2023 GENRE SMASH SHORT STORY CHALLENGE

PRIZE: £1,000

GENRE SMASH CHALLENGE 2023

Prize: £1,000

Early Bird Ticket: £2.50 for one story

General Ticket: £5 for one story

Late Ticket: £9 for one story

Words: 5,000 (max)

Deadline: 23:59 (UK time) 23rd Oct, 2023

Winner Announced: 17th Dec, 2023

THE CHALLENGE:

All writers retain full ownership of their stories, including the winner. We only publish the winning story on our website. We welcome international entries!

It's time for another Globe Soup writing challenge!

For this short story challenge, all participants will be randomly assigned a genre pairing. As soon as you receive your ‘smashed’ genres, you'll have until the closing time to write and submit a short story of any length up to 5,000 words, that perfectly and seamlessly combines both genres into one amazing short story.

All we ask is that your entry has both genres woven into the story somehow. Our judges know that genres are just loose concepts of categorisation, so don’t worry if you’re not that familiar with any of the genres on the list. The judges aren’t looking for something highly specific that you need to work out how to emulate. Instead, they want you to take your assigned genre pair and put your own spin on it. As long as they can recognise that you’ve been inspired by the combination of genres assigned to you, your story will not be disqualified or even penalised if you’ve interpreted things in your own way.

The genre pairings we’ve chosen for this year’s challenge are:

1. Western + Horror

For this genre smash, we’re looking for participants to combine western tropes with horror. If you’re not sure what we mean by western tropes, this article outlines some, but there are plenty more. Your story can be contemporary or period, set in the old west or anywhere else you think will be a good fit for a western story. As for the horror element, your story can be absolutely horrifying or just subtly chilling. For inspiration for western horror, think: Bone Tomahawk, Tremors, The Wind, Brimstone. Or, for books, check out these titles.

2. Regency + Thriller

For this genre smash, we’re looking for participants to create a thrilling story that’s set in the Regency Period. For Regency, think: Jane Austen or Bridgerton, but with your own thrilling plot. For inspiration from novels, think: What Angels Fear. For more inspiration, we’d recommend checking out how other authors and filmmakers have combined the thriller genre with a period setting. Even if the period setting isn’t Regency, this kind of research should really help any participants assigned this particular genre combination. For this smash, we’re looking for any kind of thrilling story that is also set in Regency Britain.

3. Alternative History + Fantasy

Alternative history is a sub-genre of speculative fiction in which at least one significant historical event has turned out differently to how it did in real life. One of the most famous examples of alternative history is The Man in the High Castle. This novel imagines a different world in which Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan defeated the United States of American and the Allied forces in World War II. Should you be assigned this genre smash, your story can take place after the alternative historical events have taken place or it can depict the moment your history diverges from ours, but it must also contain elements of fantasy. This could be the inclusion of dragons, magic, fantastical creatures of your own design, or any other fantasy tropes. You choose the moment or moments in history you want to change and the fantastical elements you want to bring to your story. Remember, your story does not necessarily have to be about the historical event at all. Instead, it could be about anything, but simply set in a world that’s different to ours because of a significant alteration in history.

4. Urban + Fairy Tale

Urban fiction is a story set in a city, but it's typically more specific than that. Urban fiction is often gritty and dark, and is usually about the underbelly or harshness of the urban environment. For this genre smash we ask that participants combine elements of fairy tales or fairy tale tropes with the tropes of urban fiction. This could mean that you retell an existing fairy tale but you set your classic story in an urban environment, you create your own, original urban fairy tale, or you write urban fiction but incorporate fairy tale tropes into your story.

5. Isekai + Crime

If you haven’t heard of Isekai, it’s a genre of fiction in which a protagonist is either transported to or finds themselves reincarnated in a virtual, parallel, or fantasy world. Should you be assigned this genre, we’d like you to write a story that fits this definition, but also incorporates crime fiction tropes. Although your story should combine both genres in some way, there really is a lot more freedom to this genre smash than meets the eye. For famous books, films, and TV series that would fit the Isekai genre, think: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Re: ZERO -Starting Life in Another World, Peter Pan, and (one could argue) Inception.

6. Dystopian + Romance

For this genre smash, forget cheesy, bodice-ripping, body parts a-quivering romance. We’re not (necessarily) looking for that kind of story at all. We’re simply looking for a story that explores the theme of romantic love in some way, whilst also being set in a dystopian future of some kind. Think: The Road or The Last of Us, but about romantic love, not paternal. Or, check out these dystopian romance novels for more inspiration. As long as your story is set in some kind of dystopian future and romantic love plays a role in the story in some way, it’s good enough for us. Your story doesn’t even have to be romantic! It can be dark, tragic, or even deeply pessimistic (if that’s what you’re into). Your story can be romance driven, but just happens to take place in a dystopian world, or it can be dystopian driven, but just happens to have the idea of romantic love woven into the story’s themes somehow. Or, of course, anything in between. The choice is yours!

