a different sort of writing contest . . . molto differente

Tomorrow marks the start of one of my two favorite writing contests in the world (the other being the nine-round Helen Whittaker fiction contest which I wrote about earlier).

This one is called #Operaplot. It's a contest solely administered on Twitter. So, you guessed it. Contest entries have to be 140 characters or less while including #operaplot.

In my other life, I host an opera blog called "Operatoonity." I also review live opera productions for Bachtrack. I have this whole other dimension to my writing life that revolves around opera.

The reason I like #operaplot so much is that, like the novel I wrote with an opera backdrop, is that the entries are very clever and though the international opera community takes the contest seriously, they don't in fact take opera that seriously. They poke fun at the masterworks and at themselves.

Sometimes I think opera fans are their own worst enemies. They run down anyone or anything who tries to be different or doesn't fit their narrow parameters of opera or opera singers. For instance, the little girl who won second place in America's Got Talent, Jackie Evancho, should have been embraced by the opera community since the American public can't and probably never will embrace opera as an art form. Instead, they were very vocal in criticizing her for taking on too mature of a work at such a young age, and it was going to ruin her voice, and. . . and . . .. I found the whole dialogue nauseating.

Because my book is a romp based on a small-town opera guild producing Don Giovanni, I welcome any initiative that embraces opera and humor.

All the #operaplot tweets go live tomorrow at 9 a.m. EDT until midnight on Friday. Nearly 30 opera houses have donated prizes. Winners will be selected by Eric Owens, a bass baritone and professional opera singer.

It would be fun to win, but if you are writer, then you know the real fun is in the writing.

If you are on Twitter, why not search #operaplot and read the entries this week? You will be surprised at how funny and clever they are. If you think about it, it takes ten minutes and two arias for someone to die in an opera, yet the contest mandates that you describe an entire opera in 140 characters or less. That's what makes this contest extraordinary.


The boyfriends in Cosi, in disguise

 Here is one of my entries for a comic opera by Mozart called Cosi Fan Tutte:

Here’s a story di due donne. Boyfrenzi no trusta, not a lick. So, dey getta 2 mustaches. Duets great but silly plotta make asick. #operaplot

(Due donne is Italian for "two women"; Boyfrenzi is my made up word for "the boyfriends"-- and the Italian goes (further) downhill from there Mozart wrote most of his operas in Italian.)

Did you catch the trope I used for the plot--"The Brady Bunch" theme song? Too subtle?

Well, the contest goes on all week long. I can submit up to 25 plots. I wrote ten already.

If you think you want to try #operaplot, you have to be on Twitter and Tweet with some frequency for the #operaplot hashtag to register. So get a bunch of practice Tweets to prime your Twitter account.

Doesn't this sound like a fun contest? Hope to see you there!