#June WEP Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Welcome to June's WEP CHALLENGE!

Close Encounters!

Hello! - it's Nila here, along with my co-host Jemi, we're excited for the June Challenge! This month's prompt is "Close Encounters" based on an iconic movie title/poster. Before we get into the challenge, I'd just like to clear up a small point that came up last month. Hey listen, there is no homework given out around here!  

None of our prompts require any prior awareness or deep knowledge of anything. 

We are a diverse community spread across the world, from Australia right round to America. The primary thing that binds us together is NOT any specialist knowledge of movies, art or books, but our love for writing. That's what we get together here to celebrate and to nurture and support. You don't have to be published or perfect (heck, who is?!) to write with us at WEP, all you need is love.  For writing. 

This year, our prompts happen to be based on movies -  I'll  say it again -

You don't have to know any background, nor watch the movie, nor write to that specific genre or plot. 

All you need to do is to bring your imagination and a writing device. Look at the title, look at the poster if you like and run with whatever element inspires you.  The suggestions are just that - suggestions. We're uber happy for you to ignore them and come up with your own interpretations.

   "Close Encounters"+ YOU is all that's needed.  

We look forward to where this Challenge takes all of us!

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* Did you catch our second 'How-to' post? We started with HR Sinclair's guide to publishing on Google Play. Catch Holly's article HERE.

** Did you take note that WEP winners will be invited to submit to the WEP Flash Fiction Anthology, an ebook, out in 2024 (date to be announced)? After submissions are collated, there may be room to offer more members a place. Submissions will not be automatically accepted, and if they are, will go through an editing process so they're publication ready, following the rigorous process used by the IWSG Anthology team. A WEP committee will be formed to expedite the stories for publication. So if you've not been published, this is your chance to gain a publication credit. 

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WHAT INSPIRES?

Photo by Daniela Paola Alchapar on Unsplash

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is an iconic 1977 Spielberg movie, in fact Ray Bradbury called it the greatest sci-fi movie ever made. The storyline combines three threads in parallel - broadly reflecting the three kinds of encounters, i.e. sighting, evidence and contact with alien life. An ordinary electrician sees an UFO and has his life upended. A little boy finds his toys operating spontaneously and is later abducted, his mother believes by aliens.  Meanwhile, a group of scientists are trying to establish contact with lifeforms in outer space and are nonplussed with the response they get. All three converge to a spot where the climax - a monumental event unparalleled in human history, unfolds. The film tells the story of the first contact between non-invading aliens and earth. It is characterised by opulent sets and mind boggling special effects and many instances of Judeo-Christian imagery. For all the opulence and slick effects, it is a simple, engaging story compellingly told. 

Go HERE to our Challenges 2023 Page to read about ALL our prompts for the year!

Post - June 21st - 23rd 2023

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WEP NEWS!

We at Team WEP want to make your experience writing for us as fulfilling as possible. We pride ourselves on being a supportive writing environment so we're always open to feedback.

The response was good. So far, one of the main points, was that you are busy people and cannot find the time to write to every challenge. We totally get this and are delighted whenever you turn up. 

THIS IS WHAT YOU SAID:

- I don't enjoy continuation stories based on prompts. I'd like to see something new and original from those writers.

- Please don't make rules - as they've done in the A-Z ... let us just do our thing at whatever level we're at ... 

- Don't make us do FB, or Tw, or anything else - 

- If it doesn't suit - move on ... don't criticise ... 

- Thanks - it's great - and I enjoy it ... and do what I can ...having committed to write WEP prompts ....

- The prompts such as the music prompts were about a song, but with all the possibilities suggested, I was confused on what you were actually looking for...

- Anthology could be cool. Would probably have to be a .99 cent one, because those rarely sell very well. But they're great for running a giveaway with as a prize.

- I'm still participating but I think it would be great to offer an anthology, and not just to the winners, but give a theme and accept submissions.

THIS IS WHAT WE SAY:

We hear you. 

We try to be as rule-free as possible. Some don't like the 1,000 word limit, but that is the Flash Fiction limit. We don't mind if entries are over 1,000 words at times - we don't count them.

We don't make you do social media. Some like it, so by pre-writing tweets it makes it easy for those of us who like to tweet. Also it brings more readers to your stories.

