#WEP WINNERS - OCTOBER CHALLENGE - THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

 Hi! This is Renee & Denise for the team, to sum up the October Challenge and to announce the winners!

Thanks for joining us this Halloween month of October and for taking on the story of the Phantom. Amazing work all - the information regarding the story by Gordon Leroux, was most enlightening, stories just perfect for a campfire setting, or poetry for lovers of the art. I think one of my favorite aspects of the WEP is the different takes on the prompt! Again, thank you for your participation, it was wonderful seeing new entrants and returning entrants! As always the choice for the top was tough! 

Here is a synopsis of all the entries via the tagline the author provided.

Denise Covey - The Ghost of Opéra Garnier - Love will find a way despite exceptional circumstances

Yolanda Renee - Premonition - Pay attention to your sixth sense

Olga Godim - The Phantom Of The Opera - Music on Mars sounds just as beautiful as it did on Earth

Nilanjana Bose - Chiaroscuro VI - An old radio goes berserk in the middle of the night

Beth Camp - First Time - What do we learn when we close our eyes?

Kalpana M - Undisguised - A self-satisfied man immerses himself in his needs

Shilpa Gupte - Rukhsar Khala and her Kitties -  Love thy neighbour, but from afar

Roland R Clarke - Masked Nemesis - Chaos from the shadows delivers a crippling blow to the night witches

Pat Garcia - Joy Comes In The Morning - The kids fell in love with him, a man whose face they couldn’t see. Fascinated by the white gauze covering his head, ears, face, and neck, each wanted to be like him

Jemi Fraser - Think Of Me - Deep in the tunnels, surprises await

Sonia Dogra - Phantom - Stories that did rounds of villages were, after all, only stories

Jamie - Phantom of the Boarded Up House - Teen initiation includes B&E to Phantom’s ghostly concert

Christopher Scott - Phantoms - Inspired by Lon Chaney’s portrayal of the Phantom

J Lenni Dorner - Phantom Wolves - Phantom wolves battle our heroes

Ornery Owl - The Star Child and the Phantom of the Opera - The Other remains reviled

Hilary Melton-Butcher - Phantom Of The Opera - Who But Me Could Come Up with This Post for the poor Phantom (of the Opera) prompt – I feel for him … I wonder if they had Bile Beans on the Nile 

Damyanti Biswas - Have You Met the Phantom of My Life’s Opera? - Things only begin with mistakes. That’s not where they end

SHORTLIST

As always our talented writers make the task pretty tough for the team. 

For the prompt 'The Phantom of the Opera', here is the not-so-short shortlist (in no particular order)!

Shilpa Gupte 

Hilary-Melton Butcher

Ornery Owl

Beth Camp

Kalpana Misra

Carole Stolz

Pat Garcia

Jamie Dorner

Damyanti Biswas

JUDGE'S CHOICES

Ornery Owl

Shilpa Gupte

Beth Camp

but as Nick says: 

Great stuff all around! Other selections were bubbling under. Well done to all!

 Thank you for the haunting quality of each contribution!

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, and sensitive and to keep comments positive. 

The trouble with commenting on blogs continues (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.

And if you're using Pop-ups and people still can't comment, we hope would-be commenters will post at WEP or C-Box.

This month's prize is from me, Yolanda Renee, a mini Developmental Edit. 

Please email me at yolandarenee@hotmail express for further details!

AND NOW IT'S TIME TO CONGRATULATE THE WINNERS!

WE HOPE YOU AGREE THE BADGES ARE BEYOND AWESOME!

THANKS, OLGA GODIM!

And, the Oscars go to...

Three winners, three Oscars!

AFTER MUCH DELIBERATION, THE WINNER OF THE OCTOBER 2023 CHALLENGE 

~THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA~

IS

CONGRATULATIONS Ornery Owl!

Please accept our thanks for writing such a great essay. READ IT HERE. Please accept your badge and add it to your blog.

Nick says: 'A really thought-provoking essay that shows how the story is still relevant today. Sadly, like she says, we need to do so much better.'

Remember, if you can't use Yolanda's generous gift, please let us know so we can pass it on. We hate it when a gift remains unopened.

~*~

THE RUNNER-UP OF THE OCTOBER 023 CHALLENGE 

~THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA~

IS

CONGRATULATIONS Shilpa Gupte!

Thanks, Shilpa for an innovative read. READ IT HERE.  Please post the badge to your blog with a link to your story!

As Nick says: 'Fun and playful, but subtly terrifying as well - this is a treat!'

~*~

THE ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD FOR THE OCTOBER 2023 CHALLENGE 

~THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA~

GOES TO

CONGRATULATIONS Beth Camp!

