Submissions Closed for the Fabuly Writer’s Challenge
Note: We've reached 200 submissions. Therefore, we are closing this contest and we won't be accepting new submissions.
Thank you to everyone who submitted their story to the Fabuly Writer’s Challenge! Whether you’re an aspiring writer or an established author, this contest has brought together talent from all backgrounds, and we're thrilled to see the creativity of all participants. After receiving 200 entries, submissions are now closed as of November 20th, 2024. The grand prize winner, chosen by our panel of judges, will receive $500 USD and have their story published on our website and in the app alongside our collection of classic literature. Their story will not only be published but also professionally illustrated and produced in an audio format. The winner will also have the opportunity to include a brief biography and a link to their website or preferred social media profile alongside their story on Fabuly’s website.
Jury
Erika Krouse
Erika Krouse is the author of four books of fiction and nonfiction, most recently a forthcoming collection of short stories, Save Me, Stranger, out with Flatiron Books in January 2025. Erika’s memoir, Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation, is a New York Times Editors’ Choice and winner of the Edgar Award, the Colorado Book Award, and the Housatonic Book Award. Her short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire.com, and other places. You can learn more about Erika on her website: https://www.erikakrousewriter.com
Christopher Fielden
Christopher Fielden is an award-winning and Amazon bestselling author, editor and independent publisher. Via the writing challenges, Chris compiled and edited a world record-breaking book. The 81 Words Flash Fiction Anthology, published by Victorina Press, contains 1,000 stories written by 1,000 authors. It won Best Anthology in the 2022 Saboteur Awards. You can learn more about Chris on his website: www.christopherfielden.com
Gwenaël Laurent
Gwenaël Laurent is a bilingual poet and writer. He has won several writing contests in Bordeaux (Arts and Letters of France) for nonfiction writing and holds the Grand Prize from the SPAF (Society of Poets and Artists of France) for a prose novel.
Submission Requirements
Word Count: Up to 2,000 words
Deadline: December 15th, 2024, at 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time (PST)
Submission Capacity: Please note that if we receive an overwhelming number of entries (over 200), we will stop accepting submissions in order to maintain the quality of the evaluation process. As of now, we've reached capacity and we are not accepting new entries..
Language and Format: All submissions must be in English. Your submission should only contain raw text without any formatting such as bold or italicized text. Please also avoid using images, comic strips, GIFs, etc. Moreover, it is advisable to reduce or altogether avoid the use of dialogue in your short story to ensure its successful adaptation into a generated audiobook (refer to the Evaluation Process section for details).
Evaluation Process
First Round: Editorial Team Evaluation
- All entries submitted by the deadline will be evaluated by the editorial team based on creativity, originality, relevance to the theme, narrative quality, and engagement.
- A number of semi-finalists will be shortlisted to proceed to the second round.
Second Round: Public Voting
- Semi-finalist stories will be published in the Fabuly app, complete with a standard book cover and audio version automatically generated, allowing users to experience the story as an audiobook.
- A few finalists will be selected and proceed to the final evaluation.
Final Round: Jury Evaluation
- The jury will select the final winner among the finalists.
Grand Prize
- 500 USD
- The winning story will be featured in Fabuly, professionally illustrated and produced in an audio format.
- The winner will also have the opportunity to include a brief biography and a link to their website or preferred social media profile alongside their story on Fabuly’s website, offering additional exposure and recognition.
Theme: An Unexpected Encounter
Human paths often resemble absurd canvases strewn with choices, faces and disjointed words, which cruel Muses are surreptitiously blending together. An encounter that seems insignificant at a given moment can turn out to be either a stray bullet or a time bomb: it traverses time and space, passing from hand to hand, before exploding in one’s face. The truth becomes clear: this encounter was meant to happen; it was a matter of inscrutable necessity.
The art of extracting meaning from the most far-fetched encounters, the relentless squeezing, wrenching, grasping and covetous irony of life, might be what inspires Goethe to say :
"Nobody must and can unveil the mysteries of human existence; there are stones on the path of life against which every traveler stumbles. It is up to the poet to point them out." (Maxims and Reflections)
In this writing contest, we ask you to vividly depict one of these stones for the reader. May this stone impede the traveler, sometimes against their will, in such a way as to subtly or deeply alter their journey! The unexpected encounter can occur in a fantastic or realistic setting. It may emerge in the form of a human, an animal, or a magical creature. A betrayed lover, a hopeless romantic, a forgotten parent, a deceased (wealthy) friend, or a fleeting glance exchanged with a stranger — numerous triggers can thrust the hero into a wholly different reality.
To inspire you, we offer a few quotes from great literary masterpieces. You will find a wide variety of situations, settings, characters, and impacts on the narrative. You can explore the original works of these quotes on our website or in the app:
Quote 1:
I was walking along, my eyes on the ground. Suddenly I heard a voice; I looked across the fence, and was thunder-struck…. I was confronted with a curious spectacle. A few paces from me on the grass between the green raspberry bushes stood a tall slender girl in a striped pink dress, with a white kerchief on her head (First Love, Turgenev)
Quote 2:
But why, he was always asking himself, why had such an important, such a decisive and at the same time such an absolutely chance meeting happened in the Hay Market (where he had moreover no reason to go) at the very hour, the very minute of his life when he was just in the very mood and in the very circumstances in which that meeting was able to exert the gravest and most decisive influence on his whole destiny? As though it had been lying in wait for him on purpose! (Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky)
Quote 3:
The cellar-door flew open with a booming sound, and then he heard the noise much louder, on the floors below; then coming up the stairs; then coming straight towards his door. “It’s humbug still!” said Scrooge. “I won’t believe it.” His color changed though, when, without a pause, it came on through the heavy door, and passed into the room before his eyes. Upon its coming in, the dying flame leaped up, as though it cried, “I know him; Marley’s Ghost!” (A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens)
Quote 4:
I think everyone expected to see a man emerge — possibly something a little unlike us terrestrial men, but in all essentials a man. I know I did. But, looking, I presently saw something stirring within the shadow: grayish billowy movements, one above another, and then two luminous disks— like eyes (The War of the Worlds, H. G. Wells)
Quote 5:
What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? Who knows? How life is strange and changeful! How little a thing is needed for us to be lost or to be saved! But, one Sunday, having gone to take a walk in the Champs Élysées to refresh herself from the labors of the week, she suddenly perceived a woman who was leading a child. (The Necklace, Maupassant)
Quote 6:
One night as I sat, half stupefied, in a den of more than infamy, my attention was suddenly drawn to some black object, reposing upon the head of one of the immense hogsheads of gin, or of rum, which constituted the chief furniture of the apartment. I had been looking steadily at the top of this hogshead for some minutes, and what now caused me surprise was the fact that I had not sooner perceived the object thereupon. I approached it, and touched it with my hand. It was a black cat—a very large one. (The Black Cat, Edgar Allan Poe).
Quote 7:
The King turned round, and saw a bearded man come running out of the wood. The man held his hands pressed against his stomach, and blood was flowing from under them. When he reached the King, he fell fainting on the ground moaning feebly. (Three Questions, Tolstoy)
Feel Interested?
Be sure to review our rules and guidelines before entering! Mark your calendars and get ready to join the challenge! No entry fee required. Apply now!