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Welcome to The Literary Pig's blog - a safe haven for all those afflicted with
the unbearable urge to write.

Monday 14 December 2015

Anyone for a drabble?


Did you know a story containing exactly 100 words is called a drabble? Did you also know you can win £2000 by writing a drabble for the Reader's Digest 100-word-story competition? This is a popular annual competition with no entry fee. £2000 to the adult winner, along with 2 x £200 prizes to the runner-ups. It closes on 20 February 2016 and full details are here. Once a shortlist is selected there is a public vote, which is not to everyone's tastes. Another drawback is that you hand over copyright to Reader's Digest if your story does well. However, they often publish stories not shortlisted so basically be prepared to lose your copyright - if this bothers you then don't enter. Personally, I'm happy to risk losing copyright on 100 words for the chance to win £2000.

Top tip: create a grid of 10 x 10 squares and write a word in each to reach the maximum. I try to avoid any hyphenated words as never entirely sure how these are counted. Title is optional and not included in the 100 words.

I know other writers have blogged about this competition - so why mention it again? Everyone believes this sort of competition is impossible to win ... OK, I've never won it but in 2013 I was one of two runner-ups out of >2000 entries. My 100 words netted me £100 in book tokens, which didn't last long! Unfortunately, I can no longer find any links to the story - sorry.  I wrote it in my head whilst swimming. Jotted it down when I got home and hardly tweaked it before submission - I did not labour over this for days. It was a tingle story - I got a good feeling as soon as it was done ... and for once I was right. So, you never know how well you can do unless you submit.

Go on have a dabble and write a drabble!

12 comments:

  1. Ah, I often wondered what defined a Drabble. Now I know. £2000 is a good return on 100 words, well worth a try. Thanks for this.

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  2. Even with the copyright issue, I do think this one is worth a try.

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  3. I love the idea of a 'tingle story'. They don't come to me very often. I can't believe it's two years since you came runner up in this competition... doesn't time fly!

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    1. I always believe in tingle stories, Wendy, but they come along too often :)

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  4. Thanks for this, Tracy - I've entered another drabble comp in the past but not with RD. Might give it a go as I don't mind giving up 100 words!

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  5. Yes, worth the copyright risk, I reckon. I'm going to have a go.

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    1. Good luck, Julia. All trotters crossed for you :)

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    2. Many thanks for mentioning this, Tracy. Well worth a try. Congratulations for being runner-up in 2013 - a huge achievement out of such an enormous entry. xx

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