NYC Midnight – My Experience

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NYC Midnight runs several competitions throughout the year: Short Story, Flash Fiction, Short Screenplay and Screenwriting.  Personally, I stick to the Flash and Short Story and I'm not one much for writing in the Screenplay/Script format.  But the general competition structure for all of these categories is roughly the same.

For Flash, there is a 1,000 word limit.  You are given a set of prompts and 48 hours to submit your piece.  You will participate in at least 2 rounds (and as many as 4 depending on performance).  Your work is scored and for each round and both totaled.  The top 5 writers in each group go on to round 3.  Groups I've found are right around 30 participants or so, and there are upwards of 100 groups (easily around 3,000 total participants).

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Flash Fiction Competition 2018 - They release the prompts at midnight (go figure), so I stayed up late on a Friday night so I'd know what I faced for the weekend.  Maybe my subconscious sleeping mind would create something?  The prompts for my first piece were Fairy Tale / A noodle shop / Mittens. 

Ok cool, I could work with that, 'Fairy Tale' is kind of up my alley.  Over the next 24 hours, I managed to actually crank out two separate pieces.

The first was titled "Babawaga's Noodle Emporium" and it revolved around a grandfather coaxing his energetic grandson to sleep with an off-the-cuff tale about an epic noodle eating contest between several heroic animals, who of course, had to compete wearing mittens.

The second, titled "Rex Spencer and the Missing Mittens" was sort of a film noir-esque tale of a dog P.I. (Rex Spencer) who has to help a damsel cat find her missing mittens in Fairy Town.

I sent both pieces to my writing group as well as having some family members read them and ultimately went with Babawaga's which I also thought was the better written piece.

I managed a 9th place finish which garnered me 7 points.  Not bad for a first go.  Here's the feedback for the first piece:

''Babawaga's Noodle Emporium'' by David Batteiger -   WHAT THE JUDGES LIKED ABOUT YOUR STORY - {1771}  I enjoyed your charming story. It was very engaging.  The grandfather and the boy had a very sweet relationship and you did a good job showing it to the readers. I liked the way you used the animals in the contest. You painted a good picture of them. Good job!  {1651}  The pacing is good in this story. I enjoy Calvin's interruptions and how he eventually feels empowered to contribute to the story.  {1739}  The payoff is very cute. Calvin interjecting and unknowingly helping to fashion the story was a nice touch.  WHAT THE JUDGES FEEL NEEDS WORK - {1771}  I think the story was very complete. I think the only thing I would have liked to add would be the spectators in the noodle shop. You could have added some rowdy customers for more color. All in all, you did a great job!  {1651}  Just like Calvin, we're waiting at the end for some twist or great lesson from this fairytale. I'd recommend figuring out what each warrior represents good and bad and have each undoing be tailored to that. The mittens don't feel like a big enough obstacle when everyone can ditch them and just eat with their mouths. This fairytale should captivate both Calvin and the reader at the end instead of merely giving up.  {1739}  Consider tying the grandpa/grandson relationship into the fairy tale somehow. At the top, it reads as if this grandpa is raising his grandson. Perhaps that can fit into the warrior tale somehow.

I should mention that it's a good 2 months between submitting the piece and getting the results and feedback. It's a frustratingly long wait, but when you remember that they have to judge thousands of pieces, you can understand why they need the time.

The nice thing is after you get the results, the same week, you'll get your second set of prompts.  For the second round I got Thriller / A Ballroom / Fake Fruit.  I wasn't thrilled with that (see what I did there?), but still, I felt like it was material I could work with.

Again I tapped out two pieces in less than 48 hours and had to pick one.  "Dangerous Thoughts" was kind of an action/spy piece where a psychic bodyguard is hired to protect a wealthy woman from being poisoned at her own party.  "Forgotten Fruit" was a supernatural thriller where a seance set in the ballroom of an abandoned house uncovers that the murderer is still alive 200 years later.  Ultimately, "Forgotten Fruit" won out from my group and conscripted family readers.

This time I was elated with a 5th place finish grabbing another 11 points.  That made a total of 18 for both rounds.  Pretty respectable and gave me a 6th place overall finish in the group.  I missed the cut for round three by only 1 point! I was disappointed, but only because I came so close.  Overall my showing was very encouraging.  Oddly enough, the feedback I got on the second piece didn't seem quite as positive, despite the fact that it placed higher.

