Wednesday Wrap Up Post - Birthday Madness. Linky sign up for Halloween House of Horrors and Meet the Judges!

Your hosts apologise for the length of this post, but there is so much to tell you and we're running out of time!

Thank you as always, members and friends for the wonderful stories and poems for our challenge! This week we welcome new followers - Kappu,  Alyssa and RW Richard. New members are Ekta, Gyanban, Kappu and Heaven has re-joined us. We invite you to participate in our challenges!

Our entries were down from our record-busting 20s due to commitments from members. We especially wish Crystal's mother a full recovery from her heart attack. 

400-WORD COUNT
Looks like a lot of people carried on their Hate My Beautiful Friend writings; and a lot of sisterly rivalry.  So cool.  This also seemed a difficult write for a lot of people; yeah the normal word count limitation.  We know all too well how difficult it is to develop a setting, plot and characters in a 400 (or even 600) word limit; especially for those authors fitting a work-in-progress or previously published novel segment into the challenges.  But it helps cut down on reading time (many bloggers don't have a lot of time to spend reading lengthy stories and the comment feedback may reflect this); and also gives our authors practice for when they submit to publications.  Your hosts appreciate the time and effort our contributors put into submissions; and a little over world count for RFW prompts is acceptable (except for special events with specific guidelines) and expected upon occasion.

CRITIQUES/FEEDBACK ISSUES

Another comment we've noticed regards the request not to edit a submission based on critique feedback.  If you are like your hosts, you read most - if not all - of the comments on every RFW post. (I confess we sometimes read them 2 or 3 times!) Many bloggers read at least one or two of the first comments and the one or two directly above their own.  If you follow much of the comments, don't you think it's downright annoying to see a lot of feedback comments that have no reference in the post because the post has been edited in response to comments.  The other outcome of the revised post is that later commenters may offer feedback that suggests to include all the changes that were deleted.

When a member is willing to accept critique type feedback and has posted FCA (Full Critique Acceptable) at the end of their entry, it is to their benefit to gather all requested feedback prior to revision so that all views are considered, and the author is not swayed by every comment.  Our contributing authors are at every stage of writing skill level, from beginning to multi-published, and feedback on YOUR post may be helpful to others in their own projects.  There have been many times when I've learned techniques from reading the critiques provided by other authors, and the discussion that sometimes continues in the comments.

We encourage our contributors to post the revisions when the challenge ends, or to exchange private e-mails as critique partners.  Some of us would like to see how the feedback was interpreted, others just want to see that the feedback was appreciated.  As a social writing group, RFW is pleased to see a number of writing relationships form within our membership.

If you haven't already, please read the Critiques Page.

SHORT CRITIQUES OF BIRTHDAY MADNESS ENTRIES

 Raelene:  continued with Maxine and Blake, and the hatefully beautiful friend Lola at Lola’s birthday party.  Ah, nothing like bringing a hand made gift and retching all over the expensive hor d’oeuvres  to grind in the embarrassment.  Good thing the rain washed away all the mess and the wind cleared the area of envy and deceit.  A complete flash fiction scene.  

Adura: posted from her WiP novel(la) with Michael feeling pressured by the flamboyance of his party, and Moji’s inappropriate emotional outburst.  Loved how Sadi is in his thoughts just enough to help set the tone of rivalry, but doesn't stop us from hoping he doesn't go all soft on Moji. 

Yolanda:  a lonely birthday party for two; and an invite never opened.  Tragic.  It's tough being a secret keeper – and did I detect a hint of repressed love from body guard? Refreshing POV.

Nilanjana:  wrote of inter-planetary social networking, and a much anticipated first meeting at a birthday party.  An exquisitely built world, the nervousness of our party goer palpable. Our first sci-fi piece for RFW.

Roland: celebrated in Victor Standish style with a death-defying ménage a trios.  Body parts and death are surely not an appropriate gift for anyone else; but at least there was devils food cake.

Donna: obviously had fun writing this, so much so that she had a spare 400 words on the cutting room floor. I loved the spooky tale, the battle of spell-casting wills. Ah those evil sisters.

Linda:  has the ultimate “joke’s on you” birthday present for the lusty best friend.  The innuendo is subtle, well formed, and gives a humorous twist to an irritating situation. Managed to make Nico detestable.

Denise: used an interesting dialogue to set the setting, tone, and mystery for a reverse gift giving for the purpose of retaining love.  Diamonds may be a woman’s best friend, but they are a cold lover in the scheme of things.

Nancy: was visited by the dreaded 'malware' message so not everyone could access her story. Nancy sent it to me via email and what a great use of the Birthday Madness prompt. This story had a lot of movement, mystery and cultural undertones different to our own - good use of birthday horoscope.

Anne:   turned a typical lovers' quarrel scenario into a study of regret and understanding.  The back and forth POV shifts gave insights into each lover’s feelings and motivations.  A happy marriage is such a blessing.

Sally: a descriptive tale of sisterly rivalry, with a unique twist for cleansing the atmosphere.  Descriptive grandeur and a funny twist.

Michael; continued his noir tale with the mysterious lady clothed in a lacy black hat and plume of cigarette smoke.  The embarrassing moment is not hers, however, and a nervous party crasher makes his awkward appearance with a poorly wrapped present.

Anna: teased us with a prequel, and a foreshadowing of future events.  My stomach growled at the thought of all that food to dream of for seven long years.

So well done, one and all.

Only 9 votes received out of 13 entries, but the majority choice was Linda Katmarian with 3 votes! Congratulations Linda on your riveting story. Please post the badge on your blog and link to your winning story. Also congratulations to Sally who came in second!

Now our hopefully huge challenge for Halloween is ready for sign ups. This time you only have to signal your intention to play - SIGN UP NOW at the bottom of this post with your blog URL if you are going to write a story/poem for this challenge. We will send a bulk email reminder on October 19 to remind you to post on your blog.

It's Halloween soon!

Another FW/RU Challenge is here!

This time your entries, both prose and poetry, will be judged by our most qualified judges, Ann Best and Nas Dean. (Read more about them below.)

RomanticFridayWriters is looking for chilling stories of ghosts and haunted locations – and maybe even love from beyond the grave. Come on, let your imagination soar to world's unknown... 

A romantic element is essential, but we’re looking for stories with a thrilling edge of fear and dread to add to the romantic tension building between our Hero/Heroine.

Have some ghouly fun with this one! 

Don't forget the Romantic Element! Or did I already say that?

Let your head go! 

And this time, to cater to all who struggle with the 400 word limit, you can write between 800 to 1,000 words of prose/prosetry!

If you choose to keep it much lower, I'm sure our judges will be grateful, but you have the option of 1,000 words. 

This will be our last challenge until December  where we will host a gigantic holiday blogfest. Stay turned for more details...

Let's introduce our judges...

ABOUT ANN BEST:

As far back as Ann can remember, she has loved to read and write, and signed up for every creative writing course she could manage through high school and into graduate school, eventually receiving a master of fine arts degree in creative writing. She's also been an editing intern and full-time proofreader, and has judged writing contests, both poetry and prose, along the way. Her full-length memoir, In the Mirror: A Memoir of Shattered Secrets, was published in May of 2011, and is currently a best seller on Amazon.  

To learn more about Ann's other books and more about Ann herself, check out her blog: http://annbestblog.wordpress.com/

ABOUT NAS DEAN:

An avid and passionate reader and reviewer of romance, Nas Dean loves reading and when not reading can be found gardening, her second favorite. She has written romances, including a Vampire/Witch, but has not sought publication as yet. Recently she started Freelance Editing. She edits and proofreads for Entangled Publishing and also for some Harlequin authors. She blogs at Romance Book Paradise. Befriend her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter or 'Like' the ROMANCE BOOK PARADISE Facebook page!

And you can join her Romance Giveaway group on Facebook for information on all the giveaways!

Her reviews can also be found at 

Amazon.co.uk 

Amazon.com 

Barnes & Noble 

Goodreads 

Harlequin 

Library Thing 

Mills & Boon UK 

My Shelfari 

The Book Depository

And

 

So as you can see, Ann and Nas are ably qualified to judge our forthcoming entries. Thank you dear ladies and friends for agreeing to take on this difficult task.

THIS IS THE LINKY SIGN UP FOR HALLOWEEN

It will be re - posted soon in a post of its own...

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