#WEP WINNERS : JUNE 2023 CHALLENGE - CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND

 Hi! This is Nila with you for the summing up of the June Challenge and to tell you who all won! 

Before we get into that - thank you to all participants, who as usual blew us away with the variety and depth of their interpretations of the prompt. Our participant numbers have remained the same this year...but I can honestly say that what we've lacked in quantity we've made up in creativity and quality. The writing at these challenges never ceases to amaze!

Let's kick off with a round up of all entries, put together by your co-host Jemi. Hop over and read them for yourself to experience the awesome range of our talent pool. 

Nilanjana Bose - How not to meet an online friend face to face.

Denise Covey - Life can be over in 60 seconds

Yolanda Renee - Even witnessed phenomenon is not proof

Olga Godim - Aliens are just like us. Probably…

Jemi Fraser - Sometimes it's best to trust your gut, not your colleagues

Pat Garcia - The closer she got, the clearer her head became until she stood before Strain Man with his cone-shaped head and dressed in metallic clothing

Jamie - What if you’re an alien to those in your refrigerator?

Ornery Owl - Just who is responsible for this travesty?

NR Williams - Alien Discussion

Silver Tree - Close Encounter with a Vampire Queen

J Lenni Dorner - A fantasy adventuring party of three must cross a river by communicating with a sky creature

Sonia Dogra - The Many Faces Of Truth

Roland R Clarke - Shaped Encounters

Hilary - Close Encounters from life experience

Shortlist

The interpretations ranged from witty humour to fantasy, war to adventure sports - our writers do NOT make the job of shortlisting easy. In fact, they make it more difficult with every passing challenge! Which is exactly the way it should be - because they are a superlative bunch and getting better by the minute. 

What doesn't quite show up here is the long and passionate process involved in choosing the shortlist, each host reads and rereads and defends her choices to the team; there is much discussion and debate before we arrive at a consensus. 

The shortlist was whittled down to:

Ornery Owl

Pat Garcia

N.R. Williams

Hilary

J Lenni

Jamie

Here are the four that the team finally picked to pass onto our judge Nick: 

Ornery Owl

Pat Garcia

Hilary

Jamie

COMMENTING

WEP is a supportive writing environment where you are welcome to try new ideas, take risks, and put forth your latest WIP for feedback. Commenters are asked to be respectful, sensitive and to keep comments positive. 

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.

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

Easy Reader Editing

Facebook

Twitter

Finally, the Oscars go to...!

Three winners! Three Oscars!

AND NOW IT'S TIME TO CONGRATULATE THE WINNERS!

WE HOPE YOU AGREE THE BADGES ARE BEYOND AWESOME!

THANKS, OLGA GODIM!

THE WINNER OF THE JUNE 2023 CHALLENGE 

~ CLOSE ENCOUNTERS ~ 

IS 

Congratulations, Pat!

Pat's Story The Strain Man was:

Nick says: So beautifully done in a few short paragraphs, hinting towards other worlds and letting the reader's imagination go wherever they want with it. I love how music featured as communication.

Pat, please post this badge on your blog and link it to your winning entry. Tweet it/Facebook it if you desire to share the love! Use the critique prize or pass it on to the next winner if you can't avail yourself of it in the next few months. (Lynda has offered her critique prize twice before and has never yet been asked to critique!) I'm hoping someone will take up her generous offer this time. I'd love a critique from Lynda. She's awesome at what she does.

THE RUNNER-UP OF THE JUNE 2023 CHALLENGE 

~ CLOSE ENCOUNTERS ~

IS

Congratulations, Jamie!

Jamie's story Kitchen Counters and the Refrigerated Kind was a ton of fun!

Nick says: Whimsical, enchanting, laugh-out-loud, a brilliant idea done really well.

Jamie, please post the badge on your blog and promo any way you wish!

THE ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD FOR THE JUNE 2023 CHALLENGE 

~ CLOSE ENCOUNTERS ~

GOES TO

Congratulations Ornery Owl! 

Ornery Owl's poem Gross Encounters of the Worst Kind was also a lot of fun!

Nick says: Just a good dose of pure fun. Puts a smile on your face and sometimes that's all that's needed.

Ornery Owl, please post the badge on your blog and promo any way you wish!

