Hey Folks,

Just wanted to announce the first UFW challenge.  You get to choose one topic in one category out of the following list.

The Topics and Categories:

Category 1- word count limit (must be more than 1000 words less than 5000)

1) Re-write a great speech from history like the "I have a dream" speech with an UF twist.

2) Send out a twitter asking your followers to give you a random sentence, and create off of that.

3) Write a news story of someone or group of people who were killed by a vampire/demon/ghost etc.

Category 2- word count limit (must be more than 500 words less than 2000)

1) Write a killers confession letter as a vampire/demon/ghost etc.

2) Write the obituary of someone who was killed by a vampire/demon/ghost etc

3)  Write a love letter (letter of interest) to someone who is not of your "kind"

Category 3- NO minimum word count Max: 200

1) Write a urban fantasy based greeting card (graphics allowed)

2)  Write an recruitment ad for a vampire/demon/ghost etc.. based business.

The Rules–

1.  You must be a member of urbanfantasywriters.com  (its free) Please fill out your profile page with your website link and bio. sign up here

   1a.  NO anonymous story submissions
are accepted.

2.   You must be over the age of 18.

3.  ALL content of submissions must be LEGAL, following types of content are NOT allowed: pornographic, obscene or excessively
profane content or content intended to advocate illegal activity, drug paraphernalia,
hate, racial or ethnic intolerance.

4.  YOU OWN your content, so you are freely allowed to post your submission on your site and ask for us to remove the content from our site in the future.

   4a.  All poems and short stores and submissions herein are the copy written property
of the respective authors.

5. DEADLINE– All submissions must be received NO later than June 15, 2008 at midnight. Any submissions received after that deadline will be disregarded.

6. Word count limits are listed next to the categories.

PRIZES

Category 1-

First prize will receive, a front page spot on www.urbanfantasywriters.com, Name and link in the "winners circle", a tee-shirt, and a year of Author Hosting. (more information on Author hosting soon), and a promo spot on www.urbanfantasywriters.com sidebar.

Second prize will receive, Name and link in the "winners circle", six months of free Author Hosting, and a text link back

Third Prize will receive,Name and link in the "winners circle", three months of free Author Hosting

Category 2-

First Prize- will receive a front page spot on www.urbanfantasywriters.com, Name and link in the "winners circle", a tee-shirt, and six months of Author Hosting. (more information on Author hosting soon)

Second Prize– Name and link in the "winners circle", will receive three months of Author Hosting.

Category 3-

First Prize will receive a front page spot on www.urbanfantasywriters.com, Name and link in the "winners circle", and three months of Free Author Hosting.

TWO WAYS TO SUBMIT WORK

Our Submission page

or email us (for larger content)

urbanfantasywriters [at] gmail [dot] com

—Before You Start The Great Bestseller

Chaos and confusion come when established rules and procedures are not followed. Even mixing and matching systems to favor one’s own position can cause a great deal of consternation. In writing a book, the first rule is to know and understand why you want to write in the first place.

In other words, you need to develop a theme that will answer the question of why you want to write. I usually get a blank stare when I ask a budding author, “What is your book’s theme?” Eventually the answer I get may be the title of a manuscript.

When I explain that a title isn’t a theme, I then may hear, “It’s the story of my life.” That is unquestionably the number-one answer I get. There is a big difference between the title of your book and your theme.

While your title may be the sizzle, the theme is the flavor and is formally defined as a “recurring, unifying subject or idea.” This is the aim or the main message of your book. Generally speaking, in writing there are two themes: the author’s theme and the book’s theme.

The author’s theme is the usual subject matter the writer handles, or the one the writer is most comfortable with. For example, a writer may find his forte in the subject matter of healing or forgiveness. Another may write most of the time in the area of spirituality or motivation.

Don’t confuse the author’s theme with genre, which is the category of writing. In addition to establishing if you are writing fiction or non-fiction, there are several categories your book may fall into. Some of the most popular ones today are biography, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, romance, thriller/espionage, horror, inspirational, historical, and courtroom drama.

Your book’s theme is what the reader should learn most after reading your story. There are two answers that you as a writer shouldn’t give when questioned about your theme: 1) This book is about me and the things that have happened to me; and 2) A rambling, almost incoherent dissertation that leaves one asking, “Huh?” Every author should ask and answer the following questions: “Why am I writing? What am I trying to articulate? What kind of outcome will the story have on the reader and what is the outcome I’m aiming for?”

In other words, what is the rationale behind your book? For example in his bestseller, The Purpose-Driven® Life(Zondervan), author Rick Warren, founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, takes readers on a “personal 40-day spiritual journey” to find the answer to the question, “What on earth am I here for?” To me, the most important element of your book is its theme.

Writing professors will probably disagree with me, and that is their right. In fact, some say the title is the most important. I understand, because all of this is subjective and mostly based upon personal preference. After all, there are many elements to creating a successful manuscript. But after years of trying to get would-be writers to complete their novels, short stories or even church talks, I’ve discovered that nothing has helped to move them “off the pot” quicker than having a well-developed theme.

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How many times have you sat and stared at a blank page trying to think about something to write about and working in vain to come up with a new and exciting topic? While brainstorming can be a great method for overcoming this, it can still be difficult to get started with. Brainstorming after all, is exactly the same thing isn’t it? Brainstorming is nothing more than sitting there trying to make something out of nothing.

Rather than trying to think about something in particular, try sitting there thinking about nothing for a moment. Make sure your keyboard is handy or that you have a pen and paper because the results will surprise you. Take a sip of your coffee, bourbon, soda or other beverage of choice, put the cup down, pick up the pen, sit back and close your eyes.

Now, think about absolutely nothing. Nothing, by the very fact that it has a definition, is in and of itself an oxymoron of sorts. Still, most people find it very difficult, if not virtually impossible to actually think about nothing. It is much the same as if I tell you to sit there and not to think about Disney world. The overall effect is actually the same. By trying not to think about something, you will inevitably begin thinking about something.

For example, using a timely classic, you may try to picture an empty chalkboard. Okay, let’s say you do exactly that. What thoughts does it bring to your mind? Maybe it causes you to think about your days in school. What did you like about school? What did you hate about school? What fundamental changes happened while you were in school? What caused those changes to occur? What was the direct result of those changes? What were the indirect consequences of those changes? How did they affect the people around you?

Unless you are very focused and heavily involved in meditation, it will be almost impossible for you to actually concentrate on nothing. Even most of those people who are involved in meditation will focus on something while they are meditating. As you try to clear your mind, you may notice random thoughts flying past. Whether they seem to be aimed directly at you or avoiding you may depend on your personal circumstances but the thoughts will be there regardless.

What you do with those thoughts is going to be strictly up to you but try focusing on only one at first. If you think about it some, it should lead you to the next thought in line and so on until you have a complete list of thoughts in front of you. Look at the thoughts that you have considered important enough to write down. Look at them as a path to an end and see where each thought leads you.

Once you figure out where they go, you will see the destinations opening up before you. At this point, it will become possible to begin breaking them down even more and seeing which ones are relevant to your current subject matter. Pick the one that is a close match first and move on from there. Writer’s block may be an obstacle but it is not a barrier that cannot be overcome. Often times the best solution is not thinking about it at all.