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So we’re doing a month-long fiction blogfest for all you writers out there: The Rule of Three Blogfest! 

The Rule of Three is a month-long fiction blogfest,

The Rule of Three at Renaissance

By us, I mean Fighter writer, J.C. Martin, Flash Fiction Author Lisa Vooght, and Storyteller and author, Stuart Nager. We’re excited to present a blogfest tailor-made for fiction writers to showcase their skills and receive comments on their work, and we hope you enjoy taking part in it as much as we enjoyed creating it!

So without further ado, announcing the Rule of Three Blogfest!

 A. What is the Rule of Three?

The “rule of three” is a principle in writing that suggests that things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying, or more effective than other numbers of things. The reader/audience of this form of text is also more likely to consume information if it is written in groups of threes. A series of three is often used to create a progression in which the tension is created, then built up, built up even more, and finally released. –Wikipedia

B. How does the Rule of Three work in this blogfest?

The Rule of Three is a month-long fiction blogfest, where we’ve created a ‘world’, the town of Renaissance, and challenged you to create a story within it. The story will feature 3 characters of your creation, who will be showcased on your blog on 3 different Wednesdays, following the Rule of Three. The 4th Wednesday, we’ll have the culminating scene.

C. What is the Shared World of Rule of Three? 

 Renaissance is an outpost town in the middle of nowhere, but many routes pass through or beside it. The desert is encroaching on one side (to the West), a once-lush forest lies to the East and South. A large river runs through the forest, but it is not close to the town. Mountains are to the North, far, far away, and when you look towards them you don’t know if they are an illusion or real. Closer by are the smaller hill chains that fed the mining, creating caverns and passages underground.

The town has had a number of identities throughout its history: A trading post; a mining town; a ghost town until it was rediscovered; a thriving community; the scene of a number of great battles; the scene of one great tragedy (that led to its Ghost Town standing); a town of great joys and celebrations, and so much more.

At this point in time, there is a general population of 333. A mixture of a community. It boasts families that have lived there for generations upon generations, but they are in the minority, and are not in positions of power. There are traders who have come back here, at the end of their many travails, to settle in. The new families and power-players have taken this as a last refuge for themselves, hoping to rebuild lives torn apart on the way here.

Everyone has a secret. Welcome to Renaissance. Enjoy your stay. 

D. Writing Guidelines for the Rule of Three Blogfest:

  1. Your overall story can be in any genre, time period, or style you choose. 
  2. You must have three characters (Rule of Three), but the relation between them is up to you. 
  3. Every Wednesday or Thursday (48-hour window), post a narrative fiction: story, poem, song lyric, play, monologue, soliloquy– any style you choose to work in.
  4. Each Friday you will be given a choice of writing prompts that will escalate the inner happenings of your story. Please choose one or more, and state the chosen prompt at the beginning of your post.
  5. Choose one of your characters to showcase that given week as the main protagonist for that posting. Of course, you can weave in your other characters as you see fit, but the main action/conflict or point of view should be the showcased character of the week.  
  6. In the fourth week, give us your tour de force, a culmination of the story that will make us weep, weak at the knees, jump for joy, whatever…and know a writer’s job was done well.
  7. Upper limit for each post is 500 words. A little higher is okay, but not more, please.

E. We have Prizes!!!!!!

We as hosts would read all the posts and put up a shortlist of possible winners, and then hold a poll for votes on the shortlist to decide the winners and honorable mentions.

The prizes are:

1st prize: $ 50USD Amazon voucher

2nd prize: $ 10 USD and Guest posts or Interviews on the host blogs: 

Stuart Nager@Tale Spinning     J.C. Martin@Fighter Writer

Lisa Vooght@Flash Fiction           Damyanti@Daily (w)rite

3rd prize: A bundle of the following e-books featured by Rule of Three:

1.Michael Hicks,    “In Her Name: Empire

2. Marcus Clearspring, “Walkabout Gnomes

3. Alex J Cavanaugh, “Cassa Star”   http://tinyurl.com/3t358vk

4. S.L. Pierce, “The Hate”, “The Devil’s Game”, “Secrets”  http://tinyurl.com/42ef9l2

5. Faith Mortimer, “Echoes Of Life and Love”     http://tinyurl.com/3aptnva

6. Talli Roland, “Watching Willow Watts”   http://tinyurl.com/3ru9bb8

One ebook each from the following for the Honorable Mentions:

1. Damyanti Biswas, “A To Z Stories Of Life and Death”  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/81146

2. J.C. Martin and Michelle Davidson Argyle, “Stories For Sendai”,       http://tinyurl.com/3asdnrr

3. Stuart Nager, “Dawn Of Indie Romance”,      http://tinyurl.com/3pkeexn

F. How to Sign up:

  1. Sign up at the Linky list by the 3rd of October. Please do so only if you intend to write a story, and participate in the writers’ community, not because you want to promote a soap, a website, or a random electronic gadget. We promise to remove all spam and advertisements.
  2. Leave us a comment after you sign in. For instance, talk about which genre you want to write in, whether your Rule of Three story would feature characters from your current WIP or you would introduce us to new ones…anything at all about your plans for the blogfest.
  3. Visit this blog or those of the other hosts tomorrow, or any time during the next week to find the first batch of Rule of Three prompts.
  4. Please let us know if you’ve signed up but find yourself unable to write for the blogfest for some reason, so we can remove your link as a courtesy to everyone using the Linky list to visit the participants. Most visitors find it annoying to reach an irrelevant post by clicking a name on the Linky list.
  5. Schedule for prompts and posting: save these dates on your calendar! (The posts have a 48-hour window)

Rule of Three 1st  prompt                    1st September

Rule of Three Part 1                              5th October

Rule of Three 2nd prompt                   7th October

Rule of Three Part 2                             12th October

Rule of Three 3rd prompt                  14th October

Rule of Three Part 3                              19th October

Rule of Three 4th prompt                  21st October

Rule of Three Part 4                             26th October

6.  Poll for shortlists will be up on 2nd November, and winners will be declared on the 11th of November. 

                    7. All the hosts would take part, but they will not win any prizes.

G. How to become part of The Rule of Three Blogfest Success:

a. Copy the following code for a widget on your sidebar to help spread the word!

<center><a href=”http://amloki.blogspot.com/2011/08/rule-of-three.html/”><img width =”200″ alt=”REN3″ src=”http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z451/Jc_Martin/RuleofThreeshield.jpg” height=”200″ /></a></center>

This will give you the Rule of Three badge!

REN3

b. Post and/or tweet about the challenge in the weeks leading up to the Rule of Three. Spread the word on on Facebook, Google+, or on twitter with the Hashtag #REN.

c. Throughout the blogfest, visit as many other entries as you can and give the entrants some comment love and suggestions!

We now declare the Rule of Three Blogfest open! Please visit us tomorrow for the first prompt, so you can plot the beginning of your Renaissance story following the Rule of Three and make your first post between October 5 and October 6!

Sign up in the Linky List here, and enjoy the ride as we all go on different journeys in the shared world of Renaissance!


Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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