WEP 2024 FLASH FICTION ANTHOLOGY - to be released approx. May 2024.

All winners are automatically invited to submit.

Anyone involved in WEP in the past is invited to submit.

Nila is in charge of bringing this baby home. For now, any questions, please post in comments so all can see the answers.

TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES WHO LOVE WRITING FLASH FICTION:

 You are personally invited to submit a flash fiction piece of between 500 min - 1,000 words max to our upcoming anthology. This will be a work of prose fiction – no poetry, although a poem may be included within your predominately prose story.

 Many of the finer points of the anthology are still being finalized, but we have a concrete theme -- Gone!  Gone! Gone! All stories submitted will be written to this theme from which the WEP team envisage many possible genres - thriller, romance, fictionalized memoir, horror, crime, women's fiction, paranormal ... and others. By the August post, you will know all there is to know.

 What do we want? We want standalone, complete, previously unpublished stories - no extracts of a WIP or serialized story, photo essay or opinion piece. A solid flash fiction. This will be submitted to technical guidelines to be announced in August. This is when WEP will publish an Anthology Page on the site where you will see various ideas for stories, but none is binding. We stress - this is YOUR story, written YOUR way in your chosen genre.

 We aim to publish a high-quality eBook and print book. If your entry is accepted, you will be asked to perform further self-edits and the editorial team will do any final editing. WEP's raison d'etre is to improve writing, so the writing must be well edited and excellent overall.

 The Anthology is the culmination of the work and collective wisdom of 13 years of enthusiasm for flash fiction. Most of the current team have been with WEP in one role or another for the duration.

 We envisage submissions closing at the end of December ‘23.

 

Please join us for the Challenge in August! 

Chocolat

Your hosts are Sonia with Denise assisting. Both are so excited to host this delicious theme!

If you're excited too, please invite your writer friends to join us! We're not getting enough stories to satisfy our insatiable desire to read! Please help us!

Click on our Challenges 2023 page for ideas. But we stress, write you entry your way! As we said in the June 1 post - 

"None of our prompts require any prior awareness or deep knowledge of anything." But most of us have a deep knowledge of chocolate and the way it adds sweetness to our life.

SHARE THE LOVE IF YOU WISH. IF YOU DON'T DO SOCIAL MEDIA, THAT'S TOTALLY FINE.

We announce our WEP JUNE‘23 #CLOSEENCOUNTERS #winners @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @jemifraser @SoniaDogra16 #amwriting #writingcontest #flashfiction #wepwinners  https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/07/wep-winners-june-2023-challenge-close.html

#WEPFF JUNE ’23 #CLOSEENCOUNTERS #winners announced @DeniseCCovey @SoniaDogra16 @yolandarenee @jemifraser https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/07/wep-winners-june-2023-challenge-close.html #amwriting #flashfiction #wepwinners #writingcontest

Come congratulate our JUNE ’23 #CLOSEENCOUNTERS #winners! #WEPFF Challenge @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser #amwriting #flashfiction #wepwinners #writingcontest https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/07/wep-winners-june-2023-challenge-close.html

Signing off for now

Nila

for the Team

See you in August!

#WEP June 2022 Challenge Winner Lenny Lee' on Pleonasms

Hi, it's Nila again. 

Lenny Lee won the June 2022 Challenge with his heartfelt, real-life entry Dear Mom. 

Here he shares a few things about pleonasms and how to get rid of them. 

THOSE PESKY PLEONASMS

Is your writing a victim of pleonasms?  Pleonasms, aka redundancies, are words and/or phrases that are not necessary and add nothing to the story. They slow action and add to word count. Once aware of these pesky pleonasms, you’ll find them everywhere, even in the works of well-known authors.

These intruders sneak onto the page and unless found and deleted or altered take up space. Finding and fixing them takes time and a keen eye. The results are worth the effort.

Here are some examples of pleonasms with suggested edits.  Can you spot the redundancies?

1.   Hillary won a free gift of cash money.     

Edit: Hillary won some money. Even better, Hillary won a million dollars! (Free and gift are the same. Cash and money are the same.)