We get that some are finding the music prompts confusing. Nila has dealt with that above.

We are working on the concepts of the anthology and a theme has been mentioned rather than strictly adhering to the year's prompts. And we'll see how the words go and may well open for submissions to all members. Not all submissions will automatically be accepted. We're looking for well written and well edited work. An editorial team will read each entry and decide.

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 CRITIQUE PRIZE

This month's prize is from Lynda Dietz from Easy Reader Editing. 

Lynda says:

I’m a wife, mother, and worship leader from northwest PA. Though my kids don’t think I’m funny, I make myself laugh frequently. Everyone in my family lives, breathes, and eats music, so I’m always picking up some new instrument and giving it a try. I edit books with the help of my four assistants, all of whom are cats.

 Links:

Easy Reader Editing

Facebook

Twitter

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COMMENTING

Commenting is the lifeblood of WEP. We are a supportive writing environment where you are welcome to try new ideas, take risks, and put forth your latest WIP for feedback.

If you have trouble commenting on blogs, please continue to leave a comment here (we're fortunate that Google hasn't messed up our commenting here) or on our C-Box. And if your blog comments are down and you have a blogger blog, consider changing your comment settings to Pop-ups, not embedded, temporarily, until google provides a fix.

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We'd love if you'd Tweet or post to FB or any social media site where you network!

WEP movie #writingprompt June 2023s "Close Encounters" @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser  https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/06/june-wep-close-encounters-of-third-kind.html Sign up & post-June 21st thru 23rd! #amwriting #flashfiction #WEPFF #poetry #nonfiction

Get your thinking caps on for June 2023s movie prompt "CLOSE ENCOUNTERS" @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser  https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/06/june-wep-close-encounters-of-third-kind.html Sign up & post your entry June 21st thru 23rd! #WEPFF #amwriting #flashfiction #poetry #nonfiction

Join WEP @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser, for the third movie Challenge of 2023, "CLOSE ENCOUNTERS". Sign up and post your entry JUNE 21 thru 23rd https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/06/june-wep-close-encounters-of-third-kind.html #WEPFF #amwriting #flashfiction #poetry #nonfiction.

Check out #stories of #love, #loss, #firstcontact, & #closeencounters @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee, @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser, for the JUNE movie challenge "CLOSE ENCOUNTERS" https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/06/june-wep-close-encounters-of-third-kind.html #WEPFF #amwriting #flashfiction #poetry #nonfiction

 

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Wishing you a fabulous June. 

Bring on the entries!

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Our next movie prompt is for August. How about this? Sure to be a favorite~

Post - August 16th to the 18th 2023

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Nila & Jemi for the team:

#WEPff #WINNER of the October Challenge GRAVE MISTAKE! Rebecca Douglass' guest post Writing Through My Grief

DON'T MISS THE ANNOUNCEMENT RE UNMASKED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST!!!

Hi, Renée here:

 October's winner for the WEP challenge, GRAVE MISTAKE, Rebecca Douglass, guests for us today. Her winning entry was humorous and fun. Just what we needed after such a crazy year.

 Congratulations Rebecca. Thank you for writing such an inspiring guest post.

Photo by Jarl Schmidt on Unsplash

Writing Through My Grief

 It may be a little strange that someone who mostly writes humorous stories, and is being honored for a story that made people laugh, is here to write about grief, but here I am, trying to explain the inexplicable.

 Many of you know that my husband of 26 years was killed in a cycling accident in May. That the accident profoundly changed every aspect of my life is an understatement. It affected my writing in ways large and small, putting a complete halt to it at times, while at others writing has been an anchor to help me through this horrible time.

 Everything from washing the dishes to raking the leaves felt changed by the accident, so why should writing be any different? A hole in one’s chest does make it harder to write. Because what I mostly write is humor, it felt like an extra burden sometimes. Was it right, or even possible, to keep writing goofy stories between grief bursts? And yet I knew I couldn’t stop writing, and writing light feels a great deal safer right now than writing dark.

 For several weeks after the accident, I didn’t write anything but the most personal of journal entries and kept looking at the heap of my current manuscript as though it was a creature from outer space—beyond comprehension and a little scary. I wasn’t even sure if I could, or should laugh. A friend straightened me out about that, reminding me that this loss doesn’t change who I am, and who I am is a person who sees the absurdity of life all around me, even at inopportune moments.

