Creative challenges are really fun. Some of the most popular writing ones that spring to mind include
NaNoWriMo and its cousin
ScriptFrenzy. Then
there's the NYC Midnight
competitions... And the list goes on!
Blog memes have also been popular for
a long time, and then there's other creative discipline challenges
such as the Fat Mum Slim photo
a day challenge.
Frankly, there are loads of challenges
and competitions out there. But if you're not careful, you can spend
all your time (and money if competitions have fees) working on
challenges instead of working on your portfolio.
So why take part in them? What are the
benefits?
Competitions:
- Prizes!
- Deadline discipline
- Generates new, quality, written content
- Can get you industry recognition if you place
Fun challenges:
- Fun!
- Helps improve skills
- Wakes up the creative brain each day
- Can encourage friendly and constructive criticism
- Encourages networking whilst sharing responses with others
If chosen wisely,
competitions can be an excellent investment of your time and money.
And as for challenges – they can really help exercise creative
skills and inspire further work.
Over the past year or so,
I've been developing some challenges for writers. First, there was
#wordsaday, a
monthly general writing prompt to inspire poetry, loglines and
fiction. This was popular, but difficult to maintain if you were writing longer pieces.
Then there was the
writer's photo a day challenge, #wpad,
which has now evolved into a blog/pic response challenge. Think of it
as a month-long blog meme, which will help give you valuable
inspiration for your blog and social media content. Write as little or as much as you like!
The newest challenge is
the #loglinechallenge,
aimed at all writers with the intention of sparking daily story
ideas. This fun challenge will only take a few minutes of your time
each day, as loglines should only be a few sentences long, so it's an excellent way to flex those creative muscles.
What's more, is that by
the end of the month you'll have a portfolio of new ideas to help
inspire future projects. Why not give it a go? There's also a
#loglinechallenge
Facebook group where participants can share their loglines and
promote their blogs.
Michelle
Goode is a script reader, editor and writer who operates from her
little online empire: www.writesofluid.com,
where she compiles writing resources, writes her blog and offers her
services. When she's not creating fictional worlds through scripts
and prose or writing articles, she's helping strengthen the work of
others or assessing scripts for production companies, competitions
and initiatives. Follow her adventures on her Facebook writer
page,
Writesofluid
page
and on twitter: @Sofluid.