 

2.   I saw the evil crow with my own eyes and heard him caw with my own ears. 

    Edit: I saw the evil crow and heard him caw.  (Whose eyes and ears are they but mine? Lol)

 

3.   Sharon ordered a tuna fish hoagie sandwich.

Edit: Sharon ordered a tuna hoagie. (Tuna is a fish. Delete fish.  A hoagie is a sandwich. Delete sandwich.)

 

4.   After he kissed her, she said, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

Edit: After he kissed her, she said, “It’s déjà vu.” (All over again is the same as déjà vu.)

 

Here are a couple of not so obvious redundancies: Can you spot them? 

1.   He entered his PIN number on the ATM machine.

Edit: He entered his PIN on the ATM. (In the acronym PIN, the N stands for number and in ATM, the M stands for machine.)

 

2.   The invitation read please R.S.V.P.

     Edit: The invitation read R.S.V.P. (the P in RSVP is French for please.)       

While putting our thoughts on paper, it’s easy to overlook redundancies and let them slip onto the page. Whether you find these bugs while writing or when editing, it’s important to squash them. Readers don’t like a lot of unnecessary words. They want the story to keep moving without being distracted.

 Here’s a link to a website that provides pleonasm quizzes with suggested edits. https://kathysteinemann.com/Musings/?s=quizzes&submit=Search  The link will take you to a Master List of Redundancy Quizzes for Writers. It’s fun to test yourself. Also, this site is full of useful information. It’s listed as one of the 100 best websites for writers.

 Once you track down those pesky pleonasms, you’ll be surprised how many have taken up residence in your writing.  Editing them will reduce word count, stir action, and improve your MS/WIP.

Happy writing!

Hi!

I’m Lenny. I live in the peach state north of the Chattahoochee River (USA). I’m a freshman at the University of Georgia. I write poetry, short stories, chapter books, and I’ve begun my first novel. My biggest writing achievement was winning the WEP June 2022 challenge. I’m an animal lover, sports fan, gamer and junk food addict. You can find me on my blog - Lenny's World.

~~*~~

Thank you Lenny Lee for the tips and congratulations once again for your winning entry! 

We'd love it if you could share this post on your SM platforms! 

#WEPPLEASEREADTHELETTER #WEPWinner  #guestpost  https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2022/07/wep-june-2022-challenge-winner-lenny.html   @DeniseCCovey, @YolandaRenee, @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim @jemifraser #amwriting #writingchallenge

#WEPPLEASEREADTHELETTER #WEPWinner  #DearMom  #guestpost  https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2022/07/wep-june-2022-challenge-winner-lenny.html@DeniseCCovey, @YolandaRenee, @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim @jemifraser #amwriting #writingchallenge

~~*~~

Aaaand the next Challenge will be upon us before you have time to say, 'August? Plenty of time!' We hope you will consider joining us next month for the prompt -  

Please remember that the outlines on the Challenge page are pointers only and there is absolutely no compulsion to use them to interpret the prompts. Feel free to take the prompt in whichever direction you are inspired to, genre no bar except erotica. Not mandatory either to know/listen to the music or what the sonata is...

We can't wait to see what you all come up with! See you here in August!

~~*~~

Many have complained that they can't comment on several blogger blogs. Until Google fixes the problem, the solution is to return to the boring old pop-up comment system which doesn't allow individual replies. If you have a blogger blog, consider doing away with embedded comments for now. Pass the word! Better than nothing! 

And please remember to check the thread on WEP to find those who may have left a comment there.

Nila for the team  

#WEP February Challenge Winner - Sally Stackhouse

 Hi everyone, Jemi here!

Sally Stackhouse won our February Challenge All You Need Is Love with her touching tale of Walter and Sarah. You can read it here. An abiding love in troubled times.

As our judge, Nick Wilford said, "This really hits hard given the current situation in Ukraine. Beautiful and heartbreaking."

Today Sally is going to share with us about life and writing!

                                        ~~***~~

I was overwhelmed that my entry for ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE was the winner and so proud of achieving this commendation from my peers – thank you. 

I’ve always had a lot of words rumbling around in my brain but it is only in the last ten years or so that I’ve been able to put them down on paper.  There are a couple of reasons for this, the first one is time, i.e., my kids left home, I was working part-time and therefore gained more time for my own pursuits, reading, and writing. 

