my will.  I’d rather suffer than lose this battle.

            I groaned again.  It seemed my stomach was more than willing to make me suffer.  I started concentrating on the purr of the engines and the whoosh of the fans as they recycled the air throughout the ship.  And of course, Meir’s steady snores were easy to focus on.  It helped a little, but my stomach refused to be completely ignored.  When it thought it was losing, it enlisted the help of my muscles, which started twisting and pushing at my abdomen to force the food up.  When that didn’t work, it tried to reason with me.

            Just let it out.  You’ll feel better when you do.

            Typical tactics in war: when violence doesn’t work, you send your ambassadors to negotiate terms of surrender.  But I wasn’t about to succumb.  I had earned the nutrients my body now needed to function, and I certainly wasn’t about to lay just inches away from my own vomit.

            Nope.  My stomach would just have to give in and do its job.

So, what does my character look like?  Good luck!

More Contests!

You know what's better than one contest?  Two contests!

Shannon Whitney Messenger is having a Mega-Epic-Contest-of-Awesome on her blog where's she's giving away FIVE, that's right FIVE ARCs!  Uh huh!

So if you want to be the early bird owner of Pegusus, by Robin Mckinley, Matched, by Ally Condie, Virals, by Kathy Reichs, The Search for Wondla, by Tony DiTerlizzi, or The Kneebone Boy, by Ellen Potter then go over to Shannon's blog today!

Seriously.  Go now.

Monday Update

Happy Monday, everyone!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  Mine was fairly uneventful, but most of my weekends are.  I'm glad you all enjoyed the video on Saturday!  If I were to weigh in on that whole star trek vs. star wars battle, I'd have to say it's a fairly even divide.  If we're talking original star wars vs. original star trek, then star wars wins.  If new star wars vs. new star trek, star trek clearly dominates there.  You have to admit it--Episodes I-III were butchered.

But today is Monday Update!  And this is August!  That means I'll start querying in just a couple weeks!  Ah!  Yes, this news deserves lots and lots of exclamation marks.  Lots.

Do I have a dream-oh-my-goodness-super-agent picked out?  Yup.  That's not to say I don't also have a few equally fabulous agents on my list, but don't we all have that special someone who we really REALLY hope will say yes?

I'm a little nervous, as you might imagine, and I haven't quite decided on how I'm going to proceed.  Do I start with super agent or test the query waters with some of the other fabulous agents?  I've got a little while to decide, but it's starting to feel like I need to decide NOW.  You have no idea how badly I just want to jump the gun and start right now, but I gave myself until September to get everything ready and I'm going to stick to that deadline.  Yeah, I have to tell myself that numerous times during the day.

So, how are you guys doing on the WIP front?  Any soon-to-be-queriers out there like me?

Don't forget to sign up for the Fairy Tale Blogfest/Contest------> Click the link on the sidebar-------->

Saturday Fun Time! The battle everyone has waited for!

Finally!  The outcome to age old question:

Star Wars or Star Trek


We shall see...

All right, another YouTube video that will not just let me embed the html here.  No matter!  Click this link for the battle of a lifetime!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

~Emily White

I Am Still Alive

But dead tired.  Wow.  I completely overestimated the amount of activities I could fit into three super WriteOnCon days.

Note to self: Three year olds and one year olds do not care that mommy is working on the computer.

But I am here now (a walking zombie, maybe) and I want to know if any of you, my dear readers, attended the conference.  And if you did, what did you think?

My opinion:

The live chats--awesome.

Panel discussions--awesome.

Basically anything and everything having to do with the industry professionals--awesome.

Mass critique session--still on the fence on that one.  And I'll tell you why.  I've belonged to a few writing communities over the years where critiquing WIPs was the main order of the day, and though you can hit gold and find an amazing critique partner who understands your manuscript and really wants to help you, you'll also run into a lot of people who just won't ever "get" what you're writing and if you're not careful, they can lead you astray.

I've been doing this for so long that I think I'm pretty good at picking the good advice out of the bad advice.  When I first started, though, I made a lot of mistakes because I listened to what everyone said despite the fact I really didn't agree with them.  Clearly, if someone points out grammatical errors or typos, you should listen, but what about the other stuff?

Sometimes these mass critique sessions try to create cookie cutter manuscripts.  I.E. You shouldn't do it this way, but let me tell you how I would do it.  I try to avoid giving those kinds of critiques.

I'm actually not talking about any circumstances regarding my submissions into the critique slush pile.  But I am thinking about a particular writer friend of mine.  His query was ripped to shreds and it ended up winning a contest!  What would have happened if there wasn't a contest to show him just how awesome his query was?  I'm pretty sure he would have ignored the nay sayers, but a lot of people wouldn't.  A lot of people might have listened and destroyed an amazing query because it wasn't written the way others would write it.  And that's pretty sad.

