Eight Hour Fiction Challenge - February 2014

Back in August 2013, bestselling author Joe Konrath issued a challenge to see if his readership could write, edit and publish a work of fiction in under eight hours. This included everything, from the initial concept to cover design. In the end, 140 participants successfully posted their works, myself included, and got recognition in Konrath’s epic blog post.

Afterwards, there was no talk about revisiting the challenge, which disappointed many of us. Sure, classics like Bottling Farts weren't up for any literary awards, but they were fun to produce and entertaining in their own right. The overall quality was better than expected, which made it all the more puzzling why no one was pushing for a second Eight Hour Fiction Challenge.

After lengthy deliberation with members of Kindleboards, the rules were finalized and a target date was set for February 2014.

Here are the official rules:

THE IDEA

To write, edit and publish a work of fiction in eight hours or less. The author is responsible for all aspects of the creative process, including cover creation (whether you do it yourself or have someone else do it) and posting it to at least one major e-book vendor (typically Amazon).

RULES

1. Everyone is welcome to participate in the challenge.

2. You may take the challenge as often as you like.

3. You are free to write whatever you wish. No work will be excluded because of its subject matter or genre.

4. The hours worked do not have to be consecutive.

5. Although writers are encouraged to attempt the challenge in eight hours or less, they may use up to 24 hours to ensure quality and completion of their work.

6. E-mail me the following details to donaldrump@segordon.com by 11:59 p.m., February 28th, 2014 (early submissions help tremendously):

• Book Title
• Author Name
• Genre
• Total Words
• Completion time (This is used to determine the 8/12/24 hour categories.)
• Book Cover (Please limit this to 300 pixels in width.)
• Description
• Author Bio (No more than a paragraph or two.)
• Date(s) free
• Link(s) to your entry on Amazon (If it's not on Amazon, a link to one of the other major vendors will do. Affiliate links are accepted and encouraged.)
• Comments (Optional. Tell us what you learned from the challenge, obstacles that you had to overcome, etc.)

All of this information will be added to a spreadsheet so that I can easily sort on genre, length, completion time, etc. I may put this information in a database in the future, but for now a spreadsheet will suffice.

Results will be posted on my personal blog http://segordon.blogspot.com the first Saturday following the end of the month. If you're looking to conserve your free days, that Sunday may be your best bet. In the future, I may give the Eight-Hour Fiction Challenge its own blog or website, but let's get through the first challenge first!

Additional blogs are welcome to include the results of the Eight-Hour Fiction Challenge. Just contact me and I'd be happy to share the source code (and most importantly, images) so that it can be easily posted on your website/blog and there isn't a duplication of effort.

JANUARY CHALLENGE

Although I was still incorporating feedback for the official rollout in February, a few of us took the challenge anyways. (Once you’ve done it a couple times, it becomes quite addicting.) Here are the two submitted entries:

Title: The Iron Border
Author: Cora Buhlert
Genre: Dystopian Science Fiction
Length: 5,600 words
Completion Time: 11-12 hours

Description:

Ana has lived in the shadow of death all her life. For when she was six years old, a TV broadcast announced that an asteroid would hit the Earth twenty-two years later, extinguishing all life as we know it.

As Ana grew up, she put her faith in the worldwide lottery supposed to select the chosen ten thousand, the survivors of humanity who would escape the doomed planet in giant space arks.

But the lottery is not as fair and unbiased as Ana has been led to believe. And even her best efforts to turn herself into someone who would be useful aboard the great space arks do not bring Ana any closer to the gleaming shuttles that are being constructed behind the iron border only a few miles away…

About The Author

Cora Buhlert was born and bred in North Germany, where she still lives today – after time spent in London, Singapore, Rotterdam and Mississippi. Cora holds an MA degree in English from the University of Bremen and is currently working towards her PhD. Cora has been writing, since she was a teenager, and has published stories, articles and poetry in various international magazines. When she is not writing, she works as a translator and teacher. Visit her on the web at: http://www.corabuhlert.com.

Read Cora's experience taking the Eight Hour Fiction Challenge.

Where To Get It Free

XinXii: http://www.xinxii.com/en/the-iron-border-p-350154.html
Use coupon code 8HOUR2 (valid until 02/11/2014).

DriveThruFiction: http://www.drivethrufiction.com/browse.php?discount=87796
(Discount expires on 02/11/2014.)

Additional Links

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I3TO5RY
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-iron-border-cora-buhlert/1118357741?ean=2940148206866&itm=1&usri=2940148206866
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/de-DE/ebook/the-iron-border
ARe: https://www.omnilit.com/product-theironborder-1410636-245.html

Title: The $500 Question
Author: Donald Rump
Genre: Fart Fiction/Humor
Length: 2,100 words
Completion Time: 6 hours

Description

Perkins Deadwood can't believe his ears. His twelve-year-old son just asked for a pet fart for Christmas. And not just any fart, a Spanish fart. Hay caramba!

Can the used car salesman talk his son out of it? Or is this Christmas really going to stink?

For mature (and not so mature) audiences.

About The Author

When he's not writing about old, crusty farts, Donald Rump writes about actual farts--the stinkier the better. He is also an advocate of the No Fart Left Behind program and marriage equality for all gaseous entities great and small.

