Mysterious newspaper item inspires fiction writing contest

Good writers find inspiration and creativity everywhere. For example, the Hong Kong Writers' Circle has chosen a most unusual source for its summer story competition, which has just been launched.

The English-language collective picked a cryptic news story from last week's South China Morning Post as a jumping-off point for a fiction contest. The baffling little item appeared on Wednesday in the National pages' news briefs. According to the story, a woman in Chongqing was found dead inside a parked car with a note that read: 'I was killed in a car accident.'

What seems to intrigue the organisers is that letter. 'Someone's last words? But whose? And why write them? ... What happened before she was discovered? What happened after? Who knew, and what did they do? What was she thinking? Is it a cover-up, and how deep does it go?' the contest brief asks.

The exercise in imagination is open to members of the writers' circle. There is no word limit, but the judges' basic criterion is: 'Don't bore us!' The deadline is September 1, but there is a requirement that all stories must be redrafted at least once. So writers must submit early for editors to annotate their drafts, or they can attend an August 24 workshop. The prize is yet to be announced.

The group also discourages budding authors from investigating too much fact. 'The 'actual' story may yet emerge, and may be rather dull. Perhaps it's best not to research it too much, but just let your creative juices flow,' it says.