What’s the story behind this object? Write it down in 500-words or less and you can win a spot in a virtual thrift store and literary journal.
Slate magazine has teamed up with Significant Objects–a fiction site crisscrossed with a Salvation Army–to run short fiction contest. Readers are invited to write a story about the object pictured here, and the winning entry will be sold, along with the object, to the highest bidder on eBay. The money earned by the story will go to the winning writer.
Here’s more from Slate: “You’ll write a short story (500 words or fewer) in which this object plays an important role. (Please do not make reference to the fact that the object is being sold on eBay, and do not mention the penny that appears in the photo for scale—the story’s plot should be independent of the project’s context.) The stories must be e-mailed to slatesignificantobjects@gmail.com by Oct. 16 at 5 p.m. Please also tell us your full name and the city and state you’re writing from. All submissions may be quoted–and attributed to their author–in a follow-up article on Slate announcing the winning entry.”