The Musical Nightmare Contest

III · Apr 30, 2008

The Musical Nightmare Contest

The premise
You’re a music star just reaching the pinnacle of your career. You walk onto the stage you’ve always dreamed of playing, but just as your concert begins something terrible happens.

The rules
1st person narrative, past or present tense. 500 – 1,500 words.

The non-rules
Use your imagination. Any music genre. Any venue. Any terrible thing. Any resolution or non-resolution. Start at any point in the story. Characters can be real or fictional, but get inside your character’s head and understand their background. Make the reader feel like they’re on that stage with you by using all five senses. Make us care.

Timeline
Submission deadline – 5/8 end of day
Voting window – 5/9 – 5/12 end of day
Results announcement – 5/13

Submissions
PM your submission to me with the title “Music Contest Entry”.

Voting
PM me your top 3 picks in order. Your favorite first, your second favorite, your third favorite. Title your PM “Music Contest Vote”. Winners will be decided based solely on member voting.

Prizes
I hate mailing things so we’ll do this the easy way
1st place - $15 Amazon online gift card
2nd place - $10 Amazon online gift card

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cray · May 1, 2008

*cray steps in to the thread, steps on a rake which slams him in the face breaking his nose and his pants fall down exposing his "land of the lost" underwear*

cool idea, III!

III · May 1, 2008

Btw, this contest is open to anyone who wants to enter. I'm hoping we get at least ten entries. It might be a good break from your WIP or it might end up becoming the seed of a new WIP, or it could just be a chance to stretch your chops. I'm looking forward to reading your stories!

III · May 1, 2008

And we have our first entry already! We're off to a very strong start. Oh this is gonna be gooooood.

Yeshanu · May 1, 2008

You said any musical genre, but can it also be any literary genre? My MC is a musician, but she's also an elf. I'd love to do this to her.

III · May 1, 2008

Yeshanu said:
You said any musical genre, but can it also be any literary genre? My MC is a musician, but she's also an elf. I'd love to do this to her.

ABSOLUTELY! Comedy, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Horror, Romance - the more imaginative the better! Great idea!

LIVIN · May 1, 2008

Do you have a smaller icon that doesn't take up so much space?

LIVIN · May 1, 2008

Ummm... read the above reply.... so, can this be in script format? If so, how would the word counts apply?

III · May 2, 2008

LIVIN said:
Ummm... read the above reply.... so, can this be in script format? If so, how would the word counts apply?

Yep, it can be in any format. The word counts are just a guideline so I don't get a 50 word entry or 5,000 word entry, so as long as you're in the ballpark it's fine.

BTW, we now have 2 entries. Who else is working on one?

Feathers · May 4, 2008

Hey guys. I'm working on one....It's a little violent. Is that ok? I mean, I wouldn't call it gory or anything like that, but I do concentrate on the blood a little bit.

Fun contest, BTW.

-Feathers

III · May 4, 2008

Feathers said:
Hey guys. I'm working on one....It's a little violent. Is that ok? I mean, I wouldn't call it gory or anything like that, but I do concentrate on the blood a little bit.

Fun contest, BTW.

-Feathers

I don't think that'll be a problem. If it's uber-gory I'll put a warning at the top of it for readers, but a little blood sounds perfectly on-track with an on-stage disaster.

Feathers · May 4, 2008

Yay. Cool. Thanks

(uber-gory?)

-Feathers

III · May 5, 2008

We're up to 4 entries as of this morning. I'm so excited about the diversity of the approaches so far. If you think your idea is too crazy, you'll fit right in. Remember, the deadline is Thursday by the end of the day!

Thanks to our participants thus far. Let's light up the forum with burning guitar sig lines!

III · May 5, 2008

Make that 5 entries.

cray · May 5, 2008

giddy up!

...looking forward to reading these!

benbradley · May 5, 2008

III said:
The Musical Nightmare Contest

The premise
You’re a music star just reaching the pinnacle of your career. You walk onto the stage you’ve always dreamed of playing, but just as your concert begins something terrible happens.
...

And of course (we've already discussed a question 'offline', but here's another)... "my" horribly, terribly tragic thing happens well before "I" get onstage ("I" have performed on lots of stages, but this is different, perhaps the biggest stage of its type), but I (speaking as the author) presume this is still within the spirit of the contest?

III said:
We're up to 4 entries as of this morning. I'm so excited about the diversity of the approaches so far. If you think your idea is too crazy, you'll fit right in. Remember, the deadline is Thursday by the end of the day!

That's quicker than I thought (I thought of "my" story almost immediately from the announcement, but it took me a while to decide if the idea might fly). I see an increase in coffee consumption in my near future...

III · May 6, 2008

benbradley said:
And of course (we've already discussed a question 'offline', but here's another)... "my" horribly, terribly tragic thing happens well before "I" get onstage ("I" have performed on lots of stages, but this is different, perhaps the biggest stage of its type), but I (speaking as the author) presume this is still within the spirit of the contest?

I'll say yes, since the purpose of this contest is to spark creativity and give everyone an excuse to write or take a break from their WIP and write something different. I'm not going to hold anyone's feet to the fire for being off-topic as long as they're in the general area.

III · May 7, 2008

Tomorrow night's the deadline. Is everyone writing furiously?

benbradley · May 7, 2008

It's kinda like in the chat during the Sunday night FF challenges ... I'm thinking furiously...

LIVIN · May 7, 2008

Have I won this thing yet?

Feathers · May 8, 2008

I submitted mine. III, are you going to post the entries in this thread?

-Feathers

III · May 9, 2008

Hi Gang! Sorry, I was sick as a dog yesterday and didn't get online. The 7 entries are posted in a new thread in the Music Lab. You'll have a blast reading them. Make sure to change your sig line to use the new link or just copy it from mine.

Thanks so much to our participants!

benbradley · May 10, 2008

I didn't write mine, because, well... - I think I'll wait till the voting is over to say more, but III pretty much knows the synopsis, if not the full story.

III · May 12, 2008

Today's the last day to vote! Get 'em in, folks!

cray · May 12, 2008

reading now, III.

i'll get the votes in

The Musical Nightmare Contest

rockin the suburbs

Superior Life form

rockin the suburbs

rockin the suburbs

Elf Queen

rockin the suburbs

rockin the suburbs

emerging from the writing cave

rockin the suburbs

emerging from the writing cave

rockin the suburbs

rockin the suburbs

Superior Life form

It's a doggy dog world

rockin the suburbs

rockin the suburbs

It's a doggy dog world

emerging from the writing cave

rockin the suburbs

It's a doggy dog world

rockin the suburbs

Superior Life form