30 Cubed – 30 short stories, 30 characters, 30 days

For the last couple of years, I have participated in a variety of writing challenges to spur my creativity (and quietly drive my wife to distraction). My favorite three were 30 Short Stories in 30 Days or NaShoStoMo, NaNoWriMo, and the 30 Character Challenge. Since I haven’t seen any announcements (and I have a backlog of stories to complete) I thought I would combine two of my favorites together and get 30 cubed. 30 stories, 30 days, and create 30 new characters in those stories. I am hoping to have other people see my banners and join in for the fun. If you are interested, please let me know and we can collaborate, talk about the process, and share stories.

This contest only has two rules: Any story you write has a minimum of 200 words. Yes, that would be flash fiction, but since it was allowed in the past, we will just run with it. The second challenge is to have 30 stories at the end of the month. Some days will be harder to fill than others and that is okay. This is not meant to stress you, but to challenge your creativity, your willingness to go out on a limb with a story and trust to your ability to create. As far as characters are concerned, you can include a profile (a paragraph will do) at the end of the story discussing the protagonist (or antagonist, if they are more interesting). There is no genre limit but I will be writing science fiction, fantasy and horror as my main genres. You write whatever is moving you, of course.

At the end of the month, if you are able to complete the challenge, we will have some badges for you to put on your site showing your participation in the event. Have fun!

If you are web savvy, you can place one of these markers at the end of your postings. I will make a few other themes when I get a moment.