Patrick Henry College's A Call to Pens is excited to announce its 2015-2016 short story competition!
Students in the first division, ages twelve to fifteen, will craft stories exploring the theme "Unmerited Compassion. Students in the second division, ages sixteen to eighteen, will pen fiction with the theme "Perseverance Through Failure."
Prizes will be awarded to the top three entries in both divisions.
The deadline is February 8, 2016.
For more information and contest rules, visit our website at phc.edu/acalltopens.php.
Blessings,
Sarah Armstrong
A Call to Pens Coordinator
Showing posts with label christian fiction writing contest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christian fiction writing contest. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Introducing our 2012-2013 Contest Coordinator
Our minds have been working feverishly and our pens have been scribbling busily. We've consumed much coffee and tea in our efforts to bring together the themes for next year's contest. Rest assured, o writers: you are not forgotten!
Since it's the start of a new contest, it's also time to introduce you to our new contest coordinator, Hannah Walker. Hannah is a junior studying Literature at Patrick Henry College.
When did you start writing?
I've been interested in the concept of writing since I was around eight years old. Notice I said concept; I'm making a distinction here between actually writing and merely being fascinated by the idea of writing. When I was younger I kept notebooks full of bits of writing and ideas and writing "exercises" which I would give myself. Needless to say none of this was very productive, although it did make me write some every day. I think I have around fifteen or sixteen of these notebooks now. I also began several novels, the ideas of which were not very good at all, and none of which I finished. I also wrote stories for a creative writing class I took in private school; this also spurred me to write a number of short stories.
Then, I think when I was about seventeen or eighteen, I developed a strong interest in poetry. I read numerous books on writing poetry, researched all different sorts of forms, studied meter and rhyme, and entered online contests, quite I few of which I won. (These contests, I must admit, were on a poetry website which, now that I've gained more experience, I can see was not a particularly high-caliber place. Still, it was rather encouraging to have people read my work there.) When I began to take classes at PHC, I entered various poems in our literary journal Cuttlefish. As a sophomore, I also helped edit the Poetry section of this journal, and am now one of two official editors for the genre.
Since coming to Patrick Henry College my vision of writing has matured considerably. While I am certainly still growing as a writer I now have a clearer knowledge of what I write best, what I want to write in the future, and where God might be leading me through writing.
What are your favorite fiction books? Favorite books on writing?
Oh dear, favorite fiction books... well, I have a great love of children's fiction, which is also the genre in which I hope to write the most. One of my favorite authors is Edith Nesbit, who wrote Five Children and It, The Magic City, The Railway Children, and many others. Another of my favorite authors falls on the extreme opposite end from Nesbit: Gary Schmidt, who wrote The Wednesday Wars, Okay for Now, and Straw into Gold (which is one of my very favorite books in the world). C.S. Lewis is another of my literary heroes, as is J.R.R. Tolkien.
As far as books on writing, I actually have not read many, apart from books on poetry. It might seem odd, but I don't really recommend reading books on the craft of poetry until you've written a considerable amount. In general poetry won't be good unless it comes from your own observations, whether they're about a tremendous subject like death, or simply about the way a spiderweb looks covered in dew. Books that tell you how to write poetry can often force poetry from you, rather than coax it out gently. I do recommend, however, reading encyclopedias of poetic forms. I read many such books, and discovered many obscure forms of poetry which turned out to be wonderful to write. For writing in general I recommend Francine Prose' Reading like a Writer.
What's one piece of advice you would give young writers?
Hmmm. I would probably advise them to write what they love. When you write what you think others want to hear you will find yourself dissatisfied. When you write what you love your audience will be able to tell the difference. Recently I had an assignment to write a short story. At first, my inclination was to write what I thought the professor wanted to hear. In the end, I wrote what I loved, and it turned out far better than I expected, and also showed me where my skill lies. Also, do a lot of people-watching, and write down what you see. Notice how people walk, what their eyes are like, how they hold their hands. Besides finding many ideas for stories, you will also find them fascinating in themselves.
As I hand over the reins, I'm excited that you all have the chance to hear Hannah's insights as she takes leadership of A Call to Pens.
Keep writing!
Blessings,
Alicia Constant
2011-12 Call to Pens Contest Coordinator.
Since it's the start of a new contest, it's also time to introduce you to our new contest coordinator, Hannah Walker. Hannah is a junior studying Literature at Patrick Henry College.
When did you start writing?
