In 2012, for the third straight year, The Story Prize offered the authors of books we read the opportunity to contribute a guest post. The aim is to give more exposure to more books than the three we choose as finalists. Out of 98 short story collections we received as entries, 72 authors availed themselves of this opportunity.
Authors could either choose from among a set of questions or write a post on a subject of their own choosing. The questions we provided were:
The format is consistent for each post—a standard introduction followed by a composite image of the author and book cover, then the author's post. The aim is to let the entry speak for itself. According to Blogger's stats, posts usually received at least 50 page views, with most getting 100 or more and the most active page (Junot Díaz's) attracting more than 1,200 views.
Here's an alphabetical listing of 2012-13 posts by author's last name, with links to each:
Authors could either choose from among a set of questions or write a post on a subject of their own choosing. The questions we provided were:
- What made you want to become a writer?
- Where do you find inspiration?
- What obstacles have you encountered in your work, and what have you done to overcome them?
- What's the shortest time it has taken you to write a story?
- What's the longest time it has take you to write a story?
- How often does an idea for a story occur to you, and what triggers those ideas?
- If you've ever written a story based on something another person told you would make a good story, what were the circumstances?
- What's the worst idea for a story you've every had?
- Where do you do most of your work?
- What writer or writers have you learned the most from?
- What story by another writer do you most wish you'd written?
The format is consistent for each post—a standard introduction followed by a composite image of the author and book cover, then the author's post. The aim is to let the entry speak for itself. According to Blogger's stats, posts usually received at least 50 page views, with most getting 100 or more and the most active page (Junot Díaz's) attracting more than 1,200 views.
Here's an alphabetical listing of 2012-13 posts by author's last name, with links to each:
