#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!

#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

 

 To Post Our Link Please Use the Code Below:

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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:

WEP- 'HOW-TO' SERIES II - HOLLY SINCLAIR on HOW TO SELL YOUR #INDIEBOOKS ON #GOOGLEPLAY

 Hello friends! This is Sonia and I am excited to bring to you the second offering of the new segment of #WEP, your foremost online writing challenge site. Denise has put me in charge of the guest posts.

We are already into the fifth month of the year and the results of the second WEP challenge 'Life is Beautiful' have been announced. You can check them here. I loved the entries this time and am sure, so will you!  

This year we are offering a new format to replace the automatic guest post from the winner which some found intimidating -- a 'HOW-TO' SERIES for our readers. These informative posts are by invitation only and will help us all navigate the up and coming challenges as well as changes/innovations happening in the writing world. If you have an area of expertise you'd like to share with us, email Denise - den.covey@gmail.com

For our second post of the segment we are happy to present an informative article on selling your indie books on Google Play. We are grateful to Holly Sinclair for sharing her wisdom with us. I am sure many of our readers will benefit from this piece. 

And now, over to Holly!

How To Sell Your Books on Google Play

You’ve got your book all done. You’re selling it through KDP and a book aggregator like Draft2Digital. Many of the aggregators don’t upload to Google Play (GP). This has to do with restrictions and requirements. From what I gather, it’s because GP requires authors to have an account with them as well.

Note: PublishDrive is the only place I know that publishes to Google Play.

 Pre-pandemic Google Play was difficult for authors to not only get on, but navigate, and there were a few auto-pricing issues. That’s all changed!

 

Advantages of Selling on Google Play

• You don’t have to pay the aggregator. Meaning, you get the full royalty.
• You’ll reach readers in more countries. As of April 2023, Amazon reaches 13 international markets. Google Play reaches over 75 countries.
• You’ll reach Android users worldwide. (2.5 billion people own an Android device.)
• Google Play Books pays authors 70% on eBooks in most countries.
• Google Play Books has an affiliate program.
• They also take audiobooks.
• At Google Play you can run discount promotions and promo codes.
• You can just make a preview available on Google Play.

 

Google Play VS Google Books

Google Play is an online store where people buy books. Google Books is an index of books. It shows previews of books, which are searchable.

 

How to Get Your Books on Google Play

Setting Up Your Account

• If you don’t have a Gmail or google account, get one. Agree to the conditions, etc. (https://accounts.google.com/signin)
• Go to the Partners Center (https://play.google.com/books/publish/) and log in. Add your details, continue, review and agree to terms. Add your financial details (tax information, link your bank account), so you can get paid. Which is the point!
• Note: You can skip this step until you make $$. However, it may take a couple of weeks for all your payment information to go through.

                                                                           

Uploading Your Book

Step 1: + Add Book

• Have your epub and book cover ready for upload. Login to https://play.google.com/books/publish
• Click on “Book Catalog” in the left navigation menu.
• Click on the “+ Add Book” blue button in the upper right corner.
• The drop-down menu will give you three choices: Sell eBook on Google Play, Create an auto-narrated audiobook, Offer a preview on Google Books only. Choose Sell eBook on Google Play.
• A second dropdown will appear. Here you can add an ISBN if you own one or have Google assign it a unique identifier. 
• Save and Continue.

Step 2: About the Book

• This will include a publication date and an “On-sale date”—if you put it up for presale, a preview will still be available for view unless you turn that off.*
• This is where you add a publisher or use your author's name.
• Save and Continue

Step 3: Add Genres

• Google Play does not use keywords. Select as many BISAC that work for your book.
• Save and Continue.

Step 4: Add Contributors

• Add author name(s) and a bio (optional)
• Save and Continue.

Step 5: Create or Add to a Series

• Or skip by clicking continue.
• If you create a series there, once done, you’ll need to go back to your book using the links on the left as it doesn't take you back automatically. It won’t allow you to add the book until after it’s published.
• Fill out the settings. Be sure to look at the Advanced settings on this page for more options.
• Save and Continue.

