# Echo's Curse

> A weekly creative writing community built on public-domain literary openings. Each Monday a famous opening passage from a classic novel is published; members write their own continuations (50–300 words); on Sunday the most-voted continuation is chosen.

## What it is

Echo's Curse is a weekly creative writing challenge for English-speaking writers. The premise is simple:

1. Every Monday, an opening paragraph from a public-domain classic is published — *Dracula*, *Frankenstein*, *Moby-Dick*, *Pride and Prejudice*, *Jane Eyre*, *The Picture of Dorian Gray*, and others.
2. For seven days, the community writes their own continuations. Limit: 50–300 words.
3. To submit a continuation, a writer must first read and vote on three other anonymous continuations from the same week. This is the "blind cross-evaluation" mechanic that prevents popularity bias.
4. On Sunday, the most-voted continuation is chosen as the week's winner. Authors are revealed only after the vote closes.

## What makes it different

- **Anonymous voting**: continuations are stripped of author names during the active week, so votes reward writing, not friendship networks.
- **Mandatory reading**: writers must engage with three others' work before publishing their own. This filters out drive-by submissions and creates a real audience for every echo.
- **Public domain only**: every featured opening is in the public domain, so there are no copyright concerns and the work is freely shareable.
- **Weekly cadence**: a single book per week, all attention concentrated. No infinite scroll of mediocre prompts.
- **Accessible scale**: targets aspiring writers in the United States and the broader anglophone world. ~20-minute time investment per writer per week.

## How to use this site

- The current week's opening, the writing prompt and the live continuations: [https://echoscurse.com/](https://echoscurse.com/)
- The archive of all past weeks: [https://echoscurse.com/archive/](https://echoscurse.com/archive/)
- Each week has a permanent page: [https://echoscurse.com/week/](https://echoscurse.com/week/)*[slug]*/

## Audience

Aspiring fiction writers, lovers of classical literature, readers of *The Paris Review* and *Granta*, members of r/WritingPrompts and r/writing who want a higher-signal alternative.

## License & attribution

User-generated continuations are licensed CC BY 4.0 by their respective authors unless otherwise stated. Original opening passages are in the public domain. The site itself, design, mechanics, and curation are © Echo's Curse, MMXXVI.

## Contact

- Website: [https://echoscurse.com/](https://echoscurse.com/)
- Sitemap: [https://echoscurse.com/sitemap.xml](https://echoscurse.com/sitemap.xml)