One of my favorite openings to a TV series is the opening to Lost. My husband and I had been watching the promo commercials for the new series with great interest. (My interest was mostly, “How do they plan on making a years long show out of a plane crash?”)
My assumption was the show would open with everyone on the plane or boarding the plane, that we’d have 10 or so minutes of establishing the characters, and then we’d get to the crash.
But the writers didn’t do that. The first thing you see is the main character’s eyes popping open, then you see what he sees – the canopy of the trees. The confusion all over his face – What just happened? Why am I here?
You spend 2 and 1/2 minutes alone with the main character before he puts together that he’s just survived a plane crash. I think it’s the most creative opening to a show I’ve ever seen.
During every round of Go Teen Writers contests, we have a handful of entries that end with the POV character blacking out. This round your challenge is to write a scene from the point of view of a character who has just woken up. It can be from sleep, from being unconscious, whatever.
Your word limit this round is 125 words. Think of your 125 words as the opening of a story. 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 Thursday, June 7th 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.
I always send confirmation emails, so if it’s been 48 hours and you haven’t heard from me, please check back.
The contest is for those age 21 and under. One entry per person please.
This is the second contest that we’ll be using the new “judging chart” for the feedback, so if you’d like to get an idea of what your feedback will look like, check that out here. For more details about Go Teen Writers’ contests and samples of winning entries, click here.
Many thanks to our judges Melanie Dickerson and Dina Sleiman. Without these lovely ladies giving up their time, there’s no way these contests could happen. Thank you Melanie and Dina!
Melanie Dickerson is an award-winning author who earned her bachelor’s degree in special education from The University of Alabama. She has taught in Georgia, Tennessee, Germany and the Eastern European country of Ukraine. A member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and Romance Writers of America (RWA), she now spends her time writing and taking care of her husband and two daughters near Huntsville, Alabama.
Dina Sleiman writes lyrical stories that dance with light. Most of the time you will find this Virginia Beach resident reading, biking, dancing, or hanging out with her husband and three children, preferably at the oceanfront. Since finishing her Professional Writing MA in 1994, she has enjoyed many opportunities to teach literature, writing, and the arts. She was the Overall Winner in the 2009 Touched by Love contest for unpublished authors. Her first novel, Dance of the Dandelion, will release with Whitefire Publishing in 2011. Dina is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Agency. She has recently become an acquisitions editor for WhiteFire as well. Join her as she discovers the unforced rhythms of grace. For more info visit her at http://dinasleiman.com/