The other reason is that it is easier nowadays to type something out on a computer, save a word file (always back it up!) and change and edit it as often as you like.  Just think how much time it would take to write in long-hand, harking back to school days and homework, writing something quickly, and then copying it out in your ‘best handwriting’. 

I remember my lovely mum (sadly no longer here) remarking, ‘where do you get your ideas from, certainly you don’t get it from me!’  

I really don’t know. I think because I am an avid reader words make sense and flow, not always smoothly I must admit.  I also people/watch and people/listen, not so much nowadays because of Covid restrictions but I’ve spent a lot of time over the last 18 months hanging around hospitals, having treatment, and waiting for appointments.

Last year my brain couldn’t cope – chemo certainly addles your thought processes a bit but now, I am very pleased to say, most of my mojo is back.

When you were at school

Did you sometimes feel a fool?

Physics and maths weren’t my thing

Nor the choir ‘cos I can't sing.

Now history was interesting

But not kings and queens and their bling

The ordinary folk such as you and I

Who toiled the land and watched the sky

Gave me more to think about and learn

Not good times to be born.

Give me a book and I would lose time

Transported to other worlds, romance or crime

Thrillers and sci-fi and then the classic writers

People who are long dead with words that survive

With a heritage to revere and characters that come alive.

So, head out of the clouds and prepare for a career

Typing and shorthand were part of my future

To stand me in good stead for the next of life’s adventure

Loving the English language opened new frontiers.

So now I’m in my sixties and am able to indulge

This passion of mine that started at a young age

Some praise from family although they are biased

But I’ll take it and try not to be pious.

An opportunity has opened which I will embrace

Hoping I won’t get egg on my face.

My brain is in gear

Stamping down on my fear.

With encouragement and love

I’m going forward, onwards and above

To get it all out before it’s too late

Before all the brain cells dissipate.

      

 

Sally Stackhouse: wife, mother, step-mother, grandmother, step-grandmother and step-great-grandmother. Living in the Weald of Kent in South East England.

~~***~~

Thanks so much, Sally and congrats again! We're all so very happy you have your mojo back!! You can find Sally at her blog Sally's Scribbles!

We'd love for you to tweet this post or share it to Facebook or your favorite social media site.

#WEP ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE #WEPwinner #guestpost  https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2022/03/wep-february-challenge-winner-sally.html @DeniseCCovey, @YolandaRenee, @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim @jemifraser #amwriting #writingchallenge

#WEP ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE #WEPwinner #WALTER&SALLY  #guestpost https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2022/03/wep-february-challenge-winner-sally.html @DeniseCCovey, @YolandaRenee, @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim @jemifraser #amwriting #writingchallenge

~~***~~

Our next challenge will be here before we know it! We hope many of you will consider joining us for our April Challenge: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall.

See you in April!

Jemi for ...

Winners of the #WEP #AllYouNeedIsLove Challenge for February 2022!

Hi everyone, Jemi here!

Weren't those stories inspired by the first prompt of the Year of Music wonderful?! We at WEP thoroughly enjoyed the reading and seeing how many ways the prompt took you!

Thank you all for writing blurbs/taglines for the stories. Don't worry, if you forgot, we've always got your back. 

We had another fabulous collection of stories inspired by the prompt. We have so many strong writers contributing. Thank you all for sharing your words!

LG Keltner - Conversation Hearts - A poem inspired by candy hearts

Jemi Fraser - Grams - Lessons from the Beatles and Grams

Denise Covey - Learning How To Be You - There comes a time to stop running and embrace life 

Damyanti Biswas - Bar Girl - It is not, until it is

Bernadette Braganza - Love is Not All You Need - A party planner learns to plan for the inevitable party pooper

Nilanjana Bose - Dead Lake  Eyes - A family’s love in all its facets

Shannon Lawrence - All The Time In The World - Sometimes love requires creative measures

Olga Godim - A Quest for a Finder - The mother’s love can’t be denied

Pat Garcia - The Harlot and Her Scarlet Cord - One ounce of love is all you need

Jamie - All You Need is Love and Conflict - Love writing well

Michelle Wallace - Love The Second Time Round - They fell in love as teens, but their families tore them apart

Kalpana - All We Need Is Love - A poem exploring love for our planet

Anstice Brown - All You Need is (Self) Love - Is unconditional love for our children all we need to be a good parent?

