Posted on July 6, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Dare I say that I wrote Fan Fiction for a Charity Contest? Read it here.
I had first heard about the contest that authors John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton were sponsoring through Twitter. Dubbed the “Wil Wheaton/John Scalzi Fan Fiction Contest to Benefit the Lupus Alliance of America,” writers were asked to provide a short story about a particularly odd painting. The winners of this contest would then be pooled together into a charity anthology that would be published through Subterranean Press. After seeing the painting, I just had to enter. For your enjoyment, I’m posting a picture of the painting by artist Jeff Zugale and my contribution entitled THE CONTRACT.

Last weekend at my writer’s group, we were discussing how necessary it is to develop an emotional connection with the reader through your work. In fact, a strong emotional connection between the reader and the character can translate to a best-selling book that many of us might not think is all that “good.” It can also translate to the proverbial nerd rage when someone doesn’t like the same book, character, movie, game or comic that someone else love with all their heart.
If you’ve been following my blog, you may have seen my earlier post about 





