In marketing I was taught that successful products are generally created by going in the opposite direction of the competition.

Given the current vampire and Twilight hype I wonder if an author can write a unique vampire story right now. Personally I think an author could pull it off but it would be hard because of this environment. It pains me to say this because I started my love affair with vampires when I did a report on Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as the inspiration for Count Dracula, in sixth grade. But right now vampires have been done to death. Let the dead sleep for a while so they can emerge into freshness in a few years.

Getting published is hard. Give yourself a better chance by going after a fresh angle. Instead of the blood sucking spawn of Satan write about a holy life giving priest. If you absolutely have to write about vampires do it metaphorically by writing about attorneys.

You will never get anywhere by copying the pages of someone else. Instead write about what make you unique.

Jacob

“The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn’t behave that way you would never do anything.” - John Irving

Quantity rarely produces quality in life. However, writers have to write a lot to produce quality. Your writing will be doomed if you only write a few things. You can’t craft the perfect story, poem, or book one word at a time. You have to write a rough draft of the whole thing, and then rewrite it, and then rewrite it again.

Michelangelo turned a rough stone into master piece by chiseling the rough parts off. Find your stone by writing a rough draft, and then keep rewriting it until you have transformed it into your masterpiece.

Jacob

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” - Anton Chekhov

Showing sets a virtual movie camera onto the scene. You as the writer then record in words exactly what it sees. Best of all, this “camera” can record not only sight but all five senses.

Writing “the house was creepy” is telly. It doesn’t reflect anything the mental camera recorded—it’s an interpretation all by itself.

Use physical details that express how creepy the house is. The shingles are askew and the windows smashed, with pointed shards still clinging to some panes. Cobwebs drape across the porch. Add sounds and smells that send a chill up the reader’s back.

Telling is fine for armatures, but when you need to capture your readers attention use similes, metaphors, and vivid imagery to paint a picture.

Jacob

I have recently received several emails asking about the 12 hour time limit. I have apparently caused some confusion about how long you have to perform each peer critique.

When you submit your work for critique you are assigned to perform a number of reviews. Once you click “start reviewing” you have 12 hours to complete that assigned review. If you do not complete that review within 12 hours the assignment will expire and you will be given something new to critique the next time you click start reviewing.

We do not care if you let an assigned review expire. We know you are busy and sometimes can’t stomach reviewing a piece written in all CAPS. You will not be penalized for letting an assignment expire. You can do one review an hour, day, week, month, or year. Set your own pace and enjoy the peer critique process.

Jacob

You can get a free premium access to the Review Fuse writing group by participating in the Annual Review Fuse Review. If you already have a premium membership you can extend it by participating.

Prior to entering you must have submitted at least two works for critique and completed all of your assigned reviews.

What you do

Write a critique of Review Fuse on your blog. The critique should include

• What you like about Review Fuse.
• What you think Review Fuse needs to improve.
• A link to Review Fuse http://www.reviewfuse.com/

When you are done submit the link to your Review Fuse Review via our contact us page or attach it as a comment to this posting.

What we do

We will rate each critique of Review Fuse the same way you rate the critiques you receive. We will rate your critique of Review Fuse based on how helpful, constructive, detailed, insightful and easy to understand your critique is on a 1-5 scale.

What you get

You will award free premium access based on the critique rating we give you.

• Rating of 1-2 – 1 week of free premium access
• Rating of 2-3 – 2 weeks of free premium access
• Rating of 3-4 – 4 weeks of free premium access
• Rating of 4-5 – 6 weeks of free premium access
• Perfect 5 – 8 weeks of free premium access

We will email you after we have read your review to let you know what you have won.

This offer expires on November 1, 2009.

Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very;” your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. - Mark Twain

I used to think that words like “really” and “very” made my writing forceful. I realized how wrong I was when my boss started using the word “deeply” to describe everything. Everything was so “deeply” important or “deeply” urgent that “deeply” lost its meaning. Telling doesn’t improve your writing. It only gets in the way.

Learn more about how to show-not-tell by visiting our online writing lessons.

Jacob

The Whippoorwill by Laurie Paulsen (Review Fuse user lauriemariepea) has been selected as the winner of the July 2009 Flash Fiction contest. We will not be able to post Laurie’s story at this time because she is currently trying to have it published.

Second place is Mamayev Kurgan by MikeCanary and third place is Gramps’ Record Player by mpacks.

We enjoyed reading the entries and thank everyone who participated.

*See all of our writing contests

*See all of our writing contests

Purpose: Have fun, enjoy the competition, and become a better author by participating in the peer critique process portion of this contest.

Who Can Enter: This contest is open to all authors. All submissions must be posted and assigned critiques completed by October 31, 2009. Stories must be 3000 words or fewer. You may post additional stories to this site for critique, but only one story  will be eligible for the contest.

Subject Matter: You choose. Please adhere to our content policy.

Prizes: The winner of this contest will receive $50.

How to Enter: It’s pretty easy

1. Create a free account or sign in for existing members.
2. Upload your story; make sure you select “Short Story Writing Contest” as the category.
3. Submit your work for peer critique.
4. Complete your assigned reviews, this is discussed more below.

Decisions: There will be 2 rounds of judging.

1. Authors from the Review Fuse staff will select the 3 best works for Round 2.
2. Of these 3 works selected, Review Fuse management will select the winning authors based on who gave the most detailed and well thought out critiques to their peer’s.

Entry Fee: There are no entry fees or purchases of any kind required to enter and win the contest. After you submit your work to the contest you will be required to complete assigned critiques of other authors (4 for free members and 2 for premium members). You will receive 3 critiques of your work in return. Those who do not complete their critiques will not be eligible to win the contest.

Rights: All stories remain the sole property of the author. After we have selected the winner we will seek permission from the author to publish the winning work on our blog. The author is under no obligation to allow this.

Notification: The prize winner will be notified by email on November 7, 2009. We will announce the prize winner on our blog on November 9, 2009.

Really I Can Do That? You can continue to work on and edit your story after it has been submitted. All entries will be frozen when the contest ends. We will judge the latest revision of your story. You only required to submit your story for critique once.

Writing should be concise. Writing should generate meaning with the fewest words possible.

In school I was often given a minimum number of words for an assignment. I added fluff to hit the minimum and ruined my writing.

It’s difficult yet effective to be concise. Do you have it in you?

Jacob

We are trying to decide if we should release a new homepage. Thus far our official testing has told us the two pages are equally effective. What do you love and hate about these pages? If you where our designer what would you add to or delete from these pages?

• Current homepage
• Possible new homepage

Thanks for your help,

Jacob