On Saturday morning, March 23, at 9:00 a.m., 22 writers met in the lobby of Community High School of Arts & Academics in downtown Roanoke.
On Monday morning, March 25, at 9:00 a.m., 22 writers submitted the products of 48 intense hours of writing – an estimated 460,000-plus words – 22 novels written over the space of two days.
Four of those writers wrote in a public space – specifically, 16 West Marketplace in downtown Roanoke: Simon Adkins, Eric Earnhart, David Scaer and Drew Taylor.
The goal: complete a 30,000-word pulp novel over the course of the weekend. The winner receives $500.
Pulp, defined by Pulp and Paper: “inadvertently an ideology, supposed to be disposable, a literature meant for others and not for self-embalmment. This does not preclude Art. It may free it. The distinction between Pulp and Literature writing is a historical contrivance and a fraudulent mirage. This is not an excuse for hidebound thinking, willful lies, sentimentality or other sins. Just this: make art, tell stories. Surprise with the truth.”
The requirements: Setting – Roanoke. “Roanoke is a physical and political entity, a historical and cultural aggregate, a clumsy, sloughing and mutating heap. A polis! It is ours to imagine, cast, castigate, celebrate, define, deride, distort, explode, explore, sustain and renew. New York can take care of itself. Live where you live, for goodness’ sake.”
Writers were also required to include at least two settings from a list given them on Saturday (a range that included The Coffeepot, West End Elementary, Martin Luther King Memorial Bridge, any Mick-or-Mack, American Viscose and “any strange Williamson Road storefront”) and to use “in a significant way” one item from a list of objects including snuff, birthday cake, gelatin and branding iron.
The judge is C.L. Bledsoe, the author of the young adult novel “Sunlight,” three poetry collections: “_____(Want/Need),” “Anthem” and “Leap Year”; and a short story collection called “Naming the Animals.” Mud Luscious Press recently published his minichap, “Texas.” His story, “Leaving the Garden,” was selected as a Notable Story of 2008 for Story South’s Million Writer’s Award, and his story “The Scream” was selected as a Notable Story for 2010. He’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times and Best of the Webs twice. Bledsoe has written reviews for The Hollins Critic, The Arkansas Review, American Book Review, The Pedestal Magazine, Prick of the Spindle, and elsewhere.
The winner will be announced and will read during Marginal Arts Festival’s Vaudeville Night in the June M. McBroom Theatre on March 30, and hard copies of the winning book will be available for sale that evening as well.