I came across this competition called “Writing Battle” on Instagram back in January. I can’t recall if it was because of someone I follow or if I was advertised to. Regardless, I was intrigued by the format and followed @WritingBattle on Instagram to learn more. It sounded so fun that I signed up for my first competition: Winter 2023 Flash Fiction.
What is Writing Battle?
Writing Battle is a short story competition where the judges are your fellow writers, and all those judges provide feedback! What? Guaranteed feedback on your writing? Sign me up! How often do you write something and get feedback from strangers? Without begging or having to give away free things! (I’m sounding a little pathetic here…hahaha!)
Here’s how it works: you have a word count, a quick turn-around to submit your piece, and you are assigned prompts. I’ll use my experience in the Winter 2023 Flash Fiction battle to illustrate:
Micro Fiction: 1,000 words or less
Timeline: a total of 72 hours to submit (48 hours to lock-in your prompts)
Battle started on Feb 2 at 10 pm ET, prompts assigned
Prompts locked in on Feb 4 at 10 pm ET (more on this later)
Submission due by Feb 5 at 10 pm ET
Assigned Prompts: you get a genre (there are 4 potential genres), a character, and an object. If you don’t like your initial prompts, you’re able to redraw them, but there is a limit on the number of times you can redraw. Once you redraw, the one you had is gone for good. Here’s what I got:
Genre: Lost World (I did not redraw. The other genres were Winter Survival, Meet-Cute, and Occult)
Character: Newsboy (Got this after 2 additional drawings. I was tempted to draw again, but figured it wasn’t going so well, so I was going to take anymore chances.)
Object: Kayak (I can’t recall if this was a redraw, but I thought it might work with the genre.)
You can listen to this episode of Writing in Progress to hear two authors do their prompt draws and the thought process behind their choices. They also explain it far better than I just did!
Once the submissions are in, the judging begins! You will never judge stories within the genre you’re competing in, so I never saw any stories under Lost World until all the judging was closed. At that point, people were free to share their stories to the Writing Battle forums for additional feedback.
You have 47 hours to judge the duels that are assigned to you. For each story you read, you provide 1) positive feedback—everything you loved about the story, and 2) what could have been done better (constructive, not cruel). Then, you choose the stronger of the two stories to “win”.
I judged five different duels. The creativity was fantastic and really gave me an opportunity to be exposed to other writer’s styles and imagination. One of the stories I judged (and loved) ended up winning the whole thing under the Winter Survival genre!
So Much Fun!
I’ve entered my book in competitions before, but I’ve never done a writing competition like this. I was hesitant at first, but I realized it was a great chance to practice my writing and learn from others. There were so many positive aspects to Writing Battle!
Idea, Research, Write, Edit, Done!
When it comes to creativity, I’m not good at coming up with an idea and going with it. I need to mull it over, play it out in my head a million different ways, and really shape it like clay. This exercise challenged me to take the prompts, come up with an idea, and flesh it out into a story in only a few days.
When I drew the “Newsboy” prompt, I had all these ideas about how this kid could get pulled into another world. I started researching what exactly it was newsboys did and what life was like in the mid-nineteenth century. I wasn’t just digging a hole—I was digging up a whole rabbit warren. I had to force myself to stop, step away, and go back to the concept. When I write, I get lost in the research. Even when creating a fantasy world, there’s got to be research to ground things.
That’s when I realized my personal strength is the fantasy genre. So I turned my newsboy into a sort of “Jack” from Jack and the Beanstalk. I turned the world into more of a sci-fi, post-apocalyptic scene. I pulled inspiration from The Matrix and threw in a key maker.
You know what was hard? Fitting my idea into 1,000 words. Sufferin’ succotash.
I let my husband read the first draft. He was lost. HAHAHHAHA! We talked through a few things, and eventually I completed a piece I was pretty happy with. I didn’t think it was going to win, but I was really proud of what I came up with in such a short amount of time! I believe I came in at 997 words!
So Many Creative Writers!
I judged five duels, meaning I had the opportunity to read through ten stories in the genres of Meet-Cute, Winter Survival, and Occult. Each story had its own voice, its own style. I hope my feedback was beneficial to the ones I judged! There are so many great writers out there! I believe there were over 600 entries for this competition.
Now that the competition is over, I’d like to read more of the stories people have posted. I’ve learned how different writers found ways to interpret their prompts, creating pieces that were really amazing. There’s a solid forum in this competition where people generously give feedback and advice when requested. I was a little hesitant to join in on the conversation, but I think I will try. It really is a great learning opportunity, and I would like to find a community to be a part of.
You can listen to this episode of that podcast I mentioned above where they discuss their thoughts on how the Writing Battle went!
My Thousand Words
For my first time, I was pretty happy with where my story ended up. There are a total of 5 rounds, then quarter- and semi-finals. I got a BYE for Round 1 which means I seeded well enough to secure a step up to Round 2. I ended up winning Round 2 as well, but didn’t make it past Round 3. I was still really happy because my story placed (approximately) in the top 25% of the tournament!
The stories that make it to the top get in front of industry judges. Getting feedback from any of them would have been really awesome, but it’s also cool how this tournament kind of reflects the “real world.” Someone who hates stories set in a post-apocalyptic world may have had to judge my story, and they could write it off just because it didn’t resonate with them. It sounds unfair, but at the same time, when you put your work out there, you just don’t know who it’s going to connect with.
The feedback I got was super helpful. As far as the “what went right” feedback, here are some things that really made me feel good about my writing:
“This story has a ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ vibe which was serving it very well.”
“The world has great texture…”
“It all makes me wish that there was just a small book and the setting of this city.”
“Excellent world building in such a small space.”
“The writing is strong. It is plain this is an author who knows what they are doing and is comfortable in a sci fi space.”
My little writer heart! 😍
As far as “areas that need improvement,” it was a good check for me on things I know I struggle with. The most common theme was that the ending—and even some of the middle—was confusing. Another judge said that my piece suffered from the tight word count because it needed far more words to clarify everything.
I’d say with my writing in general, I need to have ALL THE WORDS. I try to explain every little thing because I come up with scenes and storylines that are probably far more complex than they need to be. This is something I actively work on, so these micro fiction contests are really good practice sessions for me!
Because you retain all the rights to your story, I’m probably going to post it on this site. I’d just like to get a few more of my other short stories together first. I’ll have to dust them off and clean them up a little.
Up for a Challenge?
This exercise was invaluable to me, and I think I’m addicted. I’ve already signed up for the Spring Battle! Two days to write up to 500 words! That’s half the last one! (There’s also a Summer Battle I’m considering which is only 250 words…)
Interested in joining? Early bird pricing if you sign up before Apr 4! Let’s write! Let’s battle!
(Photo by Vlada Karpovich on Pexels.)