Tweet Me a Story

My January writing submission was an entry in to NYC Midnight’s Tweet Me a Story Contest.  It’s been exciting, and a very fun writing project.  Here’s how it went:

In the first round, there were 1000 participants, divided up into 20 groups of 50 writers.   Each writer was charged with creating up to 3 stories containing an assigned word.  The catch?  Each story had to be 140 characters or less, and you only had 5 hours to write and submit. I was in group 8, with the word “Journey”. Here are the stories that I submitted:

• Reading the manual of her Dodge Journey, a sinking feeling set in as water trickled through the vents: “Airbags do not provide buoyancy.”
• 3 days into the journey: she had killed 2, mangled 1, and left the 4th battered in an alley. Why were all cars in Germany stick shifts?!
• “I want the travel tape!” he screamed over and over. Fumbling, she popped Journey into the dashboard tape deck. Toddler meltdown averted.

That last one is basically a true story about my little brother.

From that pool of 150 tweets in group 8, judges chose the top 25 stories.  I was lucky enough to have all three of my stories chosen.  Then the public voted on the stories.  The story with the most votes, along with 4 other stories chosen by the judges, made it through to the next round.  My second story from above was chosen by the judges.  (Thanks to those of you that voted!)

The second round gave 100 writers all the same word to write three more stories with.  The word was “surprise.”  Here are my three stories:

• She stared at the baby with surprise and regret. He looked just like his father, the DJ. She’d hoped he would look like her fiancé, the MD.
• Loving him wasn’t a surprise, killing him wasn’t really a surprise either. That he never knew she was stalking him: now that was a surprise.
• Simon lay on the floor gasping, Kim’s car keys protruding from his neck. Suddenly the surprise party didn’t seem like such a good idea.

From this pool of 300 stories, the judges chose the top 25 stories.  I was ecstatic to find that the first story from above was chosen!  So, that brings us to the final round.  Voting will determine one winner, and the judges will chose a second winner.

If you’d like to read the final 25 stories (and vote for my story, yes?) go here.

A shout-out to C. Hope Clark, at Funds for Writers, who tipped this contest on Facebook in the first place.  Thanks!

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