Monday, June 1, 2015

3rd Rooglewood Press Creative Writing Contest

Dear Imps and Authors and Aspiring Novelists . . . the time has come! The time to reveal the cover and story for our 3rd creative writing contest. Get ready for the writing event of the year! I give to you:

FIVE MAGIC SPINDLES
A Collection of "Sleeping Beauty" Stories

The challenge is to write a retelling of this ancient fairy tale in any genre or setting you like. Make certain your story is recognizably “Sleeping Beauty,” but have fun with it as well. Make it yours!

Rooglewood Press will be selecting five winners to be published in the Five Magic Spindles collection, which will be packaged up with the phenomenal cover you see here. Maybe your name will be one of the five listed?

All the contest rules and information (how to enter, story details, deadline etc.) may be found on the Rooglewood Press website. Just click HERE and you will go right to the page. Rooglewood Press’s first collection, Five Glass Slippers is available for purchase, and our second collection, Five Enchanted Roses is scheduled to launch on July 27 and is available for pre-order. Be certain to get a copy of each and see what previous winners did with their wonderful retellings.

You can tell others about this writing opportunity by sharing the blog button on your blog or even posting it on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. Just be sure to include the link to the rules page!

Cover artist Julia Popova has once again outdone herself in creating the cover image for this project. I could spend hours gazing at the golden scene she has depicted. And don't you love seeing Sleeping Beauty with red hair? Be certain to look up Julia on her website and like her on Facebook!

So what do you think? Are you ready for this new challenge? I personally feel that the tale of Sleeping Beauty is full of wonderful concepts ready to be turned into all sorts of original spins! This old fairy tale is possibly less well-known than Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast . . .  but if anything this might make it easier to retell. I am so eager and interested to see what all of you come up with.

If you have any questions not covered in the clarifications section of the rules page, feel free to write to info@rooglewoodpress.com. The Rooglewood Press team will be happy to further clarify things for you.

You will notice that this year we have specifically asked that you not retell this fairy tale based on the Disney version. This is because last year we saw so many stories based on Disney and not enough indication that writers were referencing the older tales. Keep in mind that the Disney versions of these tales are themselves retellings, and relatively recent retellings at that. But the older versions have so many interesting concepts, and we really want to see you writers familiarizing yourselves with those stories as you come up with your own ideas.

Other than that, our rules are pretty much the same! I will be watching for your submission forms. And be certain to subscribe to the Rooglewood Press Newsletter to get more fun articles and information about Five Magic Spindles, not to mention features of previous contest winners.

Big thank you to all of these lovely bloggers who have helped me spread the word about this contest:

Emily at Entirely Bonkers
Jaye at Jaye L. Knight
Miss Melody Muffin at The Splendor Falls on Castle Walls
Rebekah at Backing Books
Beka at The Other World
Shantelle at A Writer’s Heart
Ghost Ryter at Anything and Everything
Merenwen at Shattered Fractals
Christine at Musings of an Elf
Athelas at Red Lettering
Jenelle at Jenelle Schmidt
FaithSong at Story of Fire
Rebecca at A Curious Thrill
Heather at Tethered Together
Jennette and J.L.Mebewe.com
Kaycee at The Pink Cave
Hayden at The Story Girl
Morgan at MorganBusse.com
Stephanie at Quoth the Girl
Dorian at Dorian Writes
Dominique at Genuine Withdrawal
Emily Rachelle at Emily Rachelle Writes
Olivia at A Sapphire Chamber
Melanie at Mel’s Shelves
Rachel at Bookworm
Emily Ann at Taking Dictation
Tracey at Adventure Awaits

15 comments:

Kendra E. Ardnek said...

You can't imagine how excited I am about Sleeping Beauty being this year's contest - because that's MY fairy tale. I don't know why, but it INSPIRES me (my first published book began as a Sleeping Beauty retelling, so yeah). It was my first guess, now that you had Cinderella and B&B out of the way. I've already plunged into my retelling and it's going to be brilliant.