I've been interested in the concept of writing since I was around eight years old. Notice I said concept; I'm making a distinction here between actually writing and merely being fascinated by the idea of writing. When I was younger I kept notebooks full of bits of writing and ideas and writing "exercises" which I would give myself. Needless to say none of this was very productive, although it did make me write some every day. I think I have around fifteen or sixteen of these notebooks now. I also began several novels, the ideas of which were not very good at all, and none of which I finished. I also wrote stories for a creative writing class I took in private school; this also spurred me to write a number of short stories.
Then, I think when I was about seventeen or eighteen, I developed a strong interest in poetry. I read numerous books on writing poetry, researched all different sorts of forms, studied meter and rhyme, and entered online contests, quite I few of which I won. (These contests, I must admit, were on a poetry website which, now that I've gained more experience, I can see was not a particularly high-caliber place. Still, it was rather encouraging to have people read my work there.) When I began to take classes at PHC, I entered various poems in our literary journal Cuttlefish. As a sophomore, I also helped edit the Poetry section of this journal, and am now one of two official editors for the genre.
Since coming to Patrick Henry College my vision of writing has matured considerably. While I am certainly still growing as a writer I now have a clearer knowledge of what I write best, what I want to write in the future, and where God might be leading me through writing.
What are your favorite fiction books? Favorite books on writing?
Oh dear, favorite fiction books... well, I have a great love of children's fiction, which is also the genre in which I hope to write the most. One of my favorite authors is Edith Nesbit, who wrote Five Children and It, The Magic City, The Railway Children, and many others. Another of my favorite authors falls on the extreme opposite end from Nesbit: Gary Schmidt, who wrote The Wednesday Wars, Okay for Now, and Straw into Gold (which is one of my very favorite books in the world). C.S. Lewis is another of my literary heroes, as is J.R.R. Tolkien.
As far as books on writing, I actually have not read many, apart from books on poetry. It might seem odd, but I don't really recommend reading books on the craft of poetry until you've written a considerable amount. In general poetry won't be good unless it comes from your own observations, whether they're about a tremendous subject like death, or simply about the way a spiderweb looks covered in dew. Books that tell you how to write poetry can often force poetry from you, rather than coax it out gently. I do recommend, however, reading encyclopedias of poetic forms. I read many such books, and discovered many obscure forms of poetry which turned out to be wonderful to write. For writing in general I recommend Francine Prose' Reading like a Writer.
What's one piece of advice you would give young writers?
Hmmm. I would probably advise them to write what they love. When you write what you think others want to hear you will find yourself dissatisfied. When you write what you love your audience will be able to tell the difference. Recently I had an assignment to write a short story. At first, my inclination was to write what I thought the professor wanted to hear. In the end, I wrote what I loved, and it turned out far better than I expected, and also showed me where my skill lies. Also, do a lot of people-watching, and write down what you see. Notice how people walk, what their eyes are like, how they hold their hands. Besides finding many ideas for stories, you will also find them fascinating in themselves.
As I hand over the reins, I'm excited that you all have the chance to hear Hannah's insights as she takes leadership of A Call to Pens.
Keep writing!
Blessings,
Alicia Constant
2011-12 Call to Pens Contest Coordinator.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Winner notifications
Hi everyone!
At long last, the judges' votes have been tallied, and we have our winners! E-mail notifications are going out now; expect an announcement on the blog at the end of the week.
Thank you for sending your stories and making this competition so much fun to judge! Every year the judges and I enjoy reading your works. May the Lord bless your writing development!
Blessings,
Alicia Constant
A Call to Pens Contest Coordinator
At long last, the judges' votes have been tallied, and we have our winners! E-mail notifications are going out now; expect an announcement on the blog at the end of the week.
Thank you for sending your stories and making this competition so much fun to judge! Every year the judges and I enjoy reading your works. May the Lord bless your writing development!
Blessings,
Alicia Constant
A Call to Pens Contest Coordinator
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
First round of judging is wrapping up...
Hello everyone! Just a quick update-- all the judges' results are filtering in, and I am tabulating results for the first round of judging. Out of over 200 stories received, they have chosen around 40 to move on to the second round. If everything goes according to schedule, hopefully our second round will begin this week! We will be picking our winners, so please stay tuned for more results.
Blessings,
Alicia Constant
Blessings,
Alicia Constant
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Slice and dice: writing with limits
The Call to Pens deadline is very quickly approaching! With only a week left to go, you've written the perfect story. There is only one problem: you're over the word limit. Those angry numbers stare at you and perhaps you wonder how on earth you can sacrifice your wonderful creation to meet a seemingly arbitrary rule. But as an editor and a journalist, I can tell you that it's possible. Often, you can strengthen your writing by cutting out a lot of quite unnecessary words.