Thank you for a short entry packed with good things. READ IT HERE. Please accept the badge and display it on your blog. 

Nick says: 'Short and sweet, a feel-good dopamine lift, a nice message to take forward.'

~*~

CONGRATULATIONS ALL!

REMEMBER!

THE WEP ANTHOLOGY

A mock-up temporary cover was created on Canva.

WE'D LOVE TO HAVE YOUR ENTRY!

UPDATE: The entries are trickling in. We are concerned we won't receive the numbers to go ahead. If you intend to submit, please let us know.

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 envisages 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 December! This is a post where you aren't painted into any corners. Give us your real self!

For the festive season, we're taking the stress out and leaving the fun in. No competition, only creativity. We're inviting you to a Holiday Writing Party and we're saying Over to YOU. 

Remember to post December 1 through the 15 so everyone can get on with the festive season! 

~OVER TO YOU~

Click on our Challenges 2023 page for ideas for December. But we stress, write your entry your way! What movie inspired you?

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

We announce our WEP OCTOBER‘23 #THEPHANTOMOFTHEOPERA #winners @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @jemifraser @SoniaDogra16 #amwriting #writingcontest #flashfiction #wepwinners https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/10/wep-winners-october-challenge-phantom.html

#WEPFF OCTOBER ’23 #THEPHANTOMOFTHEOPERA #winners announced @DeniseCCovey @SoniaDogra16 @yolandarenee @jemifraser #amwriting #flashfiction #wepwinners #writingcontest https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/10/wep-winners-october-challenge-phantom.html

Come congratulate our OCTOBER’23 #THEPHANTOMOFTHEOPERA #winners! #WEPFF Challenge @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser #amwriting #flashfiction #wepwinners #writingcontesthttps://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/10/wep-winners-october-challenge-phantom.html

Signing off for now

Renee & Denise

for the team

#WEPFF WINNERS' POST for DÉJÀ VU OR VOODOO the October Halloween Challenge. Announcing the IWSG February Prompt Competition!

Hello everyone!

We're a little late but it's still Halloween! Even a well oiled machine has a few gremlins around the haunting season! But here goes:

I’m thrilled to announce the winners for the WEP/IWSG collaboration for the DÉJÀ VU OR VOODOO October Halloween Challenge.

Before the unveiling though, I want to take a few moments to say Thank You! As you know, this was my last challenge in an administrative capacity. I am off on a new and exciting personal challenge, but I wanted to let you all know how much the WEP has meant to me.

Denise and the Friday Romance Writer’s taught me so much about writing, helped me to hone my skills, and gave me a real love for flash fiction. Then I was blown away when Denise asked me to help co-host her new WEP – Write…Edit…Publish challenges. I will be forever grateful to her for inviting me.

I jumped at the opportunity, and I know I’ll miss it. Especially as it continues to transform and reshape to fit the current needs of the community, but always offering novice and skilled writers an opportunity to share and learn. How many of you have said ‘I’ve never written flash fiction, but now I’m hooked?’ It’s an unparalleled opportunity, and I’m sure many of you are as surprised as I am with the writing that’s been inspired by its creative prompts.

What better way to get the writing chops for submitting to magazines and other writing contests! I hope you’ll continue to take advantage of this unique writing community to expand your skills and your imagination! I know I will!

Thank you, everyone, for making that possible!

Okay, I’ll move onto the crux of the post - the winners!

 

DÉJÀ VU OR VOODOO was proved an exciting opportunity for many to explore their horror chops, and for others to explore the feelings of deep emotional angst, haunting grief, or a Halloween response to adultery ending in murder. Some entries produced chills, some had a touch of humor, and others touched the heart with understanding and empathy. Here’s a tease for each…

Desk 49 - DL Is it true love or a voodoo spell?

Roland Yeomans - DL  Hell means saying goodbye to the love of your life.

Sally - DL  When no one understands your needs, not even you.

DG Hudson - DL  Can that which is lost in space really be found?

Kalpana - DL  Do our devices have too much influence?

Jemima Pett - DL  When dreams become a reality.

Pat Hatt - DL  When visions of missed opportunities happen, check the sent file!

Orlin - DL  It’s Rhyme Time for cats testing out their voodoo.

Toi Thomas- DL  Children should not be allowed to play with dolls, not on Halloween.

Tanya Miranda - DL Sometimes that imaginary friend isn’t as imaginary as you think.

Dixie Jo Jarchow - DL  Chickens or no chickens, beware what you wish for.

Roland Clarke - DL  Standing runes, urban legends, and the lady in white.

Hilary - DL  Memoires of fun and the stories that still need to be told.

Operation Awesome - DL The many views on Voodoo and writing.