And THANK-YOU for declaring Disney to NOT be the official. I hate it when people do that. I don't mind a slight reference, personally, like Cinderella being accused of talking to mice, but if that's your sole inspiration I'm probably going to hurl your book across the room and stop reading. Although I am taking some inspiration from the ballet. Mostly because the White Cat and Puss in Boots are in the ballet and ... they're two of my favorite other tales and it just works for the story to have them show up at some point. (I may toss in an appearance from the Bluebird, but haven't figured that one out yet.)

Happy, happy dance - now I need to go get ready for work.

Unknown said...

Aaaaaah! The idea are stewing and simmering. This is so exciting!

Joy said...

This is so exciting!! I literally squealed when I saw the email. I love the cover and the ideas and everything! Sleeping Beauty is one of my favorite fairy tales and I can't wait to get started. Thank you so much for hosting this contest Anne Elisabeth!! Good luck everyone!

Becky said...

Ms. Popova's cover design is gorgeous! I love the golden autumnal glow.

Meredith said...

Oh, what magnificent fun! I'm so excited to start brainstorming and to refamiliarize myself with the old versions of this wonderful tale. As always, thank you so very much for these opportunities and challenges. Best luck to all the writers. God bless.

Rebecca said...

Yay! I was hoping to goodness that this year's fairy tale would be Sleeping Beauty! I'm very much excited to get started on my story and to see what everyone else comes up with. :)

Anonymous said...

Yay! I am so excited for this contest! The cover is absolutely gorgeous and the original fairytale itself offers up a framework with so many different variations to explore. While the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty and pretty much all Disney movies in general are near and dear to my heart, I understand why you might not want contestants to base their retellings off of stories that are already retellings. I can't wait to further flesh out the faint threads of ideas that are already forming in my mind!

Unknown said...

Yay! I will enter this year! It will be so fun! The cover is amazing!

Emily Chapman said...

I've had a Sleeping Beauty idea in my head for about a year and a half now, so this was certainly an exciting reveal for me! Right now, it depends on whether time will allow it, but I hope to enter this contest at last. ^.^ And the cover is simply stunning.

Rachel said...

It is a beautiful cover. I will be working on a story. Can't wait to find out who wins even though that is about a year away.

E.F.B. said...

Wow. I thought the cover of Five Enchanted Roses was pretty, but this one is GORGEOUS!!! I loooooooove Julia Popova's work! <3 <3

The writing contest. Oh, how I wish I had an idea, and if I had an idea, I wish I knew how to write it in six months or less. I've been an amateur writer for about a year and a half now, but I've yet to finish any stories. I'm also not very familiar with the idea of fairytale retellings outside of Disney. But who knows? I doubt I'll enter the contest, but I might tinker around with doing a retelling of my own just for the sake of writing practice. Couldn't hurt to try, anyway.

Christine Smith said...

Sleeping Beauty is the perfect choice! I'm so looking forward to this year's contest. I think Sleeping Beauty has so much potential for some beautiful, interesting ideas and I can't wait to see what comes from it.

And goodness me, that cover! I can't stop staring at it. It's inspiration itself.

I'm so grateful to you and the Rooglewood Press team for putting these together. They're such great opportunities for aspiring writers.

Good luck to everyone entering this year! I think it's going to be great! ^_^

Esther Brooksmith (wisdomcreates) said...

E.F.B., that's one reason why I love contests. It helps me to practice starting, writing, and finishing a story. Even if I don't win, it's worth it because my writing improves so much each time. I hope you have fun with this one!

Hannah C. said...

This is so exciting!! These contests really give us all time to grow and adapt as writers, especially working with a limit and theme. I think it's really challenging but really fun at the same time, and I am so excited to see what everyone else has brewing in their minds! Good luck to everyone, and I can't wait to read this book when it comes out! And that cover is BEAUTIFUL!

E.F.B. said...

Thanks, wisomcreates. :)