But I remain on the fence with the mass critique stuff because you really can find the most amazing betas that way.  This writing stuff is no longer a lonely man's business.  We've got to get out there, make contacts, and find people who can really help our work shine.

What did you guys think of WOC?  Are you as jaded about mass critique sessions as me?

Cookies and The End of the World

Thanks to all you dear readers for your "happy birthdays!"  I told my son about the love and he was very pleased.  We had a great day--spent some time with the family, ate cupcakes, and went to VBS at night.  

And speaking of baked goods...cookies!  Yes, new followers, you are due some sweet goodness as a warm little welcome.  I'm glad you're here and all your comments make my day!  :D

Last week, Victoria Caswell (aka aspiring_x) gave me the End of Days Award.  Ummm...thanks?  Are you you implying something with this?  Is there something I don't know??  

No, actually, I'm very honored she decided to bestow this award upon me.  

There are some rules to this award, though, that I should get to.  Apparently I have to give you readers a glimpse into my psyche and let you know just what I would do if I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the world really was going to end on December 12, 2012!!!!  Ahhhh!

Honestly?  I'd cry.  I'm one of those parents people make fun of sometimes who are always freaking out about her kids getting hurt.  Seriously.  It's one of my biggest fears that I'll actually have to see my children suffer and die.  So finding out it's going to happen would make me really depressed.

Other than that, I'd probably squat on somebody's 5,000 acre forested property.  I've always wanted to live in the middle of the woods and because my impending demise would not make me immediately wealthy, I'd have to settle for someone else's property.

And guess who gets this lovely award passed on to them?  Every single new follower from 90+.  It's yours.  Take it!  If today wasn't the start of WriteOnCon, I would name each and every one of you.  But today IS the start of WriteOnCon and I have about fifteen more seconds left to finish this post.  Feel free to give yourself a shout-out in the comments.  And leave your links so everyone can go and visit you!  :D

Have a great day, everyone!

~Emily White

Little Guy's Special Day

This picture is not yours, it is mine.  You take it, I kill you.*

Today my eldest son is celebrating his third birthday.  So, of course, I don't have much time for a longer blog post.  :(

For all of you participants of the High Drama Blogfest, I'm still making my rounds.  A LOT of people signed up!  And the stories are great!  But there's a LOT of them.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get through them all this week.

And welcome to all my lovely followers!  Your cookies are still in the oven.  I'll get them to you tomorrow.  

I'm also giving an award away tomorrow and talking about my impending demise!  You don't want to miss it.

If you haven't signed up for the Fairy Tale Blogfest, you still have a chance.  The blogfest is on the 30th, so get those juices flowing!  Also, because of all the selling drama going on with B&N, I'm now giving the first place winner the option of a $100 gift certificate from B&N or Amazon.  

See you tomorrow!

~Emily White

*I trust you, my dear readers.  It's the creepy little people who just pop up out of nowhere and steal pictures, thinking they own them I don't trust.

High Drama Blogfest!

Here it is!  DL Hammons High Drama Blogfest!  For more stories, click here to get to everyone's links.  Lots of great ones out there.  Check them out!

A scene from my novel, Elemental:  (Ella's running away from her friends)

I took a deep breath and went into a narrow space, three rows to the left of the building.  I reasoned Malik would check the first row, assuming a lack of planning on my part.  The compartments loomed twelve feet above me and were so close together that they blocked out most of the sun.  I’d gone maybe thirty feet down the lane before I started having second thoughts.  Malik was going to find me.  My whole plan was stupid.  I was betraying Meir by leaving him like this.

I had almost convinced myself to turn around when something slammed into my back, throwing me to the ground.  I threw my arms out in front of me, but my head dug into the gravel as something heavy sat on top of me.

My mask was ripped off and the stones scraped against the left side of my face.  Whoever was sitting on me pulled at my hair and yanked my head back, tearing strands out of my scalp.  I gasped for breath as it was squeezed out of my throat.

 “Tarmeans aren’t supposed to have long hair, my pretty.”  Hot breath scorched my ear.  “Are you Malik’s pet?”

He shoved my head back into the stones.  I clenched my mouth and eyes shut but still dirt and rock lodged themselves between my lids and passed my lips.

Gently this time, he played with my hair.  I heard him inhale, and groan.  “Malik’s a little busy right now.  So for now, you can be my pet.”

The man slid his hands along my hip and clenched the top of my thigh, pressing himself closer to me.  His breath grew rough and uneven.

I dug my hands into the dirt and tried to push myself up to heave the hulking mass off of me, but that only seemed to excite him more.  Stones bit into my flesh as he thrust his groin against my back.

