The time has come once again, my friends, to announce the theme of this year’s fairy tale retelling contest hosted by Rooglewood Press, and I couldn’t be more excited! The previous three contests have inspired such creativity and talent as writers rise to the challenge of spinning beloved fairy tales into reimagined stories of beauty, pain, humor, and wonder.
And there’s much to inspire us again this year. Because the theme of Rooglewood’s fourth and final fairy tale collection is . . .
hold your breath
wait for it
scroll down
ignore the fact that you read the title already
keep going
bet you haven’t guessed . . .
Snow White!
That’s right! With the beautiful title of Five Poisoned Apples, and the even MORE gorgeous cover, I can already tell this final contest is going to be incredible. It seems that each collection somehow manages to top the one before–and let me tell you, the ones before have been pretty amazing! (Five Magic Spindles is sitting unread on my shelf, but shush, it is on my summer TBR list.)
You can find the full contest details and rules right HERE, including the deadline of December 31, 2017.
The cover model must be super talented, because not only does she grace the cover, she’s the photographer as well. You can find Wynter Clark’s website HERE. And last, but certainly not least, the cover design was once again done by Julia Popova, whom you can find HERE.
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Let me tell you a little bit about my experience with these contests. If you’ve been around Adventure Awaits for a while, you may know most of this already, but bear with me.
Back in early winter 2013, I read Anne Elisabeth Stengl’s Heartless and fell completely in love. Wanting more, I looked her up and discovered her blog, where I found out she was hosting the Five Glass Slippers contest. The deadline was a month away, but I hastily whipped up an entry anyway. My novella, The Glass Girl, was far from perfect, but I’d had a lot of fun reworking a fairy tale for the first time.
So when June 2014 rolled around, I pounced on Five Enchanted Roses and wrote Blood Rose, a contemporary fantasy-ish thing with a dash of medical science (gosh, was that part ever hard) and angst. Again, it was a boatload of fun! Having the full half a year to work on my entry this time, I got the chance to connect with other hopeful young writers entering the contest, and through that, I made some wonderful friends.
Then in June 2015, when Five Magic Spindles was announced, I dove right in once more. I’d already discovered some important things about myself as a writer, and about the nature of retellings, through the previous contests, but writing The Brightest Thread brought a whole new set of challenges–not to mention a whole new beautiful experience.
Now, after a one year hiatus thanks to the arrival of Anne Elisabeth Stengl’s precious baby girl, Rooglewood Press is holding Five Poisoned Apples. I anticipate another adventure, my friends: this one centered around the iconic Snow White herself!
I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and get started (once I finish some pressing work on TBT first).
And if you’ve got some time and even just one creative bone in your body, I would highly recommend joining me! Seriously, you guys. This contest gives you the chance to submit your work, and not just a short story or piece of poetry like most places accept, but a full NOVELLA. Some entrants even get professional feedback from the judges at the end, which is invaluable. Along the way, you can connect with a community of other writers, bounce ideas off each other, and support each other. And who knows? YOUR name might wind up on that jaw-dropping cover. If it does, you’ll also get the chance to work alongside the Rooglewood staff to refine your manuscript until it gleams.
I'm so excited! I already have my idea and I'm ready to roll with it this June! It's going to be AWESOME!
And she said on the Facebook group that this year every contestant will receive feedback. *squeals* SO EXCITED!!!!!!!
Me too! Except for the having an idea part. XD What genre are you going with?
Really? YAYNESS!!! (I'm not on Facebook, so I can't view the group page. 🙁 If there's anything important there, and you happen to remember, let me know. ^_^)
I'm so excited! These contests always bring on a flurry of excitement. I just love it! Except…I don't thiiink I'll be entering. Though your last paragraph nearly made me do it anyway. Shame on you for tempting me! 😛 It is always so fun. But I have so much going on right now, and I've never been very inspired by Snow White. I have retelling ideas for basically every single fairytale I've ever been exposed to…except Snow White. I don't know why that one doesn't inspire me.
BUT. I cannot waaaaaait to see what ideas other people come up with. I just know there are going to be fascinating tales with this one.
AND YOU'RE GOING TO WRITE ONE??? I was wondering if you were or not. MEEP. Another gorgeous Tracey fairytale is coming into the world!!! *DANCES* YOU MUST TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT SOMETIME.
Also, I just realized it's because of these contests that you and I are so close. We REALLY started to get to know each other and became friends while we beta-read each other's Five Enchanted Roses entries. So much good has come from these contests! ^_^
Oh, you're so right! I love the buzz it creates amongst the blogging/writing community! Aww, that's too bad. But I totally understand! You'll be busy editing Burning Thorns, and if Snow White doesn't particularly inspire you, then it's better to focus on BT. Whether you do decide to enter the contest or not, I'm standing behind you! <3
I'm really curious to see what people do with it too. I mean, there's a potential for character overload with so many dwarves in one tiny novella. But there are also many iconic fairytale elements, AND a number of loopholes to fill in. (Like why the ham and eggs does a prince want a random "dead" girl displayed in his castle?? Just because she's pretty?)
I would really like to enter, yes! But TBT comes first, because that's the most pressing deadline. So if I can get that done in time for Realm Makers, then depending on how pitching and whatnot goes, I'm going to enter the contest too. But I have ZERO ideas so far! When I do think of something, I'll be sure to let ya know. 😉
Isn't it awesome? I was thinking the same thing! 😀 All the Burning Thorns/Blood Rose memories… <333
It sounds like a cool contest, but I just started a new novel idea, and I want to actually finish one one of these days. Best of luck to you!
Well, all the best with your new novel, then! And thanks! Even if you're not entering, you should check out some of the published anthologies. They've got great variety, so there's sure to be at least one story you'd enjoy reading.
I can't get over the cover! I have no ideas, and Snow White has always been a tough one for me. I am so excited to get started! So glad your joining too!
IT IS GORGEOUS. It's just about tied with Five Magic Spindles for my favorite cover, I think!
Haha, I don't have ideas yet either. It'll be a challenge to do something new with the enchanted sleep aspect after retelling Sleeping Beauty, but I'm sure we'll both come up with stellar ideas. 😉
IT'S SO GORGEOUS. I'M SO EXCITED. *drools* ❤.❤
~Liv
http://livkfisher.blogspot.com/2017/06/five-poisoned-apples-creative-writing.html
So lovely! 😀 Are you planning to enter?
Lord willing! I have a fantasy idea I've been mulling over for a few months, so I'll probably try my hand at it. 🙂
Sounds fantastic! I'm a wee bit partial to fantasy myself. ;D
Hm, it sparks some ideas- but I doubt I'll have time. It's a shame this'll be the last, it was always exciting to see these collections come out!
Aww, too bad! If it's a really great idea, maybe you can save it and write it just for fun at a later date. 🙂 I'm sad it's the last contest too… A long time ago, there had been talk about another set of similar contests that wouldn't be fairytale based, but I kind of doubt that's still going to happen.