Pop-Up Contest!
by Barbara Westwood Diehl
Call it a contest inside a contest—our winter “Tools” theme contest.
A pop-up contest.
A flash contest.
A 5-5-5-5 contest.
Only 5 days to submit (no fee), starting November 5. $50 awarded for one prompt response. 500 words max.
How is this a contest inside a contest? Our "big" winter contest theme is "Tools," and Bill Wolak's collage "The Tripwire of a Dream" struck me as a mysterious and magical machine, indeed. A tool to pry open the imagination. (Maybe it will lead to a larger work for the "big" contest with the November 30 deadline. You never know.)
What does this thing do?
If you feel the same way about this magical machine, start writing. You'll have five days to submit flash fiction (which can be wondrously like a prose poem) or flash CNF—sorry, no poems for this one, but there's always the "big" contest—in response to this visual prompt. This special Submittable category will open on November 5 and close at the end of November 9.
We hope that a good number of these responses will be magical enough to include on our blog. I can't wait to read them!
The BR editors will select one entry for a $50 prize and publication in our winter issue.
Stay tuned for some ideas on using this prompt. Not that you probably need any.
OK, a few ideas:
What written instructions come with this machine?
A science teacher sets this up in his 11th grade physics class. What happens?
How is this machine used to generate poems?
A married couple finds this perfectly symmetrical machine in their attic. Do they argue? What happens?
A father discovers this contraption in his daughter's bedroom. She has disappeared.
Explore our fascination with machines.
The image is a new Rorschach test card. What will people see, and how will the results be interpreted?
This machine is a robot. What is its function?
This machine was created to be a companion for someone with a special need. Describe.
This machine is an inheritance. Tell us about that.
A boy dares his little sister to eat one of the small balls produced by the machine. What happens?
Feel free to use your own ideas. Let "The Tripwire of a Dream" speak to you.