Creative Writing 

Adventures of a Kid Paleontologist

In the world’s oldest fossil forest, a girl becomes the world’s youngest paleontologist while hunting for dinosaur bones on a hike.

  • This 50-word story landed in the 2024 Winner’s Circle of award-winning author Vivian Kirkfield’s international #50PreciousWords contest.

Sweet Nothings

When awkward wallflower Lea becomes a teen assassin, her first crush—the school’s star athlete—becomes her first target.

  • This YA short story closed out the 2015 issue of The Mercury.

Vita Makes a Team

Anxious student athlete Vita and her best friend struggle to complete their bucket list and keep their connection strong when Vita is taken to an off-the-grid sleepaway camp.

  • This MG manuscript was selected for a spot in the 2023 program.

  • The first five pages of this manuscript were workshopped by authors, peers, and a literary agent in the 2022 program.

Pariah

A young boy faces an uphill battle to protect his family’s reputation when his alcoholic father leaves them penniless.

  • In 2015, vignettes from this work of historical fiction won The Mercury Fiction Prize, in addition to being published in the 2015 issue.

  • Selected vignettes received one of the 2015 Stephen Crane Fiction Prizes.