24-Hour Short Story Contest Updates · Angela's Desk

(Groan!) Common Themes That Pop Up in EVERY 24-Hour Short Story Contest…

July 9, 2016

(Groan!) Common Themes That Pop Up in EVERY 24-Hour Short Story Contest…
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When’s the next 24-Hour Short Story Contest? Find the date RIGHT HERE!

During the WritersWeekly.com quarterly 24-Hour Short Story Contest, regardless of the assigned topic, some themes pop up over and over and over again with each and every contest.

Stand out from the crowd by avoiding these very common themes:

  1. Domestic violence stories. We get FAR too many of those.
  1. The second most common theme we receive are stories written from an animal’s perspective, but you don’t find out it’s an animal until the end.
  1. The story is about a writer and/or it’s a writer participating in a writing contest (groan).
  1. Vampires, aliens and other classic, scary creatures. We always see LOTS of those.
  1. We find out at the end that the entire story was just a movie/TV scene/play or we find out the first scene of the story (usually the topic itself) is from a movie or TV show/play or even a book or article one of the characters is reading.
  1. The reader finds out at the very end that the main character is actually dead (is a ghost or spirit of some sort), or that the main character has dementia. We always get several retirement home or other senior citizen stories.
  1. The main character dies at the end, and is met by a loved one or an angel of some sort. We also see lots of dead friends/relatives trying to convince the characters it’s their time to die, too, helping them to cross over, etc. Or, we find out at the end that the main character was dead all along.
  1. The story is dramatic but you find out at the end the characters are really children playing make-believe.
  1. The main character of the story is a writer or someone in the story (usually the main character) is named Angela (the same name as the publisher of WritersWeekly).
  1. A common fairy tale is the basis of the story and/or a well-known character is featured in the story. (Writers should create their own characters.)

You can increase your chances of winning one of the contests by avoiding these common themes.  Step outside of the box and WOW us with something completely original!

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