Welcome to the 2024 Bitesize Competition - Week 9 & 10

Topic(s): Write a piece designed to evoke emotion

IMPORTANT NOTE:
When submitting, write what emotion that you are trying to evoke.

Evoking Emotion:
This exercise is another creative writing class staple, and for good reason. After all, the point of most fiction is to evoke emotion, but that can sometimes get forgotten in the process of getting the plot from a to b. It’s worth practising writing to evoke emotion for the simple reason that if your reader is feeling something – whether that’s fear, amusement, sympathy, tension or excitement – they’re unlikely to be getting bored. Sometimes, amateur writers focus excessively on crafting beautiful prose for the reader to admire – but if you’re sitting back and looking at how elegant the writing style is, you’re unlikely to be fully immersed in the story. Focusing on the emotional impact of your writing can bring the effect it has on the reader back to the fore.

You can pick almost any emotion that writing might evoke for this, though if you’d like to test how well you’ve succeeded, picking an emotion that’s more obvious – like amusement – can work better when you give your work to a reader. Try to evoke the emotion more by your style than by the content of your writing. You could even try writing the same outline of a scene twice over, but evoking different emotions each time – for instance, you could write a burglary scene first as frightening, then as funny.

Tips (https://www.wordtune.com/blog/12-ways-to-convey-emotion-in-your-writing)

1. Use active voice
2. Use sensory language
3. Incorporate similes, metaphors, and symbols
4. Add personal anecdotes
5. Opt for emotive adjectives
6. Replace adverb phrases with strong verbs
7. Use white space strategically
8. Vary your sentence structure
9. Strike the right tone
10. Incorporate humor
11. Tap into nostalgia
12. Use contrast
13. Go slow and be sparing

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Word count: Under 2000 words

Bitesize writing competitions will differ from our typical writing competitions. When we do bitesize writing competitions, each small prompt will have around five days for everyone to write a scene (or even just a sentence). During the weekend, we will compare and review each others entries. If you have no interest in even wanting to write, don't vote.

Deadline: Saturday, November 30th at 11:59pm (23:59) PST​

Send your scenes/sentences to @Lindsey once you're done. You can have up to TWO entries. On the day they are due, I will post all the entries in a single post. During the weekend, we can discuss each others entries and how to improve them.

Voting Rules
We will not have official voting like normal competitions. Instead we will have a discussion on how to improve the scenes. If you wish, you can pick your favorite entry.

Got an idea for a future prompt? Put it in this thread!