Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Advice for Weekly Quickie Contestants...(and anyone else.)

Advice for Weekly Quickie Contestants…(and anyone else.)

1. Read the prompt but don’t let it put a fence around imagination….even if it gets you disqualified. There’s lots of fresh air outside the box.

2. Write an entry that in the first cut runs about 1700 words. (About twice the number required.)

3. When you finish go back and strip out every form of modifier whether it be word, phrase, clause or whatever….if it modifies get rid of it. Take a good look at the remaining nouns and verbs and see if in these now unadorned sentences you have picked the best possible ones....words that say exactly what you mean. Then run a word count. Say you are down to 1200 words.

4. Next get rid of everything word, sentence or paragraph that does not move the story along. Say you are down to 900 words.

5. Now prioritize the sentences and try to consolidate and see if you can’t eliminate the bottom ten percent. Say now you are down to 600 words.

6. Now begin adding in a sprinkling of modifiers that have a telling effect.

7. Now you are at 700.

8. Finally beef up the erotica and use the remaining words to give the sensual prose some punch.