I managed a 9th place finish which garnered me 7 points. Not bad for a first go. Here's the feedback for the first piece:

''Forgotten Fruit'' by David Batteiger - WHAT THE JUDGES LIKED ABOUT YOUR STORY - {1597} I liked the premise of the seance and did find the story to be tense and thrilling. I liked that the guests were so into it that they would allow no interruptions. The bright green eyes were a good detail that created a strong visual. {1807} The craftsmanship of the writing is polished and readable. I applaud the ambition of this piece. {1651} I enjoyed the world of the story and the premise of a pyschic learning about the true demise of a murdered girl. WHAT THE JUDGES FEEL NEEDS WORK - {1597} I think the story would be stronger if you simply started with Veronica, which would also give you more room to elaborate on the ending. Then you could show Abigail's death scene much as it is, but the reader would know it was Veronica seeing it. I don't understand the significance of the initials JR when his name was Kyle. I think the reader can see the ending coming somewhat, and it would be stronger if you showed more of Veronica's attempts to escape him. {1807} While there is much to appreciate in this piece, I believe you may have done your story a disservice by intercutting between the past and present. If the entire story took place during the seance (in the ballroom, let's say), I think the narrative might have more traction and momentum. It's a bit anticlimactic when Veronica says "I cannot go further tonight," and since this interjection doesn't thwart the forward motion of the story I'm not sure that it's necessary. The carving of initials into the apple struck me a bit of a contrivance. I'd caution you not to use ornate details just for the sake of using ornate details. {1651} This story leaves me with many unanswered questions. Who is Abigail and why was she invited to the ball in the first place? Is she a commoner? Why did this evil spirit want to kill her? Is the evil spirit really the grandfather? If Kyle is his grandson, why would JR want to make it look like he murdered Abigail? Why is this new man going after Veronica when she didn't reveal anything? How does he know what she saw? Why does this story reveal itself to Veronica in the first place? Is Abigail asking to avenge her death?

And so it went, my first NYC Midnight excursion.  I was hooked and I'm determined to keep hitting this competition until I can figure out how to make that cut.  I also came to the end of this journey with 4 pieces of 1000-word short fiction that I can re-hash and possibly submit to other publications.  As yet, none of them have, but I will keep at it.

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Short Story Competition 2019 - This one is a little different than the flash but just in the number of rounds, deadline and word count.  I had a week to write a 2500 word story based on the prompts Action/Adventure / A rescue / A tourist.

Unfortunately, I didn't think through the planning for the timing of this one.  I also had a Fiction War competition that I'd entered the same weekend that I got these prompts.  Then as if Mr. Murphy and his law needed to remind me of their presence, I had a work crisis to deal with that kept me up all night one day.  So I scrambled to get my Fiction War piece out and gave up valuable time on NYC.

Eventually I came up with a piece titled "When in Rome" about a gruff senior citizen (Charlie) on vacation in Rome with a stuffy tour group.  He eventually escapes to enjoy the city by himself and runs into a young, pretty girl (Rosita) that takes him one some less-than-legal adventures.  Charlie winds up getting arrested in order to help Rosita escape, but his punishment is only to be sent back home, fond memories in tow.

While I did like how the piece turned out, I definitely didn't devote the time to this competition that I would have liked to.  I wound up with an honorable mention (they only place 5 spots and gave 3 HMs in my group).  I was the first HM mentioned, so I equated that with 6th place.  Another near miss!

''When in Rome'' by David Batteiger - WHAT THE JUDGES LIKED ABOUT YOUR STORY - {1663} This is a fun, surprising story about the importance being pushed out of a comfort zone. The events stack on each other until a clear climax, with a satisfying twist at the end. And the opening sentence is absolutely hilarious. {1944} I like that it begins with an intentional fart. I like that Charlie is an old fart. This was delightful and wholesome, with some appropriate adult humor and situations. Rosy and Charlie were adequately developed and differentiated. {1569} What a great premise. Charlie is a great protagonist who was shown to be likeable and rebellious from the moment he farted. The pairing with Rosita worked well. There was a wide variety of action genre elements which were deftly used. WHAT THE JUDGES FEEL NEEDS WORK - {1663} There may need to be more of a moment of Charlie questioning what Rosita is doing. He may want to be asking himself why he is doing this, and is channeling that uncertainty toward her. It may also help to have more background on how Charlie ended up on this trip. Has he tried to live life to the fullest like this before? {1944} Cheers in Italian is "salud" or "saluti." This might work well if longer, or as a novel? {1569} The action set pieces seemed a bit short and the action sparse. Aside from 2 instances (Charlie bumping Peggy and causing a distraction at the ball) Rosita seemed to drive the action - but all of her actions occurred "off the page" and only results were shown (a stolen car, a stolen Vespa, a stolen credit card, and a stolen necklace). The pattern violates the rule of 3s (set up, build up, pay off) because there are 4, and it doesn't really pay off.

Again, a disappointing result to not make it to the next round, but I was still happy with the showing and feedback. I've submitted this one a couple of times since the compeition but it hasn't found a home yet. I'll continue to shop it around.

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Flash Fiction Competition 2019 - Coming soon - This one starts in July!