 The call for entries for the IWSG anthology gave me a reason to start to write fiction again. Over the course of the next couple of months, I wrote my story, one sentence at a time. On a good day, I got two sentences. I had no idea if that would lead to a story that was worth submitting (I still don’t, though I submitted the story), but that wasn’t the point. The point was to prove to myself that, broken though I was, I was still a writer. The point was to hear the voices in my head again, the ones that were wholly fiction.

 Eventually, I was able to write whole paragraphs at a time, and the story was completed. The true miracle, though, was that when the story was finished, I picked up my novel and began to edit again. To my amazement, it felt good. And I was able to write the funny bits, find the humor in the situations I dumped the main character into, and make progress, albeit slowly. Again, I made the commitment to work for at least a minute or two every day.

 Yes, you read that right: a minute or two. For me, that has been the key: writing or editing every day, giving myself purpose, but limiting my expectations. Writing under some difficult circumstances (by headlamp in a campsite cold enough to need a down jacket and gloves!) seems to have helped all the more. I’ve lost my anchor in the biggest sense, but writing has managed to endure. I am deeply grateful for the gift that is creativity, and for the community of writers who have helped me hang onto it.

I’m not who I was in April, but I am still a writer.

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Thanks so much for your inspiring post, Rebecca. And congratulations again on your win for GRAVE MISTAKE.

The 4th book in Rebbeca's Pismawallops PTA Mystery Series: 

Death by Library

 You can find anything at your local library… even a corpse?

When things turn deadly in the library stacks, JJ needs some answers fast, before she loses her job—or her life. She’s determined to learn everything about the victim, and for once the library doesn’t hold all the answers. JJ and Kitty may have to face the ultimate peril: a visit to Mrs. Halsey, the oldest—and crankiest—person on the island.

Amazon

Smashwords (all ebook formats)

Barnes & Noble

Apple Books

Kobo

After a lifetime of reading, and a decade or more of slinging books at the library and herding cats with the PTA, Rebecca began to turn her experiences into books of her own, publishing her first in 2012. That failed to quiet the voices in her head, but seemed to entertain a number of readers, so she wrote some more, which generated still more voices. Despite the unlimited distractions provided by raising sons to the point of leaving home (and preparing to move without forwarding address if necessary to retain that empty nest), not to mention the mountains that keep calling (very hard to resist the urging of something the size of the Sierra Nevada), she has managed to pen a total of 9 books plus a novella (which we suppose makes 10).

***ANNOUNCEMENT***:

There's been a lot of disappointment at the cancellation of the December Challenge so, if you still wish to post for the 

Challenge, UNMASKED – please do.

Then let us know in the Comments of the December 1st post with a link so we can visit. POST ANY TIME IN DECEMBER. This is an unstructured challenge - no sign up, no winners, but the usual lot of fun leading up to the end of 2020 and our anticipation for a much better 2021.

Renée for the team:

Please Share the Love! 

@RebeccaDouglass #WEPGRAVEMISTAKE  #WEPwinner #guestpost https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/11/wepff-winner-of-october-challenge-grave.html @DeniseCCovey, @YolandaRenee, @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim #amwriting #writingchallenge

@RebeccaDouglas #WEPGRAVEMISTAKE  #WEPwinner  Writing Through My Grief #guestpost https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/11/wepff-winner-of-october-challenge-grave.html @DeniseCCovey, @YolandaRenee, @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim #amwriting #writingchallenge 

@RebeccaDouglas #WEPGRAVEMISTAKE #WEPwinner  Writing Through My Grief #guestpost https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/11/wepff-winner-of-october-challenge-grave.html @DeniseCCovey, @YolandaRenee, @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim #amwriting #writingchallenge

#WEP OCTOBER CHALLENGE - GRAVE MISTAKE - SIGN UP HERE!

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The linky will close on the 23nd of October at 23:55 EST.

Please be sure to read and comment on everyone's entries. We may not be counting comments this time around, but it's crucial to the success of WEP that all of you continue to read and comment to the best of your ability. We all appreciate your efforts!

