Monthly Writing Challenge: October 2008

Who better to inspire October's writing prompt than R.L. Stine?

This month's challenge is to read "Meet R. L. Stine," look over some of his titles, and then write a scene for a kid's horror story that balances the scary with humor.

Feel free to post your scene here.

And the first place winner is . . . .

. . . Brittany. Congratulations! Your writing has earned you an official award, writing supplies, and cheesecake.

(Brittany, send an email to mms.society@gmail.com with your mailing address and your name, as you would like it to appear on your official award certificate, and we'll send everything to you.)

Thanks to my current creative writing class who judged the contest entries. They liked all of the pieces, but in the end, the ACTION in Brittany's story is what secured her first place.

Monthly Writing Challenge: September 2008

Tell the story of this little guy. Or make up a story that's inspired by him.

Post your best entry by midnight September 30th 2008. Encourage your writer friends to post a story too!

Stories must be under 300 words and targeted to children or young adults.

They will be judged on: 1) originality; 2) appropriateness to the cheesecake creature theme; 3) use of language, imagery, sentence structure, paragraphing, and all that good stuff.

Prizes will be cheesecake- and writing-related . The number of prizes will depend upon the number of entries.

MMS Society officers may post entries, but they won't be officially entered in the competition.

Monthly Writing Challenge: August 2008

Write and post a paragraph from anything that you're working on: a novel, short story, article, essay, etc.

Then, comment on someone else's paragraph.

Happy August!

Monthly Writing Challenge: July 2008

Capture one strong image every single day in July. You can describe the image, create a metaphor with the image, explore the image philosophically.

Post and share some of your favorites here.

New Guidelines for Full Membership in MMS Society

Our new full membership criteria are listed below:

You are eligible for full membership once you have earned 5 rejection letters for manuscripts for children or young adults (e.g., short stories, poems, crafts, activities, games, articles, picture books, novels or novel proposals). Announce your rank advancement by emailing MMS at MMS.Society@gmail.com. Full members are eligible to wear the official MMS Society button.

Monthly Writing Challenge: June 2008

How times flies. It's 7 days into the month, and I haven't yet posted our writing prompt.

This month's challenge is to pull out those filed away first chapters and reevaluate them. In particular look at your main character and ask:

• Is she so likeable that we want to go on a journey with her?
• Is she more intriguing, more driven, and ultimately more daring than ordinary humans and characters?
• Is she dynamic (able to change)?
• Is she filled with desires, wants, and motivations, which will drive the action of the book?

After you've analyzed your first chapter, try a revision where you strengthen your main character.

Happy writing!