Owl Canyon Press Short Story Hackathon 2023 [Open to All; Cash Prizes Worth Rs. 3L; Chance to get Published]: Submit by Sep 1

"This opportunity is brought to you by Team SAMMAT for free."

Submissions are invited for Owl Canyon Press Short Story Hackathon 2023. The last date of submission is September 1, 2023.

About Owl Press

Gene Hayworth and Keith Waters founded Owl Canyon Press in 2011, as a forum for new voices in fiction and literature in translation. In the past five years their title list has expanded to include such diverse works as the personal memoir Cloudbreak, California, the music collection.

Hackathon Details

Writing teams (2 authors per team) are invited to create and submit a pair of short stories consisting of 50 paragraphs.

Owl Canyon Press provides the 1st paragraph and two alternate 50th paragraphs with writing team co-authors taking turns writing a common/shared story from paragraphs 2 through 49 (thus the tag-team handle) and then spinning off two versions using the two alternative 50th paragraphs.

Eligibility

Anybody anywhere in the world, as long as they’re in a 2-writer team and the story is in English.

Prizes

First prize is $2000, 2nd prize is $1000, and 3rd prize is $500 with the winning short stories published in a short story anthology, as well as an invitation to give a public reading at Inkberry Books in Niwot, CO. The twenty-four (24) Finalists will also have their short stories included in this anthology.

How to Submit?

Interested participants can submit online via this link.

Submission Deadline

The last date of submission is September 1, 2023.

Contact

Email: gene[at]owlcanyonpress[dot]com

FAQs

What counts as a “Writing Team”?

Two writers. The contest provides the 1st paragraph and two different ending paragraphs (i.e., paragraphs 50A and 50B) with writing team co-authors taking turns writing a common/shared story from paragraphs 2 through 49 (thus the tag-team handle) and then spinning off two versions using the two alternative 50th paragraphs, and then submitting a pair of short stories.

Why write in teams?

A technique that many successful authors use is to intentionally write themselves into a corner, such that the writer (and eventually the reader) wonders, “how do I/we get out of this?” It forces the author to come up with something, a twist, an unexpected turn, a new character, etc. to send the story in some unpredictable but plausible direction – it’s a great way to keep the reader (and author) engaged and avoid the predictability tarpits. In the Hackathon 5 Tag-Teamathon, each co-author is writing the other co-author into a corner with each successive paragraph, since each author is trying to steer/shape/mold the story as it evolves toward their final paragraph (i.e., 50A or 50B)–so the co-authors are competing while they’re collaborating.