In 2021, I decided to jump out of my comfort zone and enter the NYC Midnight Challenges. Here you’ll find my submissions, or links to my submissions, how they placed (or didn’t), and the judges’ feedback.

(Update) So… now that this page is getting a bit long, I think I’m going to switch to posts. So you’ll find links below to the newest NYC Midnight Challenge Entries

A Meowchiavellian Matchmaker: 250 words, Round 2, January 2025

When We Refused to Burn: 250 words, Round 1, November 2025

Ghost and the Machine: 100 words, Round 3, August 2024

A Revolutionary Lie: 100 words, Round 2, June 2024

The Tearstains Left Behind: 100 words, Round 1, April 2024

What the Children Couldn’t Save: 100 words, Round 3, August 2023

Clark Kent Wears Tights: 100 words, Round 2, June 2023

YouMask: Curing the Faces Only a Mother Could Love!: 100 words, Round 1, May 2023

When They’re Ready: 250 words, Round 3, March 2023 -> HONORABLE MENTION!

Make Lifelong Memories at Camp Chimpoochee!: 250 words, Round 2, January 2023

Eve Resurrected: 250 words, Round 1, November 2022

A Moment of Joy: 100 words, Round 3, August 2022

Unplanned: 100 words, Round 2, June 2022

Nothing Good Happens after Midnight: 100 words, Round 1, April 2022


A Ghost at the End of the World: 250 words, Round 2, December 2021

Two Truths and One Lie: 250 words, Round 1, October 2021

When Lucky Means Sad Too: 100 words, Round 3, September 2021

A Costly Toll: 100 words, Round 2, July 2021

Smuggler Airways: 100 words, Round 1, May 2021 (entry & feedback below)

Secrets in the Seams: 2500 words, Round 1, January 2021

Memories of Lilies: 250 words, Round 2, February 2021

Dark Tangles: 250 words, Round 1, October 2020

Smuggler Airways

May 2021 (Round 1)
Genre: Action/Adventure
Word: Scale
Action: Punching
Time Constraint: 24 hours
Length: 100 words

Smoke fills the cargo bay as the plane tilts earthward. My life should be flashing before my eyes, but apparently, my frozen brain has yet to comprehend the scale of the crisis.

Cartwright grabs my parachute rig, hauling me toward the emergency hatch. “As always, thanks for flying smuggler airways.”

“This is your fault!” I punch his arm over and over, horrified the last thing I’m going to see is his infuriating face.

“Don’t worry, the skydiving excursion is complimentary.” Then, he opens the hatch, sucking us into the atmosphere.

And I have to survive, so I can kill him.

This one came in 1st place in my group of 63ish 😱, and I got to advance to the next round. The feedback is below!

WHAT THE JUDGES LIKED ABOUT YOUR STORY

{1943}  I loved the balance of humor and drama in this story. Cartwright was too funny – I laughed at “As always, thanks for flying smuggler airways.” The ending was hilarious. I really wanted to see if they survived, so that the protagonist could kill his buddy. Great job!  

{1963}  It doesn’t get more “action” than a plane in the process of crashing, and this skips backstory while also implying plenty of detail. The conflict between the two characters is expressed well through dialogue and action, and the open ending works to satisfy without feeling the need to answer every last question. 

{2096}  Writing a story in one hundred words is very difficult. Congratulations for rising to the challenge! This is a taut little slice of life story that is complete with beginning, middle and end. Great job on doing that! The story starts right in the middle of the action and does not let up. It moves swiftly, and not just because of the very limited word count. I still get a feel for the characters, their implied backstory  and the plot. Again, well done there! On top of all that, it’s got some great humor in it as well. It was an enjoyable read.

WHAT THE JUDGES FEEL NEEDS WORK

{1943}  I wonder if you could inject more of a sense of urgency and panic into the story, maybe by using an expletive or two when the protagonist shouted at Cartwright? Could you find a stronger way to express “horrified the last thing I’m going to see is his infuriating face”? I would love to see more characterization of your protagonist through his storytelling voice, so I would explore ways to show his extreme frustration and terror, while retaining the humor and sense that he actually likes Cartwright.

{1963}  When dealing with such tight word counts, every decision impacts your options everywhere else in the story. While style and flow is a perfectly acceptable reason to be wordy, I think the introduction could be shortened without doing much harm.

{2096}  Shouldn’t Smuggler Airways be capitalized? It is the name of a business. Right? 😉 The last sentence could be rewritten Drop the “and” at the beginning and just going with something like “I will survive this. I must. So I can kill him.” It adds a bit more of the sarcastic wit you have to the character. It’s only one word longer. If necessary, you can take that from the second sentence by dropping the word “apparently”

Thanks again for reading! I hope you enjoyed the stories and found the feedback helpful. If you have any feedback of your own, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments! 😊