Be Your Own Editor

Okay, my author friends, here’s a little way to flex (and show off) your writing muscle. And maybe win a free book! This writing exercise couldn’t be any simpler, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. It’s a test of your ability to be both creative and concise in your writing—a challenge, a dare, if you will. Impress me. Wow me with your literary wit, your pathos, your ability to make every word of every sentence count. Make it a thriller. A romance. A literary novel. A memoir. A math textbook… All you have to do is write three little paragraphs.

If you write one of my three favorite responses, it will be posted in these hallowed pages. And guess what: for everyone who takes the time to do the exercise, I’ll take the time to write to you with my editorial feedback. If you compose my one and only most favorite response, I’ll send you a free copy of either Robert Harris’s bestselling novel Imperium or Alice McDermott’s bestselling novel After This. Your choice. And I’ll even pay for the shipping. Just follow these instructions.

Write this story in three paragraphs:

A woman rushing to an appointment has a fender-bender, resulting in her meeting an intriguing man.

That’s it. Your paragraphs can be as long or short as you want—but a line of dialogue counts as one. (Tricky, eh?) Also keep in mind that I don’t enjoy reading page-long paragraphs. Submit your responses in the “Leave a Reply” box at the end of this post. The deadline for submissions is December 31; I’ll post the results early in 2007. Now go get some writing exercise.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 12th, 2006 at 2:30 am and is filed under Writing Contests & Exercises. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.