Step 6: Upload Book

• Upload your cover and epub.
• You can upload pdf, epub, zip, jpg, png, webp, and tiff files.
• This threw me at first. They upload to the same area and then give them new titles (a bunch of numbers).
• Continue.

Step 7: Add your price.

• Save and Continue.

Step 8: Publish

• Review your information and click publish.
• In your Book Catalog, it will say “Action Needed.” It will take 24 hours for that to disappear and your book to go live. If it’s there longer, click it. It will tell you about issues they need you to fix.

 

*Pre-orders Previews

• Turn off preview for pre-order books
• Select Book Catalog from the left navigation area.
• Select your title > select Book Info > Settings > Show advanced settings > Under "Allow preview before on sale date," select "No".

 

About H. R. Sinclair (blog)

Join her newsletter which is called ...

H. R. Sinclair is a left-handed hermit prepping for the squirrel apocalypse. She writes fantastical stories and visits cemeteries for inspiration. Here's an article on her blog about some Google Play perks. Her latest book is A Writer’s Guide to Crystals & Gemstones.

See the book on Google Play.

 

                                                                          ***

Thank you, Holly! This article is so informative. I'd also like to say thanks to WEP for putting together all the up-to-the-minute writing advice.

We would love some feedback on this article by Holly and any questions that you may have, dear reader. Drop them all in the comment box. Are you enjoying the 'How-to' series? Is there an area of expertise you'd like to share with us all? Then write to us and add to our 'How-to' repertoire.

If you like this post, how about sharing the information with the writing community? Spread the love! 

PLEASE SHARE TWEETS AND ADD ONE OF THESE IMAGES BELOW- TWITTER LIKES IMAGES! (SORRY, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO EMBED IMAGES IN TWEETS YET!)

The all-new HOW-TO SERIES! #No2'HowTo'series #guestpost  https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/05/wep-how-to-series-ii-holly-sinclair-on.html @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @jemifraser @SoniaDogra16, @SouthpawPOV #GooglePlay, #Indiebooks, #amwriting,#writersoftwitter #self-publishing

Navigate your writing journey! #No2'HowTo'series https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/05/wep-how-to-series-ii-holly-sinclair-on.html @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @jemifraser @SoniaDogra16, @SouthpawPOV #GooglePlay, #Indiebooks #writersoftwitter #self-publishing

Sell What You Write! #No2'HowTo'series https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/05/wep-how-to-series-ii-holly-sinclair-on.html @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @jemifraser @SoniaDogra16, @SouthpawPOV #GooglePlay, #Indiebooks, #writersoftwitter #self-publishing

And, before you leave, here is everything you need to know about the June WEP Challenge. Flex your writing muscles with this prompt. 

We repeat, there is no need to have seen the film or look up the plot summary unless you so choose! Just use the title if you wish! Give us some sort of close encounter and we're sure to love it!

And if you go over 1,000 words, that's okay. Anything up to 1,300 is fine and even more if you can't help yourself. Just let the readers know!

Dreamstime images (above) of close encounters.

Look up the detailed Challenge blurb here. These ideas are purely to get you going if you're having trouble with which way to go here!

There are a gazillion ways to interpret this sci-fi classic of a film - use the genre as a base to write your own sci-fi flash. Or riff off the idea of first contact. Celebrate cross-cultural communication between groups without a common language/reference points like the film. Use kidnapping, a failing marriage, a paranormal event turning life upside down - any or all to build your flash around. Maybe use three characters' experiences of an event. The basic human hankering for exploration, connection, for finding a place in a community, even up to a galactical community. Maybe take up the story from where it ends - what happens after first contact. How the alien lifeforms and humanity build a relationship and navigate it in the future.

Can't wait to read your stories/poems/essays!

Post - June 21st to 23rd 2023

Sonia, signing off for now but I'll look forward to reading you in June.