NR Williams - Love, love, love! - When love comes around again

Debbie D - All You Need Is Love - The Beatles got it wrong. Or did they?

Carole Stolz - All You Need Is Love - Relationships trump over possessions or hobbies every time

Roland Clarke - Freyja’s Tears - Gold medals are gifted through divine skills and love

Shilpa Gupte - The Dilemma - Haven and hell 

Sonia Dogra - Wild Flowers In The Woods  - Of birthdays and expectations

J Lenni Dorner -Julie Ette - Shakespearean inspiration for love being all you need, with a viral twist

Sally Stackhouse - Walter and Sarah - An abiding love in times of trouble

Pennie Nichols - All You Need Is Love - Love restored

Jackie Begue -All You Need Is Love - Love is really the answer

Hilary Melton-Butcher - All You Need Is Love - These boots were made for walking…

Ornery Owl - An Underrated Quality - It's a poem addressing the fact that when people hear the word "love" they usually think of romantic love…What we need is empathy.

SHORTLIST

Our wonderful judge Nick Wilford has helped us whittle down the shortlist to 3. This month the whole WEP team chose virtually the same 3 or 4 entries.  As always, there were pieces we all loved that did not make the list, so do not despair if you don't see your entry listed here. Maybe next time.

COMMENTING

Thank you once again to all of you who continue to comment widely! Commenting is a major part of WEP's success. The feedback you give your fellow writers helps them improve their craft, and the words of encouragement help to motivate and inspire.

CRITIQUE PRIZE

The winner of each challenge gets the opportunity to receive a critique prize if they have a piece of writing ready, whether it be a full manuscript, a short story or an article. They also get the opportunity to write a guest post for WEP on a topic of their own choice. If a winner has no work for critique, please let us know so we can pass the opportunity on to the next on the list. We need you to contact the editor right away, then send your work in under three months at the most. Editors are busy people who need to plan, so please respect their time.

Our sidebar proudly displays everyone who is offering critique prizes for 2021. You are welcome to contact any of the editors with a request for work. 

The February Prize is a 10k critique by Lynda Dietz!!

Lynda is the editor from Easy Reader Editing Website 

NOW LET'S CONGRATULATE OUR WINNERS!

THE WINNER OF FEBRUARY 2022'S CHALLENGE

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE IS:

Congratulations, Sally, for your entry, 

Walter and Sarah

Nick wrote: "This really hits hard given the current situation in Ukraine. Beautiful and heartbreaking."

Sally, please post your badge on your blog and link the badge to your winning entry. Enjoy the critique prize or pass it on if you have no body of work ready. We eagerly await your Guest Post on a topic of your choice!

~*~

THE RUNNER-UP OF FEBRUARY 2022'S CHALLENGE

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE  IS:

Congratulations, Michelle, for your entry, 

Love The Second Time Around

.

Nick wrote: "Very fun with a bouncy rhythm. Shades of Romeo and Juliet although I'm glad there's a happy ending!"

Michelle, please link the badge to your entry and post it on your blog. Congratulations!

~*~

THE ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD WINNER FOR FEBRUARY 2022'S CHALLENGE

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE IS:

Congratulations, Anstice, for your stunning entry, 

All You Need is (Self) Love.

Nick wrote: "A reminder that self-love is important as well and a good message to pass on."

Anstice, please link the badge to your entry and post it on your blog.

~*~

Nick also commented: "Great stuff here. Looking forward to the next round!."

We agree - so many amazing stories and writers!

Read amazing entries from our WEP FEBRUARY 2021 ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE winners @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @LGKeltner @OlgaGodim @jemifraser #amwriting #flashfiction #wepwinners https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2022/02/winners-of-wep-allyouneedislove.html

#WEPFF ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE winners announced @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @LGKeltner @OlgaGodim @jemifraser https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2022/02/winners-of-wep-allyouneedislove.html #amwriting #flashfiction #wepwinners

Come congratulate our FEBRUARY winners!. #WEPFF ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE Challenge @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @OlgaGodim @LGKeltner @jemifraser #amwriting #flashfiction #wepwinners https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2022/02/winners-of-wep-allyouneedislove.html

***

Join us in April for our next Year of Music challenge!

Jemi, for ...