If you choose to participate in the challenge, you'll be randomly assigned one of these genre pairings. Remember, we’re looking for one story that combines both genres!

PLEASE NOTE: PARTICIPANTS IN THIS COMPETITION ARE NOT ALLOWED TO EXCHANGE TICKETS WITH OTHER WRITERS TAKING PART. WE HAVE ALLOWED THIS IN THE PAST, BUT IT’S CREATED A LOT OF EXTRA ADMIN FOR US. AN INCREASE IN THE AMOUNT OF ADMINISTRATION WORK WILL ONLY RESULT IN US HAVING TO INCREASE THE PRICE OF ENTRY AND WE’D RATHER NOT DO THIS. WE STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT ALL WRITERS ARE MORE THAN CAPABLE OF WRITING IN ANY GENRE IF THEY UNDERSTAND HOW FLUID AND MALLEABLE GENRES REALLY ARE. GENRE BASED CHALLENGES ARE NOT ABOUT GETTING WRITERS TO CHANGE THEIR STYLE AND WRITE SOMETHING THAT DOESN’T REPRESENT THEIR SENSIBILITIES, BUT ABOUT GETTING WRITERS TO EXPLORE DIFFERENT GENRES THROUGH THEIR OWN STYLE AND SENSIBILITIES. YOU SHOULD BEND THE GENRES TO SUIT WHO YOU ARE AS A WRITER, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

How to Enter:

  1. Please read the official rules of the contest here.

  2. Buy a ticket. There are 6 tickets available: A, B, C, D, E and F. We have mixed up the genre pairings to ensure that your assignment is random! Meaning that the numbers from the list above do NOT correspond with the letter of the ticket.

    What this does mean is that if there is one genre smash that you really don’t want, you can pick the corresponding ticket to ensure you definitely don’t get the one pairing you really don’t want to be assigned.

    For example:

    The first genre pairing on the list above is: 1. Western + Horror

    If you really don’t want to write a western horror story, if this is the genre smash you really, really don’t want to write, you should choose ‘TICKET A’ when you come to buy your ticket, because ‘TICKET A’ is the only ticket that is definitely not western + horror.

    Equally, the second genre pairing on the list above is: 2. Regency + Thriller.

    If you definitely don’t want to write a Regency thriller, you should choose ‘Ticket B’ when you buy a ticket. This is because ‘TICKET B’ is the only ticket that is definitely not Regency + Thriller.

    The same is true for the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth genre pairing on the list above. So, if there’s one genre pair you really don’t want to be assigned, do choose the ticket letter that corresponds to the number on the list. Since the letters and numbers do not correspond, you can be sure you’ll get one of the remaining five genre pairs, and you definitely won’t receive the one you really don’t want. If this is at all confusing, just send us an email and we can assist.

  3. After you select your ticket and make the purchase, you’ll be sent a link to download your ticket. This download will contain your assigned genre pair and the submission instructions.

  4. Make sure you download your ticket right away. The link expires in 24 hours. If your link has expired, please contact us and we’ll send you your ticket directly.

  5. You can buy as many tickets and submit as many stories as you want. If there’s one genre pair you particularly want to write, you can buy multiple tickets until you get the one you want. This does not go against the rules. In fact, it’s the people who buy multiple tickets who help keep the cost of entry low for everyone else!

Join the Community:

All participants can join our Members-Only Facebook Group. You’ll get sent the link when you purchase the ticket. Here you can meet other writers taking part in the challenge, ask questions, and get advice. The Globe Soup team are also on hand to offer any support and guidance you may need. At the end of the challenge you can even get extensive feedback on your story or stories. Please consider joining, the community aspect of these challenges is often the best part!

Plus, we run free monthly mini writing contests in the group, exclusively for members, with additional cash prizes up for grabs. Once you're a member, you're a member for as long as you want. This means that you'll have access to a network of like minded writers and free entry to our mini contests for life.

Feedback From Previous Challenges:

"This was tremendous motivation to continue writing and I will always be grateful for the encouragement that Globe Soup has provided me. Globe Soup has also managed to create a wonderful community of writers who motivate and inspire each other. I'm very thankful to be a part of this community." — Nimisha, Mumbai, India

"This competition helped me reignite my passion for writing, so much so that it has started some new writing projects for me.” — Rachel, United Kingdom

“Really enjoyed that it gave me a steady and clear writing goal!” —Fódhla, Ireland

“I wouldn’t have been confident enough to start my MA in Creative Writing if it hadn’t been for Globe Soup. Such a great group to be a part of." — Fhionna, Clyde Valley, Scotland.

“I won’t ever forget that first win, it was an amazing feeling!! (I was in floods of tears, my husband didn’t get why!) You set me on my writing journey and so so much has grown from that first seed of belief, thank YOU!!! — Katrina, Llanfairpwll, U.K.