PLEASE TWEET THESE!

Sign up for the WEP challenge, Long Shadow. @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/10/wep-october-challenge-grave-mistake.htmll #amwriting, #amreading, #amediting, #ff, #flashfiction, #nonfiction, #poetry, #prizes

Join the enthusiastic writers at WEP. Sign up here for the Long Shadow challenge  @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/10/wep-october-challenge-grave-mistake.html #amwriting, #amreading, #amediting, #ff, #flashfiction, #nonfiction, #poetry, #prizes

Fourth WEP writing challenge of 2020 @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/10/wep-october-challenge-grave-mistake.html Sign up or read. #amwriting, #amreading, #amediting, #ff, #flashfiction, #nonfiction, #poetry, #prizes

Read some great short #writing here at the WEP, @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/10/wep-october-challenge-grave-mistake.html #amwriting, #amreading, #amediting, #ff, #flashfiction, #nonfiction, #poetry #prizes

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION!

#WEP AUGUST CHALLENGE - LONG SHADOW - SIGN UP HERE

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The linky will close on the 22nd of August at 23:55 EST.

Please be sure to read and comment on everyone's entries. We may not be counting comments this time around, but it's crucial to the success of WEP that all of you continue to read and comment to the best of your ability. We all appreciate your efforts!

PLEASE TWEET THESE!

Sign up for the WEP challenge, Long Shadow. @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/08/wep-august-challenge-long-shadow-sign.html #amwriting, #amreading, #amediting, #ff, #flashfiction, #nonfiction, #poetry, #prizes

Join the enthusiastic writers at WEP. Sign up here for the Long Shadow challenge  @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/08/wep-august-challenge-long-shadow-sign.html #amwriting, #amreading, #amediting, #ff, #flashfiction, #nonfiction, #poetry, #prizes

Fourth WEP writing challenge of 2020 @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/08/wep-august-challenge-long-shadow-sign.html Sign up or read. #amwriting, #amreading, #amediting, #ff, #flashfiction, #nonfiction, #poetry, #prizes

Read some great short #writing here at the WEP, @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/08/wep-august-challenge-long-shadow-sign.html #amwriting, #amreading, #amediting, #ff, #flashfiction, #nonfiction, #poetry #prizes

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION!

#WEP JUNE CHALLENGE -URBAN NIGHTMARE - SIGN UP HERE - INLINKZ CLOSES IN 3 DAYS!

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO TO THE POST BELOW!

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The linky closes after the 20th of June 23:59 EST.

- Read and comment on the participating blogs. This is one of the most important aspects for us. So sad if few read our work :-( Messes with our heads.

It's simple, so have fun!

Due to both Nila and Olga needing time this month, Sue, Elephant's Child is acting in an admin capacity. She'll help answer your questions and compile the shortlist. 

Thank you so much, Sue!

COMMENTS:

Comment counting will cease at midnight on Wednesday, June 24th 23:59 EST time, which gives about a week to read/comment. (If this is a problem to you, let us know and we'll give some leeway). When you've finished reading, leave a comment on the main post to tell us you're done.PLEASE, everyone, make sure comments are allowed on your blog and if you're using multiple names other than the one you signed up under, please add that to your comment.

PLEASE TWEET!! PLEASE TWEET!! PLEASE TWEET!!

Sign up for the WEP challenge, Urban Nightmare. @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/06/wep-june-challenge-urban-nightmare-sign.html #amwriting, #amreading, #amediting, #ff, #flashfiction, #nonfiction, #poetry, #prizes

Join the enthusiastic writers at WEP. Sign up here for the Urban Nightmare challenge  @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/06/wep-june-challenge-urban-nightmare-sign.html #amwriting, #amreading, #amediting, #ff, #flashfiction, #nonfiction, #poetry, #prizes

Third WEP writing challenge of 2020 @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/06/wep-june-challenge-urban-nightmare-sign.html Sign up or read. #amwriting, #amreading, #amediting, #ff, #flashfiction, #nonfiction, #poetry, #prizes

Read some great short #writing here at the WEP, @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/06/wep-june-challenge-urban-nightmare-sign.html #amwriting, #amreading, #amediting, #ff, #flashfiction, #nonfiction, #poetry #prizes

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION!