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High Drama Blogfest/Giveaway

That’s right boys and girls, DL’s holding a Blogfest. And not just any Blogfest, this one comes complete with all sorts of nifty prizes. I realize we shouldn’t need extra motivation to get writers to…um… write, but I wanted this Blogfest to standout. In that same vein I’m hoping to encourage participation from some of us bloggers who tend to avoid posting work on-line.

So, what am I after with this Blogfest? Drama. The word is Greek meaning "action", which is derived from "to do". Though its more common usage speaks to a specific mode of fiction represented in performances, it has also come to refer to a specific genre of fiction (neither comedy nor tragedy) involving a serious mood and conflict. That’s all just literary speak meaning drama simply covers a wide spectrum of contention, action crisis and atmosphere designed to amp up the stakes in our stories. It is an element of writing that transcends genre, so everybody can contribute. I’m looking for a sample of your work that demonstrates those qualities.


High Drama Blogfest/Giveaway!
When: Saturday, August 7th.


That leaves you about a month to either fix up the appropriate sample of an existing piece of work, or create something unique. Write the date on your calendars! The only guideline is that you keep your post to 500 words or less. *Update - I've relaxed this restriction as it seems that good drama is hard to squeeze into such a small box, but please try to keep your submissions under a 1000 words so our readers can visit all of the entries.*

At the bottom of the page is the famous Mr. Linky. Please sign up! Spread the word! I hope you'll participate.

But like I said, there are gifts that go along with this Blogfest. Being a mystery/suspense writer, I’ve been able to obtain three excellent books from three outstanding novelists to offer as prizes. Just look and see.

Michelle Gagnon is the best-selling author of The Gatekeeper as well as two other gripping novels. She is a former modern dancer, dog walker, bartender, freelance journalist, personal trainer, model, and Russian supper club performer. To the delight of her parents, she gave up all these occupations for an infinitely more stable and lucrative career as a crime fiction writer. Michelle also contributes regularly to the The Kill Zone blog, the musings of 7 top thriller and mystery authors covering a wide spectrum of topics.


Rys Bowen's mysteries have been nominated for every major mystery award, including the Edgar for best novel, and she has won nine of them. She currently writes the Molly Murphy Mysteries, set in turn-of-the-century New York City and featuring a feisty Irish immigrant woman. Her book, In a Gilded Cage, Molly becomes involved in a suffragists' march which brings her into the high society world of Vassar graduates and leads to her being hired for two cases: to discover a young woman's true identity and to check on a wandering husband. When one of these young women dies, supposedly of influenza, Molly is again caught up in a murder investigation. Rhys has recently started her own solo blog: Rhys's Pieces. Check out her news and musings, some funny, some thought-provoking.

In addition to writing novels and short stories, Kelli Stanley likes fedoras, classic films (particularly film noir), Golden Age comic books and listening to cool jazz and big band swing. She is also an award winning writer of crime fiction who makes her home in Dashiell Hammett’s San Francisco. She loves to hear from readers, so drop her a line. Her latest book, City of Dragons, is a sprawling, visceral novel of San Francisco in 1940, a world of race wars and class wars, a world in which sexual threat is as casual as a five-cent cigar.

Each respective author has personally signed their novel and I can’t express how hard it will be to let go of them, but let go I will…to three lucky winners. But wait, that’s just in group A. Group B contains three $15 gift cards. One from Barnes & Noble, another from Amazon, and the final from Borders. Six prizes in all! Good golly Miss Molly!! Oops...sorry Rhys.  :)

Everyone who takes part in my Blogfest (actually posts a story) will receive two points if your a follower and one point if not. If you put a blurb about it in your sidebar, you’ll receive another point. If you tweet about it (make sure to use @dl_h) you’ll receive another point for each separate day you tweet (up to a maximum of five tweets), and if you a post a blog entry exclusively about the High Drama Blogfest/Giveaway…you’ll receive a whopping five points. That’s a grand total of 13 possible points to place into the virtual hat. On August 8th I’ll draw six numbers (three from Group A, and three from Group B) using a random number generator. If you forget to post your entry on August 7th, all points are forfeited.

Come on, show off your writing chops with some high drama. It will be a blast!!!

71 comments

  1. Sounds awesome!

    Will be sure to enter.

    All the best with the blogfest.

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  2. Sounds like a fantastic blogfest:)

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  3. i think i can be persuaded to participate in this blogfest. let me look through some of my work first...

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  4. Hmmmm... I'm debating it. The only kind of drama I write any more though is for children's books and it's just not quite the same...

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  5. Oh POO! I have my parents coming into town today and have nothing prepared and wont be preparing anything for the next two weeks except a couple of "adventures with my folks" blogs. Enjoy the fest, sounds awesome!

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  6. Added to my blogfest list
    http://blog.dawnsrise.com/p/upcoming-blogfests.html

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  7. Awesome blogfest!! I already have just the scene picked out...or maybe that one...or that one...hmm....

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  8. Well, i dont write stories. I write only poetry. Can i participate ?

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  9. Looks like fun! I'm sure I can find an appropriate scene in my WIP to post.

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  10. Count me in! I just linked up and am now circling 8/7 in bright red on my calendar. Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with...

    Also, it will be interesting because Ducks has kind of become my random, humor musings. My readers haven't seen anything fiction-related of mine yet.

    Great idea, DL! :)

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  11. Also put a link in my sidebar. :D

    Verification word:

    yesses

    As in, yesses my preciousss, I will do your blogfest.

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  12. Awesome idea DL. I haven't done any of the blogfests - time is always an issue in my life - but I'll see if I can cook something up! :)

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  13. Not sure I'll have something ready, but I'll announce it in my sidebar.

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  14. I'm in! Drama and me are old friends. ;-D

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  15. What a great idea! If I don't have something ready to contribute, I'm still going to link to it on my blog.

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  16. What a great idea for a blog-fest. And great prizes! Good luck with it!

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  17. You're so cool (with your backwards baseball cap) for doing this. What a great idea!

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  18. That sounds fun, sir! I'll look through my stuff and see if I'm up to par. :)

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  19. All of those books sound super awesome, almost as much as your Blogfest! Drama is definitely my thing so I'll get to lookin' for a suitable entry sometime next week... I'll also give you a little side-blog linkage on my blog and I'll do a post on this Blogfest too. ; }

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  20. Rayna ~ I'm looking forward to reading your entry!!

    Erica ~ Double POO! Hey, adventures with the folks can sometimes be drama filled. :P

    j.m. ~ I'm with you. It's gonna be awesome!!

    Kelly ~ You can churn out 500 words in the bat of the eyelash, surely you can write something dramatic for us. :)

    Lydia ~ *Grin*

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  21. thanks for the heads up. Lemme see if I have a worthy piece...or one that can be fluffed and buffed appropriately.

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  22. DL, it sounds like a lot of fun...I'll have to be a lurker on this one. I'm going to visit my writing bud Susan Fields that week and I'll be driving back on the 6th. So I'll have to hop around and read everyone's posts...after the 6 hour drive.

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  23. Sounds like a great blogfest with some fantastic prizes! I'm definitely tempted - I'll have to look around and see if I have anything "high drama" I'm comfortable posting. I'll definitely mention this is next Wednesday's "news" post, though.

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  24. Great idea! I'm going to post this on my blog as well as talk it up at my writing groups. I hope you get a great turnout for your blogfest!

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  25. Dude, this is totally up my alley, but I'm currently so frazzled with work, I don't want to sign up until I know I can do it. But a superb blogfest idea, guy.

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  26. Ooo, ooo, ooo. I just might be able to do this one. I just finished a flash fiction piece that fits the bill (even in word count). I just need to proof it. I won't add my name until it's a done deal, but I've learned I forget so I'm adding a link on my blog.

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  27. Thanks for commenting on my interview over at Jen's blog!

    This could be a good one. I'm also one of those people who has a hard time posting things online. But I'll see if I can't find something for this one!

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  28. WOW! I'm going to pass the word on about this!

    Have fun all!

    Hugs
    Hawk

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  29. And I have something for you on my blog BTW. ;-D

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  30. I will be there. Unless the ghosts get me. Life as a fantasy writer is never dull!

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  31. What a fantastic idea! I can't wait to read all of the entries.

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  32. Sounds awesome DL! I'd join in but I'm awful at blogfests! However I'm all about plugging them so I'll be sure to put a sidebar to share about all the fun you'll be having over here on August 7th!!

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  33. Yikes, no pressure, right? Sounds like a fun blogfest!

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  34. I don't have much confidence I can stay under 500 words, but I'll give it a shot!

    Sounds like a good time regardless!

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  35. Sounds cool. Admittedly, I don't know if I'm one for all the drama even in my writing, but I'm excited to see some other people's posts.

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  36. I'm in. I'm becoming a follower and putting a link in my sidebar right now. Thanks for hosting!

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  37. Cool. This will be so much fun - er, so dramatic. I have loads of those type scenes.

    Thanks DL.

    ......dhole

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  38. Hi,

    Thanks for hosting "High Drama Blogfest" - couldn't resist this one!

    Can think of several potential snips for this but might go the explosive route!

    best
    F

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  39. Damn . . .

    Meant to say: I did a piece on my blog "Getting Down and Dirty with blogfesting" in ref to people afraid to post snippets from WIPs etc.

    I posted up a lit agents viewpoint on such - aspiring writers' fears and plagiarism!!

    http://tgunwriter.blogspot.com/2010/07/blogfests-should-one-participate.html#comments

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  40. If you put all my linky stuff in for me (ya know, the techie stuff) I'll do this contest for you. You know I NEVER put up my writing on blogs. But, for you, I'll whip something up. IF you do all the entry linky stuff

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  41. Julie ~ There is no pressure...just a chance to highlight some dramatic writing. It'll be a blast.

    JP ~ Okay, for you I'll extend it to 501. :)

    Mesmerix ~ That's awesome! I'm looking forward to reading your work. :)

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  42. I don't want to enter for prizes but I still wanna play along! :)

    Will link to it now.

    bru

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  43. I've decided to take the plunge. The collector told me it would be worth my while... so high drama is coming her way :)

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  44. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  45. Sorry I'm so late to the party, DL. I've been blogosphere AWOL for a while. Thanks for sticking with me and commenting on my blog, despite my failure to reciprocate. You are awesome, and so is your blogfest! :-)

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  46. FYI: Adding a blog entry about your fest today in addition to the sidebar/follower stuff. Looking forward to this!

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  47. Ok I've signed up. Will be great. I'll tweet it and put your button in my sidebar for the week. Natch I'm a follower..:)

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  48. 500 words, hmm could be a challenge, usually my shorts run 1000 or less, well then this is drama, and not my normal writing, but what the hey I'll give it a try.

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  49. L'Aussie ~ That's great!!! This week is going to drag forever before we get to Saturday!! :)

    Summer ~ I'm not one to follow the rules very closely, so if you have to stretch the word count a bit...go for it!! :)

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  50. I usually go for the joke. I'm giving this a shot. Hi, drama.

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  51. I think I've finally come up with something to enter. Thanks for the chance!

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  52. Sorry brother, wasn't able to come up with a story or poetry. But i had a rather dramatic article with me and i thought its appropriate to post in this. Its so late, but am joining in as well.

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  53. O.k. I entered. It's drama, but also funny (hey--I'm a humor writer, we hide our pain ;-)) Thanks for the fun antics!!

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  54. I've signed up, posted the blurb & badge on my blog, scheduled my post, followed your blog, and shall now go tweet.

    Now--my question. Did you used to be on WritersCafe? Your name is VERY familiar!!!!

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  55. I'm signed up!!!!! There's always drama in my stories...so it shouldn't be hard to find a scene for this!!

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  56. Where's the linky??? Am I blind? HELP!!!

    ~JD

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  57. I posted in my sidebar ages ago, but I've finally drummed up the nerve to sign up. Better late than never, right? Looking forward to the entries :)

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  58. Ok, signing up, though I haven't yet figured out what scene to use...

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  59. Okay..this one will be interesting for me...drama, huh?

    I will give it a go! ;o)

    Visit My Kingdom Anytime

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  60. ok, this is the first ever blogfest that i'm partaking in... looks like fun!

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  61. Of course you change the word limit after I find something that fits w/in the 500 guideline. lol

    Looking forward to reading everyone's entries.

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  62. Ignore my first link. For some reason Mr. Linky brings up an old blog when I blindly select what is already filled in for me. :(

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  63. I have posted a flash piece, which just came as I blogged.

    The drama is not the swashbuckling, sword-throwing kind, but I hope people like it.

    Thank you so much for hosting this fest. Am off to read the other entries!

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  64. This was a great first experience for me in blogging! Fun and awesome at the same time.

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  65. I was told my link didn't work. May explain why I haven't had too many readers. Bit late, but I'm hoping I'll get a few now..:)

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