The prompt for this round is This is not what I expected.

Your word limit this round is 106 words (100 words + the prompt sentence).


The prompt sentence can go anywhere – first line, last line, third line, whatever. But make sure you don’t change any of the words.

Think of your 106 words as the opening of a novel. Your goal is to draw the reader in, same as you would want to be drawn in if you were picking up a book.

Your entries are due on Monday, April 16th by 11:59pm Kansas City time. You may email it to me by clicking here or at Stephanie(at)GoTeenWriters.com – no attachments please! Include your name as you would like it to appear on the website.

And I always send confirmation emails, so if it’s been 48 hours and you haven’t heard from me, feel free to check back.

The contest is for those age 21 and under. One entry per person please.

For more details about Go Teen Writers’ contests and a sample winning prompt, click here. There’s also a winning entry from last round below the information about this round’s judges.

Your wonderful judges this round are Tiffany Rott and Laura L. Smith. If you plan on entering this round, feel free to leave a comment below telling these lovely ladies thank you.

Tiffany Rott is enjoying her first year “Down Under” in Christchurch, New Zealand.  She first discovered writing in a college scriptwriting class.  Since then she has written, performed and directed over 20 scripts.  From there she moved on to writing book reviews for her church’s newsletter.  Novel writing began during her first National Novel Writing Month.  So now her life if full of various writings and she is enjoying every minute of it.  When not writing, she loves ice skating and is working towards completing her first assessment soon.

Laura L. Smith is an author and speaker addressing tough issues for young women such as eating disorders – Skinny, sex and dating – Hot, and divorce – Angry. She strives to give a voice to those who find it too difficult to discuss their situations. Her goal in writing and speaking is to show light at the end of every dark tunnel in the form of the unconditional love of Jesus.

Also, Here’s a winning entry for last round by Alison Schneider that I wasn’t able to post last Thursday with the others from the “so-and-so was the type of person who…” prompt. Alison placed second and third:

John was the type of husband who just didn’t try. Didn’t try to match his socks. Didn’t try to eat healthy. Didn’t try to excel. Didn’t try to fix his messed-up life. Didn’t even try to live. But what didn’t for him did for me. I guess you could call me his better half. Emphasis on better. John didn’t, so I did. I matched the socks. I ate healthy. I tried to fix our messed-up life. But when it came time for him to die…I followed his example. For the first time, I followed my husband’s example; I didn’t. I let him die. Now I wish I hadn’t.

The judges say: Beautiful and intriguing both!/Thanks to sparse, staccato description, I can picture this husband and wife so well and can’t help wondering how it all went so very wrong. Why didn’t he try? What did she try? These are questions I’d be more than willing to get to the bottom of.

Can’t wait to see what you guys come up with!