Earthsongs: International Journal of the Society of Celtic Shamans, ISSN: 1499-0482, Volume 13, Issue 3, copyright © 2009, Elder Grove Press and content providers. All Right Reserved.

EARTHSONGS BARDIC COMPETITION ©

Earthsongs invites all bards and budding bards to enter their short stories in this bardic competition. RULES

Anyone may enter.
Only one entry per person will be read by the three judges.
The judges are Tira Brandon-Evans, Dillon Carlyon, and Deidre McCullough.
Your story must be based on one of the Welsh or Irish myths found at the following urls:
- The Mabinogion by Lady Charlotte Guest
- Gods and Fighting Men by Lady Augusta Gregory
- Cuchulain of Muirthemne by Lady Augusta Gregory
Your story must be at least 1,500 words and not more then 5,000 words.
Deadline for all submissions is midnight, September 1, 2009.
Your entry must be written by you, in English.
Your entry must be previously unpublished and not accepted for publication by any other publisher anywhere.
All entries must be submitted as an email attachment.
Your story must be in the form of a Word .doc. No .docx submissions will be read.
Four winners will be chosen.
Winners must be willing to allow Earthsongs and Elder Grove Press to publish their winning stories.
Decision of the judges is final.
All entrants will be informed of the judges' decision by September 15, 2009.

CRITERIA OF JUDGEMENT

Originality and imagination – don't just retell the story as it stands, be creative. For an example of telling an ancient legend in an original and imaginative way read The Pig-Sty Prince and the Giant’s Daughter, Anny Wyse's wonderful story based on Kulhwch and Olwen.
Emotion – take the reader into the heart and mind of one or more of the characters.
Focus and clarity – choose one aspect of the story to concentrate on, make this the theme of or point of your story.
Writing style – a story that needs heavy editing will not win, grammar and spelling count.
Authenticity and control of voice.

AWARDS

There are no monetary prizes.
The top four stories will be published in Earthsongs over the course of four issues, beginning with the Samhain 2009 issue.
Additionally the top four stories will be published as an anthology by Elder Grove Press. Each winner receives three free copies of the anthology.
The anthology will sell for $3.00 US and all money from the sales of the anthology will be donated annually to Heifer International or Kiva.

Good luck and we look forward to reading your stories.

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Earthsongs: International Journal of the Society of Celtic Shamans copyright © 2009 by Elder Grove Press and content providers. All rights reserved. International copyright laws prohibit reproduction of or distribution of this page by any means whatsoever, electronic or otherwise, without first obtaining the written permissions of the copyright holders. We retain legal counsel to protect our copyrights.

VOICE – WHO IS TELLING THE STORY? When you write a story, you need to choose a narrative mode. The narrator is the ‘person’ who tells the story.

There are three commonly used narrative modes.

1. Third person objective (or limited).
2. Third person omniscient.
3. First person.

1. In a third person objective narrative, the writer tells the story from the point of view of the ‘fly on the wall’. The reader knows only what can be seen and heard. The writer does not have access to the memories, thoughts, feelings, or opinions of the characters. This means the story must unfold through the actions and conversations of the characters. The writer is like someone who is watching a play or movie and reporting what they see and hear to the reader.

Example of Third Person Objective Narrative:
It was a dark and stormy night. Within minutes of stepping outdoors, Lily was soaked to the skin. Lightning struck the old oak tree beside her. Lily shrieked when thunder boomed over her head.

She fought against the wind, rain pouring over her and down her collar. She struggled the last few steps and pulled the car door open. Lily shivered from the cold and peered back towards the house, fear in her eyes.

Lights in the house flickered on and off, once, then twice. Then the house was dark. She shivered.

2. The third person omniscient point of view gives the writer the ability to tell the reader everything about everything. The third person omniscient narrator is like god – they are all-knowing and omni-present. The advantage of writing third person omniscient is that the writer can tell the reader everything. The godlike narrator knows what everyone is thinking and feeling. They can weave divergent storylines, following characters separated by great distances. The disadvantage is that the reader may not easily identify with any one particular character. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote “Lord of the Rings” in third person omniscient narrative mode.

Example of Third Person Omniscient Narrative:
Within minutes of stepping outdoors on that dark and rainy night, Lily was soaked to the skin. Lightning struck the old oak tree nearby. She shrieked when the thunder boomed right over her head.

“Cut it out, Lily,” she told herself. “You’ve got to get a grip.”

She fought against the wind, rain pouring over her and down her collar. She struggled the last few steps and pulled the car door open. Inside the car, it was freezing cold, but at least she was out of the rain and out of that horrible house.

Lily peered out the car window and saw the lights flicker again. On and off, once, then twice—then the house was dark. She shivered, but not from the cold. The locals had warned her the house was haunted, but she had never believed in such nonsense.

“Maybe I should have listened when they told me not to buy the house.” Lily thought.

Within the house, something stirred. A mouse cautiously peered from a crack in the floor. Lights flickered on and off. Then all was dark. A dry, electric smell crept through the house. “I told Archie not to nibble that electric wire,” Millie Mouse thought.

3. A first person narrative is told from the point of view of one of the characters in the story. The character tells the story. The great advantage of telling your story in first person is the reader is easily able to identify with the character, and easily drawn into the story. The reader is ‘living’ the story with the character. The great drawback of the first person narrator is that the reader can only know what the character telling the story knows. If, for instance, two other characters are having a conversation or doing something related to the plot and they are out of sight and hearing of the narrator character, the narrator character cannot know of this. The narrator character may, of course, learn of the conversation or action later, but this information would be at second hand.

Example of First Person Narrative:
Within minutes of stepping outdoors on that dark and rainy night, I was soaked to the skin. Lightning struck the old oak tree. I shrieked when the thunder boomed right over my head. “Cut it out, Lily,” I told myself. “You’ve got to get a grip.” I fought against the wind, rain pouring over me and down my collar. I struggled the last few steps and pulled the car door open. Inside the car, it was freezing cold, but at least I was out of the rain and out of that horrible house.

I peered out the car window and saw the lights flicker again. On and off, once, then twice – then the house was dark. I shivered, but not from the cold. The locals had warned the house was haunted, but I had never believed in such nonsense. Maybe I should have listened when they told me not to buy the house.

With these three examples, you can see that the Third Person Objective narrative gives the reader the least amount of information. The writer can only reveal what any observer – fly on the wall – would see. We do not know what Lily thinks or how she feels. We do not have access to her memory.

In the first person narrative, we see through Lily’s eyes and so we cannot know what Milly Mouse is thinking and observing inside the house. But we do know what Lily is thinking and feeling. We also know why she has braved the storm and prefers the cold car to the house.

The third person omniscient narrator gives us the whole picture. We have access to all Lily’s thoughts and feelings. We also learn why the lights are flickering the sad fate of Archie Mouse.

(Return to contest information.)

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