I love conspiracy theories. Don’t you just love sitting down on a chilly night, warming yourself with a jiko, completely disregarding the carbon monoxide and building up maybe-true-but-not-so-quite stories about why so-and-so died rather mysteriously through a tragic car accident?
Well, here’s your chance to do just that and win festival tickets and some books.
Pick an event that actually happened, and create a fictional conspiracy story around it. Death, murder, politics, crime, family vendettas, and so on are acceptable themes for this contest. Before you send in your story, please refer to the Judges’ Note below.
Details:
Word Count – Maximum 1600 words.
Must be a fictional story not a commentary.
Email to: blogs@storymojaafrica.co.ke with ‘Conspiracy’ in the Email Subject.
Deadline for Submission: 8th May 2012.
Prizes
1st Place – 2 books, 2 Season Tickets to the Storymoja Hay Festival( 14 – 16 September 2012)
2nd Place – 1 book, 2 Season Tickets to the Storymoja Hay Festival.
3rd Place – 1 Season Ticket to the Storymoja Hay Festival.
Authors of the three top stories will have a chance to consult with an editor regarding developing their work for print publishing.
A Note from one of the Judges:
Creative writing is both an honourable and rewarding art. Please treat it as such.
- Do not send in your first draft. Go over your work and edit at least two or three times.
- Please observe the rules of the written language. Avoid run-on sentences. Use punctuation marks where they should be. If you want to be clever with words, understanding the rules makes it possible for you to execute the play efficiently. If you do not understand the rules of language avoid making clever word plays(metaphors, cliches etc.)
- Always make sure that the story you submit has your name inside the document, preferably at the top, or at the bottom if you must (if you include your pseudonym, please indicate this in your submitting email). Your document should ideally be a Word 97 document, single spaced, 12 point Times New Roman Font.
- Follow submission guidelines. Read them through and go over your work to ensure it fits within the guidelines. Your story could be brilliant but it may be excluded because it does not fit into the guidelines.
changin a situation to a concpirecy is just the challenge i need. Big ups ta all contestants out there.
Posted by eric wanyama | April 11, 2012, 2:51 pmWho may participate?
Posted by Michael | April 11, 2012, 3:45 pmOne question: Are we to pick the real event & tell a story using the ‘real’ people as characters in the story OR Can one use the real event to create an adaptation of the real event?
Posted by simon | April 11, 2012, 5:03 pmA brilliant piece.
Posted by Abdullahi Mohd Kabir | April 11, 2012, 6:23 pmAre we to pick the real event & tell a story using the ‘real’ people as characters in the story OR Can one use the real event to create an adaptation of the real event?
Posted by simon | April 12, 2012, 12:15 pmAs long as it is a conspiracy theory story based on real events, it’s up to you to do whatever.
Posted by Storymoja Africa | April 12, 2012, 9:33 pmThe only requirement for you to receive the prize is that you be an East African Resident.
Posted by Storymoja Africa | April 12, 2012, 9:36 pmChallenge time:)
Posted by Ruth lucinde | April 12, 2012, 10:48 pmShould the names of the characters be ‘censored’ if the fictional story is inspired by true events??
Posted by Shinde | April 22, 2012, 6:54 pmThat’s all up to you.
Posted by Storymoja Africa | April 22, 2012, 8:19 pm