blogs propel zero-commerce write-a-thalon into a dizzy

This from a release sent directly to us: Im not to sure what to make of this, although the “sites using Geocities” bias may be kicking in:
The Great Mahakali Write-A-Thalon –an international literary contest in which writers attempt to write an entire novel, poetic epic, stage or screen play, from scratch over a weekend– is spreading like wildfire.

Initially conceived as a weekend writing binge between four friends, now
scores of writers –including heavyweights like Tom Bradley and Mike
Atherton — from more then seven countries including India, the United
States, Norway, the United Kingdon, Ireland, and Japan are taking part.

The Great Mahakali Write-A-Thalon offers no cash prizes and the organizers
are operating on a shoestring, but on Tuesday night, with the support of
such luminaries of the digiratti as Jason Kottke, The Great Mahakali contest
website became the 6th fastest spreading link in the blogosphere.

This is why The Great Mahakali Write-A-Thalon is special.

Initiated by Bombay columnist, Rohit Gupta, the Write-A-Thalon is generating
massive interest amongst publishers, film producers and writers as far
afield as New York and Bombay. Amazed at the response his weekend game has
generated, he says,”This reminds me of the Memespread Project. Like a virus!
The best part is the quality of writers who are snowballing us. For a
zero-commerce operation, this is somewhat phenomenal.”

Nicole Hughes of Plastic Sugar Press has agreed to critique and review five
of the top peer-reviewed novellas. “The main reason I was attracted to this
project is because it goes so much against what we are taught about how to
write”, says Hughes. “Ninety percent of the manuscripts I review suffer from
a very constrictive and self-conscious quality. I think a lot of writers
edit way too much in the beginning of the process, and don’t trust their
craft enough to take real risks. This project is about complete and total
submersion in the work, merging our objective and subjective realities, and
creating a true intimacy between writer and reader.”

See Also

Growing embrace of MFA websites in online advertising

Jagmohan Bhanver, President of the Writer’s Society Of India says, “I expect
to see some really high power energy unleashed during the course of these
three days.” Other event partners like Frog Books, J Sughand Productions,
Oxford Bookstore, Crimson Feet Magazine and the Industrial Theatre Company
will review the best manuscripts with a view to publication.

Writers interested in taking part in THE GREAT MAHAKALI WRITE-A-THALON(14-16
May 2004) should contact Emmet Cole and/or Rohit Gupta at their respective
e-mail addresses — isiwork@hotmail.com and rohit@mid-day.com –as soon as
possible.