If I haven’t made it perfectly clear already, I’m a woman of many interests. As much as I love books (and I *love* books), I’m also a huge fan of tv and movies (note the shoes from Sofia Coppola’s production of Marie Antoinette). Not all of them, sure, but I have my favorites, and I can get a little fanatic about them. So I can’t help but love this week’s column by John Scalzi (writer and tv creative consultant for Stargate Universe) on AMCtv.com, combining a fun writing exercise with some great sci-fi movie tropes. The pitch:
Below you will find a selection of writing assignments, based on various science fiction movies and/or science fiction filmmakers. Write up one or more, and put them into the comments below (one writing assignment per comment — keep them short and punchy). Here’s the juicy part: I’ll select my favorite from the bunch and AMC will award its author a DVD set of the original The Prisoner. It’s that easy! Have fun.
There’s some fun comments already, and I have no doubt my readers would ROCK this contest. So have at it! Leave a comment on the blog post over on AMCtv.com, and then come back here and cross-post it or put a link in the comments below. I can’t compete with a DVD set, but if one of my readers wins the whole shebang, I’ll add a book of your choice from the kt literary library.
Good luck, and HAVE FUN!
Filed Under: Slushpile
Tags: contests, writing exercises
October 8th, 2009 at 11:11 am
The shoes from Marie Antoinette? *delighted gasp* And THAT is why you are my agent. Tee hee!
October 8th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
I entered! Simply because I can't resist a good contest, no matter how out of my comfort zone it may be.
My entry, a response to the first assignment, is below. *blush*
CREATURE'S MONOLOGUE
Sweet, this taste of blood. Tingles on my tongue. This warm dark. Here I’ve curled, wound into my nest, awaiting my time. Now it has come.
I writhe. My tail, knife-like, slits the intestinal wall, winds around ribs. This will be my stability. I know, by instinct.
Sense. I’ve neared the surface. The hot rush over my face. Teeth gnaw.
Fracture bone.
Puncture muscle.
Break the skin, my egg’s surface.
I emerge. Tilting my head back in this new air, I taste oxygen. Different from blood. Cold.
Sense. New flesh. Near.
I see. Light. Through hooded eyes.
Smell. Blood as it meets the air. How it rusts.
Pant.
I turn my head, aware. Listening.
Only my ears, trained for the sound of her voice. She whispers what these others can’t hear. Calls me through the walls of this place.
I purr out a greeting. And a goodbye.
Suckers.
July 1st, 2011 at 6:08 pm
I am totally wowed and prpreead to take the next step now.