Wednesday 20 June 2007

The BC July Blast

We had a "blast" in July 2006 where most of the members went on a writing spree, flashes, stories, a few poems, and a greta effort to submit asap.

The productivity during blasts is amazing, and the quantity is not at the expense of quality. Hit rates RISE. There's something about the energy, the pressure, the community drive that seems to inspire everybody.

We will be posting a set of flash prompts Weekdays at

06:00
07:55
13:00
18:00
20:00
22:00

On the weekends we will post prompts at

08:00
11:00
14:00
17:00
20:00

Each of us will set himself a personal target for the month, word-coun, number of flashes, number of stories, subs.

We will tie up with a good-quality ezine : in the past this has been Eclectica Magazine and all flashes will get brief feedback in BC.

In the past these "blasts" have been joined by a few non-Boot Campers.

If you are interested post a comment here (they go via moderation)



alx

6 comments:

Vanessa Gebbie said...

Do you require participants to join in for the whole month?

If not, I'd love to do a bit of this... it'll keep the writing brain 'fresh'.

vanessa

The Boot Camp Diaries said...

Basically, yes.

It makes little sense to have a monthly blast with people 'dipping in". That kinda breaks the idea down.

If someone approached who was (say) going on holiday in the last week but wanted to do three weeks, that would be OK as while they are participating, they are 'full-on".

But the "point" is, rapid work, hard-work, re[eated work for a set time and to a schedule. IMO it makes little sense to have 90% of the participants running 31 miles with some fropping in for the occasional sprint.

Of course anyone can use the prompts and do their own thing.


Alex

Vanessa Gebbie said...

yup, OK, understood.

Hope it goes well.

vanessa

Barrie said...

Hi Alex. I'm interested in joining your July blast. Where can I get the details and more information?

Btw, congratulations, I heard you are to have a collection published shortly.

Best, Barrie

The Boot Camp Diaries said...

Hi Barrie

The details are in this thread, more or less

Flash prompts will be posted at the various times detailed and writers get 30-90 minutes (preferably under the hour) to write a flash. Fast produces better work.

It will all take place in a passworded area associated with Boot Camp. Stories will go through a secretary so they are all anonymous.

There's no serious critiquing but all flashes will get 2-10 comments, a BC Grid mark

Eclecitca Magazine will look at the best XX stories and run X in their next edition.

Most blasts produce a huge number of hits in the year following, some "immediate" flashes and some rewrites.

A few flash prompts spark off stories over 1,500 words. That's fine too.

Barrie said...

Thanks. Let me know what I need to do to to get access, I'd like to take part.