How is such slicing and dicing possible, you ask? You must take a surgeon's scalpel to your writing and cut it unmercifully, but for the purpose of healing. If you cut words correctly, your piece will be healthier for the word-surgery.
If you're...
500+ words over: Ask yourself whether you've tried to accomplish too much in one story. A short story should have one well-developed main character; you don't have much space to tell more than one story. Do all the events in the story accomplish your purpose? For the 1,500-word category, you have enough words for only a couple scenes. Each scene should move your character toward a single focused climax. If your hero is fighting dragons and suddenly remembers that he needs toothpaste at the grocery store, take out the grocery store (unless, of course, toothpaste is essential to your character's development). Short stories should start en media res, or in the middle of the action. The beginning of the story is not the time for you to give a vacuous wind-up of the character's past history, friends, and relations.
<200 words over: You'd be surprised how easy it is to trim out some unwanted words without losing content. For example, do a search in your story for the word "that." "She knew that he would come" loses nothing when it's shortened to, "She knew he would come." Try to make every word tell. Take out adjectives and adverbs and replace them with stronger verbs, i.e. "she cried loudly" to "she wailed," or "he ran quickly" to "he sprinted." It will save you words and make your writing stronger.
You can also remove trite, overused words such as "quite," "very," "perhaps," and "suddenly." (Don't warn us the crash is sudden before it happens; crash that car and let us be surprised!) Let's take the 85-word opening paragraph to this blog post as an example:
Be a fearless editor, my friends! We are looking forward to reading your creations.
For the judges,
Alicia
How is such slicing and dicing possible, you ask? You must take a surgeon's scalpel to your writing and cut it unmercifully, but for the purpose of healing. If you cut words correctly, your piece will be healthier for the word-surgery.
If you're...
500+ words over: Ask yourself whether you've tried to accomplish too much in one story. A short story should have one well-developed main character; you don't have much space to tell more than one story. Do all the events in the story accomplish your purpose? For the 1,500-word category, you have enough words for only a couple scenes. Each scene should move your character toward a single focused climax. If your hero is fighting dragons and suddenly remembers that he needs toothpaste at the grocery store, take out the grocery store (unless, of course, toothpaste is essential to your character's development). Short stories should start en media res, or in the middle of the action. The beginning of the story is not the time for you to give a vacuous wind-up of the character's past history, friends, and relations.
<200 words over: You'd be surprised how easy it is to trim out some unwanted words without losing content. For example, do a search in your story for the word "that." "She knew that he would come" loses nothing when it's shortened to, "She knew he would come." Try to make every word tell. Take out adjectives and adverbs and replace them with stronger verbs, i.e. "she cried loudly" to "she wailed," or "he ran quickly" to "he sprinted." It will save you words and make your writing stronger.
You can also remove trite, overused words such as "quite," "very," "perhaps," and "suddenly." (Don't warn us the crash is sudden before it happens; crash that car and let us be surprised!) Let's take the 85-word opening paragraph to this blog post as an example:
The Call to Pens deadlineThe new version is only 60 words. We've lost 25 words of fat and our writing is healthier for it.is very quickly approachingapproaches! With only a week leftto go, you've written the perfect story.There is only one problem:But you're over the word limit. Those angry numbers stare at you andperhapsyou wonder howon earth you canto sacrifice yourwonderfulcreation for anto meet a seeminglyarbitrary rule.ButAs an editor and a journalist, I knowcan tell you thatit's possible.Often, you can strengthen your writing by cutting outa lot of quiteunnecessary words.
Be a fearless editor, my friends! We are looking forward to reading your creations.
For the judges,
Alicia
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
The Importance of Story
"Winning entries will thoughtfully reflect a Christian worldview, but not necessarily in an overt manner."
What does this "hint" in the submission guidelines mean? I'd like to take a moment to expand upon Erik's post from last week and talk a bit about what your judges will be looking for when you submit that story by February 1.
Erik talked about the problem with emphasizing a didactic message over the story itself. Is it important to talk about the message that stories convey? Certainly. In fact, I would say it's vital to analyze worldviews in literature and determine whether or not they match up to the Biblical standard.
However, portraying a theme is somewhat like chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow: the harder you run at it, the further away it grows. In other words, messages in literature can distract you so much from the story itself that the messages lose their potency.
The beauty of fiction is that it is created to show, not tell. Consider the following photographs:
Which image best captures the beauty of a tree? Which one makes you catch your breath in awe at its aesthetic symmetry? Which image would you rather hang in your living room, for your guests to admire? Both are pictures of trees. Both are factually correct. Yet while the image on the top might be fascinating for someone with an interest in botany, the image on the bottom is the one that makes most people stare in wonder.