With a quick, jerky movement, he stood up and grabbed me by the shoulders to throw me against the wall of containment units. I cried out and winced when my head slammed against the hard surface.

I knew I wasn’t going to get far, but I took a step forward to run anyway.  The man was there, shoving his body against mine and pressing me flat against the wall again.

“Tsk, tsk,” he whispered in my ear and grabbed my waist.  “Where are you running off to?”  His other arm came up then and stroked my face.  A thick, meaty thumb scraped the dirt and gravel off my cheek.  “You are a pretty one.”

His face came close to mine; I could feel his breath pouring from his open mouth.  I twisted my head to the side just as his lips dove for mine.  I felt his lips curl up into a smirk, and he ran his tongue across my cheek.

I brought my hands up to shove him away, but he just pressed himself tighter against me, moving his hips rhythmically against mine.

“Please.” I whimpered.

He moved his lips down my jaw to the base of my neck.  “Oh yes.”  His voice grew rough and he twisted his hand into my hair.  “Beg for it.”

I clenched my eyes shut and struggled to hold back the whine that wanted to escape my lips.  That would only excite him more. 

He took his hand from my hair and started pulling up his robes.  I gasped.  I needed to think of something, and quick.  The stink of sweat and cologne lurched its way to my nose, making me dizzy. 

When his robes were up, he started pulling apart my suit.  That’s when I screamed.

He slapped me.  “I like it better when you whisper,” he growled.

I punched at his kidneys, but he didn’t flinch.  His thick hands found an opening in my suit and made contact with my flesh.

A deep calm suddenly settled over me and my arms hung limply at my sides. I closed my eyes and let the familiar tingling sensation—that fickle power—wash over me.  I no longer noticed his twitching fingers.  They no longer mattered.  All that mattered now was what I must do.

I opened my eyes and smiled when I saw the blue points of light waiting for my orders.  I pushed at them and they obeyed me willingly.

The man flew away from me and slammed into the container just across the alley.  Air swirled around us like a whirlwind, picking up the dust and debris from the ground.  But I took little notice.  My target was clear. 

I smirked to see his face twist in terror.  He brought his hands up to save himself, but there was no hope.  I was in control now.  I laughed as I prepared to rip him apart.

Fairy Tale Month Continued, Plus Other Exciting Things!

If you have not yet signed up for my Fairy Tale Blogfest/Contest, what are you waiting for??  How can you possibly miss out on an opportunity to win a $100 giftcard to B&N??  Or Need, by Carrie Jones??  That book is awesome, by the way.  If Stephen King wrote YA, this is what he'd come up with.  Seriously.  And who doesn't want to be immortalized in print by being an actual character?

Also, I'd really appreciate it if you guys snagged my pretty little picture over there and put it in your sidebar to link to the blogfest.  The more the merrier, right?  I'll give cookies if you do, and I promise not to eat them this time. ;)

And, I'm going to have to retract a statement I made on my original blogfest post.  Micro stories are 50 words or less, not 100.  I've already fixed my post, but I wanted to let you guys know here, too.  For more on what micro stories actually are, check out this website.  Here's an example from the site just in case you don't want to click:

"The magician was going to disappear in front of his audience,but he chickened out and turned to jello."


So, there it is.  A story that takes minutes to write for all you very busy people out there.  And just so you know, I happen to love micro stories just as much as I love regular flash fiction, so my opinion will in no way be biased against you if you go this route.



That Exciting News I mentioned in the Title:


I've changed the title of Aurumenas to...

...

...

...

Elemental.

I'm loving the change so far.  The title seems so much more vivid now.  What do you guys think?

Oh, and I've also changed my MC's name from Nathadria to Ella.

Now, on to the fairy tale!

The Griffin:


I was actually going to summarize this, but it there are too many important details.  So instead, here is a link to the whole story.  It's a very good one.  I highly recommend you read it.

~Emily White

It's Fairy Tale Appreciation Month!

First off, I spent a whole of fifteen minutes this morning making this image for the blogfest.  I know, you've never seen such talent, have you?  ;)

Feel free to take it and post on your sidebar to let all the world know about this awesome contest!

Yes, that is a UFO and it shot a fairy.  What can I say, I'm a little sadistic.  You all should know this by now.

And so in honor of my Fairy Tale Blogfest/Contest (which if you haven't signed up, do so now because you just don't want to miss out on these awesome prizes), I'm turning the whole of August into Fairy Tale Appreciation Month!

We all know about popular fairy tales like Cinderella, Snow White, the Frog Prince, etc., but a few years ago I bought Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales, and let me tell you, there are a lot more than the ones we knew growing up!  And so, to help you in your story writing quest, I'm going to share a few you might never have heard of before.

