Odd Thomas: Long time no update. “In Odd We Trust” was finished last month, and well on its journey through production. The release date is mid-July 2008, 2 weeks before the San Diego Comic-Con, where Dean Koontz will be special guest. I also will be attending. More on that as the shelf date approaches.
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Hopefully most people know, but here’s a reminder for “The Dreaming” Writing Competition:
The Rising Stars of Prose Competition
It’s a writing competition based on the characters and universe of “The Dreaming” manga. TOKYOPOP is running the competition from: 1st February, 2008 ~ 15th April, 2008. Visit their website for the Official rules, Submission Guidelines, and also the entry form.
Buy vol1, vol2 and vol3 off Amazon.
What is this competition about?
If the “Rising Stars of Manga” competition was to discover new manga talent, then the “Rising Stars of Prose” competition serves the same purpose. Part of the reason for running this contest is to (hopefully) find some great prose writers who can adapt certain TOKYOPOP manga into novel form. If you have any interest in becoming a professional writer of fiction, this sort of thing may be one of the ways to get your foot in the door and get noticed.
What are the Prizes?
The winner gets $500 cash, and a chance to be considered for the novelisation of “The Dreaming” and other TOKYOPOP works (depends on the quality of the winning entry). Other runners-up will get a free copy of “Tarot Cafe”, and also a piece of original “The Dreaming” art. There are 10 pieces of these original art to give away. I never sell my original art, so these will be the only copies out there. Perhaps it’ll be worth alot someday! *laughs*
Why does it use “The Dreaming”?
What, you mean apart from the fact that it’s a good story? Well, it’s also to give the fans of the series a chance to flex their creative writing muscles. “The Dreaming” is a good series to base a writing competition on – it has a definate beginning and end, the timeframe of the story stretches over 70 years, and it’s a self-contained universe with its own mythology.
Most of all, it gives an equal platform for all the prose entries to be judged by. This is because a prose competition differs from a manga one. You can ask people to submit 20-page manga stories on anything and judge them somewhat fairly against each other, but such a thing would be impossible to do for a prose contest. A manga is judged on art and panelling as well as writing, whereas prose is judged purely by the writing. How can you ask people to write short stories about anything, and then judge them against each other? The entries would be too diverse for it to be possible. You need some kind of measuring yardstick.
Does it have to be a horror story like “The Dreaming”? What does “based on the universe of ‘The Dreaming'” mean?
I don’t think the competition rules mention anything about your story having to belong in any genre. If I’m wrong, please correct me. Your entry has to encompass something from “The Dreaming” universe, be it the characters, mythology or anything else – much like writing fanfiction – but that’s about it. As a final judge, I would much rather look for good ideas, writing skills, characterisations and story structure rather than whether it’s a horror story or not. If horror’s not your forte, then don’t write horror.
Not contradicting the “canon” (ie. the events that occur in “The Dreaming” manga) is also extremely important – it proves that you have absorbed the story properly and can write within a defined set of rules. That’s necessary if you’re asked to adapt a manga into prose form – otherwise, it’ll be like adapting Harry Potter into a movie and getting the characters names/histories wrong. No one wants that.
Is this competition open to international contestants?
Sorry. I pushed hard for this, but I’m afraid the complexities of running an international competition is just too great. All those different rules and regulations will make it seem like running parallel competitions, so I’m afraid this contest is restricted to American residents only, much like RSOM.