Farmpunk Flash Fiction Contest Winner
Eight days ago, I posed a challenge and published the rules to the first ever farmpunk flash fiction contest. I'm pleased with the initial response I got and can't wait to reveal the winner. But first, a head nod to the individual entrants.
There were four entrants to the first farmpunk flash fiction story contest, and there were several more people who expressed an interest but didn't enter. The entrants were, in the order they posted their entries:
- @samuraihedgehog, who bears the honor of being the first person to post their entry
- @bashadow
- @blueteddy
- @calluna
It was difficult judging this because all of the stories entered had their merits. With a new genre like farmpunk, it's easy to focus too much on the farm or too much on the punk and not enough on the other. A delicate balance between the two essential elements is called for without sacrificing any of the elements of traditional storytelling. That's a challenge in and of itself, so kudos to each of these authors for giving it a try.
Now, without further ado, let's announce the winner.
But wait! Before I do, let's link to each of the stories (again, in the order of their entry). If you haven't read them yet, stop by and give them all a read. Upvote the ones you like. Only one is past payout. The others are fair game.
So, now we come to the point of revealing. The winner is
"Untitled"
Raina pulled hard at the turn key on the back of the giant mechanical spider.
“Come on Blip, I need your help! This is no time to take a nap.” A few grunts and hard tugs later and the key finally broke through the rust holding it in place. Blip’s numerous flashing lights lit up one by one. It stood up on its eight spindly metal legs before setting about its work. It poked its legs into different spots in the dirt and sucked up soil through it’s tubing and into a compartment where it checked for various nutrients. Where it found good soil, it planted a seed. Bad soil was discarded through a shoot on the front of Blip’s face and skipped over for planting.
I'm excited that there has been an initial interest in this subgenre of science fiction literature that I created with my two stories, "Altland's Gambit" and "Racioppa's Revenge". I'm looking forward to running more farmpunk contests and seeing what other writers can do with it. I'm interested in knowing how often readers and writers might like to see a contest - weekly, monthly, another time frame? Feel free to let me know in the comments.
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While you're here, check out some of my other fiction:
- Racioppa's Revenge
- Goldilocks and the Big Hairy Briggins
- How to Save a Life
- Farmpunk Fiction: Altland's Gambit
- Shopping for Feelings
- The Saddest Tale Ever Told
- Memorandum of the Ministry of Silly Putty
- My Secret Life as a Garden Gnome
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- Free Range Rexxie
- From Common Thief to Goblin Shaman
- Haunted Spider
- Feral Spirit
- Feet of Clay, Heart of Flesh
- The Ballad of the Crustacean King
- How Magic Was Born
- Enkidu the Fire Beetle
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Thanks!
@blockurator upvoted this post via @poetsunit
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Yay, thank you :D great job everyone, this was a lot of fun! I'd definitely participate again if you do decide to keep this going!
Awesome. How often do you think? I'm leaning toward monthly, but I wonder if that might be too long between contests.
Hmmm well on the one hand it seems like contests that happen frequently (like once a week or so) tend to build a fairly loyal following and writer base faster. But on the other hand the relatively open ended nature of this particular contest might make it harder to consistently write for in that amount of time. I know for me the more constraints prompt wise, the easier it is to narrow in on what I want to write. With only genre as a guideline there’s a lot more internal hoops to jump through to land at a story. But that might just be me. Also once a week might be harder to keep up with on your end. Which is all just an overly long winded way of saying that I think once a month is probably a good idea.
Very good analysis. My thought was, with just a few people interested at this point, I might get more participation if it was less frequent. Twice a month?
Then, as it grows in popularity (which I hope it will), then more frequent contests might be good.
It's difficult to put many restraints on something that is so new. I think you have to get people used to the idea first, and I thought being more open-ended would allow that. Plus, I want to maximize the creative juices, let people's imaginations run wild. I could give scenarios and let people write off of that, or offer farmpunk prompts.
Yeah prompts are fun because they still let you go wild but now there’s also a question to answer which I personally find fun. Like solving a creative puzzle lol. But yeah I think two weeks is a good format, pretty sure that’s how @calluna does hers if I’m remembering right
Thanks for the feedback!
I started with one week, didn't get very many, went to 10 days, and found I had a few late comers, so went to two weeks. That seems to be working well for me, although I do have a much higher word limit (and a round open if you fancy it). If you did want to do monthly, you could go for the 1st, people would be more likely to remember, but every two weeks is much more fun ;)
I would say go with a prompt, just because it is easier to tell if you get entries that were something someone had already written and just re-purposed. It is also great fun to see all the different directions people go from the same idea.
Looking forward to your next round :)
Thanks for weighing in @calluna. As I think about it, a month may be too long a stretch as people will likely forget to keep an eye. Although making it on the first would make it more memorable. That's true. I do like the idea of every two weeks as it still keeps it fresh in people's minds. Issue the contest the first week, announce the winner the next, then a week later you have another contest. That makes sense.
Now the question is, what is the best day of the week? Is it Saturday, or Wednesday, or something else? So many questions.
Found your post from minnow-power 🌺 upvoted. What a great thing your doing. Ill keep a eye out for your next round
Thank you. I hope you join in next time.
Enjoyable read from @blueteddy, will catch the others in a bit.
Awesome. They're all worth a read. Ready to do another round?
I am having a heck of a time with the Giant Roc card, so yeah, I would like another chance to practice. I know I could just write a story and post it, but it's not the same as it being a "contest".
I forgot, yes they were all great stories.
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Congrats to @blueteddy, great story!