Michelle Wallace - DL Was it the prayers that saved them or something darker?

Deborah Drucker - DL  Can a stolen child be saved?

Jamie Lightcap Dorner - DL  Voodoo instead of divorce court…

The Real Cie - DL  When body shaming be sure you know your victims connections.

Alex J. Cavanaugh - DL  A likeness in safe hands.

J Lenni Dorner - DL  Observation without interference and a tree.

Rebecca M. Douglass - DL  Expectations and mannequins.

Christopher Scott - DL  Electricity brings about a resurrection.

Adura Ojo - DL  “The body does what the body does.”

Joey Lynn Resciniti - DL  A real incident of déjà vu.

Susan Swiderski - DL  This ghost loves to travel.

dolorah - DL  Loki is up to his old tricks, but it adds excitement to the wedding.

Jemi Fraser - DL  A murderer finds flaws in his work.

Damyanti - DL When grief blackens the soul.

Michael Di Gesu - DL  An adventure to an Haitian Voodoo ritual.

Robert Jones - DL  A widow looking for her next victim.

After extensive reading, the team compiled a shortlist, or rather a long list. This was soooo difficult. There were another 7 writers on the list, but we cut it down to those with the most recommendations. Thus we bring you: 

Sally
Kalpanaa
Hilary
Susan
Jemi
Toi
Dixie

The shortlist was outsourced to writer and editor, Nick Wilford, who is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) admin. Nick kindly read each entry on the shortlist,  and chose 3 winners. 

So (((drum roll)))...here we go...

THE WINNER OF THE

2018 WEP OCTOBER CHALLENGE DÉJÀ VU OR VOODOO

is

Congratulations Kalpanaa!

 Why Leap? 

Is a that tale gave us all pause to considering the ramifications of the internet and our habits there. As Roland said, it was fiendishly clever!

Please link the badge to your story and post it on your blog!

An Amazon Gift Card of $10 will be winging your way shortly.

****************

THE RUNNER UP OF THE

2018 WEP OCTOBER CHALLENGE DÉJÀ VU OR VOODOO

Congratulations Jemi!

Deja Vu

Your story was chillingly brilliant!

Please link the badge to your story and post it on your blog!

****************

THE ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD FOR THE

2018 WEP OCTOBER CHALLENGE DÉJÀ VU OR VOODOO

goes to 

Congratulations Susan!

 Deja Boo!

This haunting tale of love and loss gave us insight into your wicked sense of humor and showcased your writing talent!

Please link the badge to your story and post it on your blog!

***

Hi! L.G. here!

Once again we will also be thanking one of you who took the time to read through all of the wonderful entries and to comment on them. This is vital to the success of the WEP community. It's our chance to offer one another support and, when desired, critique that can help us all grow as writers.

I'd like to take the time to acknowledge Elephant's Child for reading through and commenting on every entry. While she did not submit a story this time around, she still supported this writing community of ours with her thoughtful responses. We value that kind of dedication.

There were several who qualified for this award, but alas, we can only give it to one deserving individual.

The random pick winner is--Michelle Wallace! Michelle, please accept the badge on behalf of all the great commenters and display it on your blog!

****************


IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! 
WEP/IWSG COMPETITION!

BREAKING NEWS!

WEP and IWSG are holding a contest for the February WEP theme!

Rules: Submit your idea for a WEP February theme by November 12 to admin@insecurewriterssupportgroup.com. Nothing U.S. culturally bound. Should have wide appeal.

Prize: Feature in the December newsletter for the winner. And, of course, the winning theme will be the official February WEP theme and accompanied by a stunning badge!

Deadline: November 12. Winner announced in the November newsletter on November 28.

****************

And don't forget to start to prepare for the DECEMBER challenge! It's much broader than a Christmas story! Give us ribbons - a race? Or candles - a tomb?

We'd love if you'd Tweet this post or share to Facebook or your favorite social media site.

#WEPFF Déjà Vu or Voodoo Winners announced. @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @theIWSG

http://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2018/11/wepff-winners-post-for-deja-vu-or.html #amwriting #flashfiction

Come congratulate, first place winner  Kalpanaa #WEPFF Déjà Vu Or Voodoo Challenge @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @theIWSG

http://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2018/11/wepff-winners-post-for-deja-vu-or.html #amwriting #flashfiction

The #WEPFF writers are all winners! @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @theIWSG

http://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2018/11/wepff-winners-post-for-deja-vu-or.html #amwriting #flashfiction

When you take the challenge for a spin you too could win! @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @theIWSG

http://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2018/11/wepff-winners-post-for-deja-vu-or.html #amwriting #flashfiction

Saying a final farewell the fifth pumpkin in the bunch! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, ALL!