Today's Tale:

The Fisherman and His Wife


A fisherman catches a flounder that actually turns out to be an enchanted prince.  Upon hearing the fish speak, he immediately lets him go.  His wife, however, is very upset and insists her husband should have asked for a wish.  In fact, she concludes she would have liked their little hovel to be turned into a cottage.  The man goes back to the lake and calls for the fish.  When he returns home, the hovel has indeed been turned into a cottage, but the wife is not satisfied.

She instead wants a castle.

The man, though terrified he might anger the fish, listens to his wife and goes back to the lake to ask for another wish.  When he returns home, the castle is waiting for him.

The next day, the wife goes to the fisherman and says she would very much like it if they were King over all the country.  The man had no interest in that at all, so the wife said she would then be King.

So the man went to the lake again, even more terrified than before that he would offend the enchanted prince, but his wife was made King.

Almost immediately, the wife insisted she must be Emperor.  The fisherman said he would NOT go back to the fish and his wife must be happy with what she received already.  But the wife was now King and ordered him to go.

The fisherman called for the fish and his wife was made Emperor.  But still, she was not happy.  Instead, she wanted to be made Pope.  The man went to the fish and his wife was made Pope.  But still, she was not happy.  She tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep.  Finally, she rose from her bed and looked out the window and was very put out that she could not order the Sun and the Moon to rise.

The wife ordered her husband to immediately go to the fish and tell him to make her God.

Terrified more than he had ever been, the fisherman concedes to go to the fish.  But when he makes his wife's request this time, the fish tells him he will find his wife in their old hovel.  They had lost everything.

The end!  

Hmm...I've got a few ideas of how that could be twisted into a different genre, but I'll let you guys come up with your own.  :)

Though I'll be sticking to Grimm's fairy tales in my posts, all of you are welcome to use fairy tales from any culture for your story.  I'm really looking forward to seeing what all of you come up with!

Fairy Tale Blogfest/Contest

I took the weekend to ruminate and have finally settled on a great contest.  You guys will be pleased methinks.  And I'm sorry this is so much later than my usual posts, but it takes me a while to figure out computer related things and that linky stuff is a bugger.  It took me a while to find their very helpful and convenient how-to videos.

Without further ado, in celebration of this blog hitting the 100 follower mark (thank you, everyone!), I'm hosting a little blogfest/contest.

Rules:

Write in no more than 1000 words a story based on a fairy tale in a genre OTHER than fantasy.  You can do horror, suspense, sci-fi, thriller, etc. (romance is okay, but you need to add another genre with it, otherwise you'll just end up with a fantasy romance), and the plot has to be closely related to the original tale.  You may have noticed that this little blogfest is also in honor of my particular love of twisting fairy tales (see Hansel and Gretel above).

Example of what I mean:  When Cinderella's dad died, she thought her problems had just begun.  Little did she know her new sisters ate him, and were coming for her!  See?  Cinderella has now become a horror story.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

You don't have to write all the way to 1000 words.  It can be a lot less than that.  In fact, if you want to write a micro-story in less than 50 words, have at it!  It just needs to be a complete tale with beginning, middle, and end and it has to utilize the cross-genre rule.

All entries must be posted on your blog on August 30th.  I will then pick my favorite five, post the links and everyone will have a week to vote.

All contestants MUST sign into the little linky below in order to be eligible for prizes.

Prizes:


Yeah, this is the part you've been waiting for, right?  Admit it, we only ever care about the prizes.  ;)

1st Place:

$100 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble OR Amazon (yeah, think of all the books you could buy with that)

2nd Place:

Need, by Carrie Jones

Blurb from the book and website:

Zara collects phobias the way other high school girls collect lipsticks. Little wonder, since life’s been pretty rough so far. Her father left, her stepfather just died, and her mother’s pretty much checked out. Now Zara’s living with her grandmother in sleepy, cold Maine so that she stays “safe.” Zara doesn’t think she’s in danger; she thinks her mother can’t deal.

Wrong. Turns out that guy she sees everywhere, the one leaving trails of gold glitter, isn’t a figment of her imagination. He’s a pixie—and not the cute, lovable kind with wings. He’s the kind who has dreadful, uncontrollable needs. And he’s trailing Zara.

AND an Iris Votive Holder from Partylite.  It's all stained glass and gorgeous.  I'd post a picture, but I don't want to take it out of the box (I used to sell Partylite, so I'm not regifting or anything).  Trust me, though, it's beautiful and definitely relaxing when you just want to sit and write.  AND three beautifully scented votive candles.

3rd Place:

A character in Hansel and Gretel based on you (first name and all) or if you don't want it to resemble you, he/she can be whatever you want him/her to be.  I'll even let you pick a wacky name.


So that's it!  It's sounds like a lot of fun, doesn't it?  Don't forget to pass the word along and sign up today! (click the little linky-do below and leave your name and blog address)