What's the difference? The image on the top tells everything; it's a diagram. It leaves no mystery, nothing left to be discovered, nothing for the viewer to find under the surface. The image on the bottom is a photograph; it shows you something of beauty and presents something true and pleasing to the eye.
In the same way, your stories should be photographs, not diagrams. It's easy to focus on theme because we give you a theme to write about. But don't lose the aesthetic beauty when you're slamming home a theme because the theme will lose its power.
Last year's coordinator, Crista Richey, talked about how Christian writers should instead seek to create a good story first, instead of sacrificing writing excellence on the altar of theme. She wrote:
What does this "hint" in the submission guidelines mean? I'd like to take a moment to expand upon Erik's post from last week and talk a bit about what your judges will be looking for when you submit that story by February 1.
Erik talked about the problem with emphasizing a didactic message over the story itself. Is it important to talk about the message that stories convey? Certainly. In fact, I would say it's vital to analyze worldviews in literature and determine whether or not they match up to the Biblical standard.
However, portraying a theme is somewhat like chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow: the harder you run at it, the further away it grows. In other words, messages in literature can distract you so much from the story itself that the messages lose their potency.
The beauty of fiction is that it is created to show, not tell. Consider the following photographs:
 |
| Image credit: PA Forestry Dept. |
 |
| Image credit: Flickr |
Which image best captures the beauty of a tree? Which one makes you catch your breath in awe at its aesthetic symmetry? Which image would you rather hang in your living room, for your guests to admire? Both are pictures of trees. Both are factually correct. Yet while the image on the top might be fascinating for someone with an interest in botany, the image on the bottom is the one that makes most people stare in wonder.
What's the difference? The image on the top tells everything; it's a diagram. It leaves no mystery, nothing left to be discovered, nothing for the viewer to find under the surface. The image on the bottom is a photograph; it shows you something of beauty and presents something true and pleasing to the eye.
In the same way, your stories should be photographs, not diagrams. It's easy to focus on theme because we give you a theme to write about. But don't lose the aesthetic beauty when you're slamming home a theme because the theme will lose its power.
Last year's coordinator, Crista Richey, talked about how Christian writers should instead seek to create a good story first, instead of sacrificing writing excellence on the altar of theme. She wrote:
This Christian element must be natural to the story; must arise from it, instead of being tacked on to it; must have power and substance in itself, and not rely on Scriptural quotations or witty proverbs to back it up. (After all – if your story relies upon such gimmicks, why should someone read it at all? Wouldn’t it be far better for your readers to consult the original source – the very life-giving Word of God?)
Even Jesus taught in stories, instead of simply repeating the verses of the Law that everyone-- especially the Pharisees-- had heard hundreds of times. When they asked Him, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus didn't set out a didactic list of people that His followers were obligated to be nice to. Instead He told the story of the Good Samaritan.
So, seek to show instead of tell. See what story you can find that is true, unique, beautiful. Make it the best it can be. And when you seek to tell a true story, a story that reflects the world as it is and should be, then you will have written a uniquely Christian story.
Monday, January 9, 2012
23 days...
The countdown to the Call to Pens deadline has begun! There's only a little more than 3 weeks left until February 1, and it goes by faster than you think. Entries have begun to filter in, and I'm very excited to see what you all come up with.
Over the next few weeks you can expect several things from us:
1. More frequent guest posts on the blog. We are working with a number of excellent contributors to post on topics from story-theory to literature to how to craft a good tale.
2. More answers to your questions on the Frequently Asked Questions page. That repository is slowly growing, and if you have a question that's not on there, feel free to leave a comment or email us at shortstory@phc.edu.
3. Contest updates. After the deadline has passed, I'll be posting periodic updates on the judging process to let you know how things are going. Be on the lookout for the announcement of the winning stories in April!
Blessings,
Alicia
Over the next few weeks you can expect several things from us:
1. More frequent guest posts on the blog. We are working with a number of excellent contributors to post on topics from story-theory to literature to how to craft a good tale.
2. More answers to your questions on the Frequently Asked Questions page. That repository is slowly growing, and if you have a question that's not on there, feel free to leave a comment or email us at shortstory@phc.edu.
3. Contest updates. After the deadline has passed, I'll be posting periodic updates on the judging process to let you know how things are going. Be on the lookout for the announcement of the winning stories in April!
Blessings,
Alicia
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