Mr. Rump lives in Southern Maryland with his pet fart Floofy.

Where To Get It Free

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/395386?ref=donaldrump
Use Coupon Code LW73P (valid until 2/22/2014).

Additional Links


Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HZY1E0Y/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00HZY1E0Y&linkCode=as2&tag=thwoofsego-20
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-500-question-donald-rump/1117997303
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-500-question

My Crazy Writing Life - Day 1: An Introduction Of Sorts

I must be insane. That part is certifiable. As one of my New Year's resolutions, I've decided to write about my life as it unfolds, and jot down the pearls of wisdom as I uncover them along the way. As a test run, I’ll be writing at least 1,000 words per day, every day, until I reach January 31st. If all goes well, I’ll continue through the end of the year. The goal is to write the bulk of each entry in the morning, add to it throughout the day, and edit it in the evening. At the end of the week, I'll take a gander at what I've put down, make the appropriate tweaks, shake it up real good, and promptly forget about it, focusing on the upcoming week.

No sweat, right?

By writing 1,000 words per day, I'll be producing over 350,000 words a year. Holy crap! What’s wrong with me? I almost had a heart attack when I first took out the calculator and realized what I was embarking on. If one assumes that the average page is at least 250 words, I'll be writing over 1,400 pages. That's right, a one, a four and two zeroes slapped on the end of it. Yikes!

So my first question is: Will it be even remotely intelligible? Seriously, what can I possibly say to fill up that many pages? And does a year of my life warrant 10 pages, let alone 1,000? It's not like I'm some action hero, traveling the world, chasing bad guys, cheating death and wooing beautiful, exotic women.

I'm a writer. My imagination makes up for my deficiencies.

Or so I think…

But with my quirky personality and unique talent for getting myself in trouble—typically of my own design—I suppose this could be an interesting venture; just as intriguing as watching a handyman paint a wall. As Ryoki Inoue says, "If you hit a plot snag, use dynamite."

A thermonuclear bomb might have to do.

Most likely, I'll be writing well over the allotted 1,000 words per day. In the dark ages, when I first started keeping a writing journal, I forced myself to write 500 words per day, every day for several months. After awhile, 500 words wasn’t enough space to express everything that I wanted to say. 500 words quickly became 1,000, and these days, I don't feel comfortable putting down anything less than 1,500. Ooh boy…

But no one wants to read a 2,000-page book about a struggling writer, least of all me, so I'll be sure to scale it back where I can (if I can). I tend to blab—what can I say, it runs in the family—so perhaps 2,000 pages is a bit on the low side. (Sorry, I tried to warn you!)

Most importantly, why am I doing this?

Simply because I must.

I'm a writer. I'm compelled to do this. I've tried to turn off my creative juices before, but to no avail. And the journal writing simply doesn’t seem to go away. I've ignored it for a while, even for months at a time, but it always seems to creep back. It's something that I need to do to keep me healthy, and most of all, sane (not that you'd mistake anything written here for someone with a sound mind). It helps give me distance and perspective so that I can work through problems that are bothering me. And when I keep up with my journal, I tend to be more consistent across the board, which is the name of the game for writing in general.

Journaling works for me and makes me more productive, so there's no sense in ignoring it any longer. But instead of just putting down words that no one will ever see, it’s time to do something with them, for better or worse. Who knows? I might not embarrass myself this time.

So sit back and enjoy these scribblings about my life and the nuggets of wisdom that I find, and hopefully they'll teach you what not to do. And if you're a young writer who's simply looking for some sound advice, let me save you the trouble of this long-winded rant:

• Write every day, as often as you can. The act of doing so makes you more professional and gives you the practice that is sorely needed to write that bestseller that’s locked in you.
• Instead of focusing on speed, focus on consistency, and learn something new about grammar each day to help you compose your thoughts better.
• Trust yourself and enjoy what you do.
• Don’t get stuck in the pitfall of rewriting or analysis paralysis and seek to get better by writing forward.
• Instead of entering countless (and very subjective) writing contests, declare yourself the winner and put up your next work on Amazon.
• Learn to become self-sufficient and develop a thick skin for those one-star reviews that inevitably roll in (trust me, every successful author has them, even yours truly).

Writers write. Authors have written. And slackers talk about writing. (It seems that I fit into the latter category more often than the first two.)

And don’t be ashamed to admit that you wrote about farts (even brilliant minds such as Benjamin Franklin wrote about such things), zombie poetry (the undead have quite a way with words, especially when they’re not trying to gnaw off your legs), and installing popcorn machines in women’s crotches (pleading the fifth on that one). Remember, this is all about free expression. Have fun with it.

Your work doesn’t have to follow the same cookie cutter mentality as everyone else. People are multi-dimensional with fascinating personalities once you get to know them. And your readers want to know you. Be brave, take chances, speak candidly where appropriate and your audience will love you even more!

All right, it’s time to wrap this up. Even now I’ve soared past the 1,000-word limit. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope that you find something of value here, whether it’s informational, inspirational or you’re just looking for a good laugh.

Now onto the nonsense otherwise called my life…

Day 1: 1,035 words
Total: 1,035 words