The winning ingredients: plot

Number of entries received for the 2007 InnermoonLit Award for Best Short-Short Story to date: 115

Some literary theorists have said all stories can be boiled down to one of two basic plots: Romeo and Juliet or David and Goliath. That tends to make the search to create plot seem deceptively simple. If you’ve ever written fiction, you know how difficult it can be to come up with a plot that is surprising yet feels inevitable, that is both unique and satisfying for the reader.

Plot is the driving force behind fiction, after all; it’s what makes a story a story. Our need for story is a primeval one, dating back to preliterate times when our ancestors gathered around fires asking, “And then what happened?”

I will admit that, for the short-short story contest, Brian and I prefer stories that are complete, with beginnings, middles, and endings, over the slice-of-life Carveresque pieces that leave us flipping the page over, wondering whether the last paragraph got cut off. For the best first chapter contest, we look for plot potential, whether a conflict has been established that’s interesting and complex enough to carry the reader through.