Constrained Writing Contest #20 + Winners of Constrained Writing Contest #19
Most writing contests give you a writing prompt or at least a couple of words to work your idea around, which is why I decided to host a slightly different contest.
A constrained writing contest
Instead of being given an idea or a writing prompt, you are allowed to choose the topic completely by yourself. But, varying from week to week, you will face different challenges that limit your writing.
You will be required to omit certain words, use a specific word in every second sentence, use a given sentence unchanged, write a story with a certain amount of words... or a combination of all.
In short, instead of telling you what to write about, you are told how to write.
Winners of constrained writing contest #19
This week we had a guest judge joining us for the second time, @foragingquietude, this week with a much, much harder constraint than the first time! Here's what she had to say about the constrained writing contest #19:
This is a copy-paste. All text rightfully owned by @foragingquietude. I do not claim the following text as my own.
Thank you @svashta for letting me be the judge for week 19!
Thank you to everyone that participated in the contest. This was a hard set of constraints and it was definitely interesting to see what everyone would come up with. I judged this contest on how well the constraints were used.
The constraints were as follows:
- Convince your reader of a conspiracy theory told from the perspective of a child, aged between 6 and 16. (6 and 16 included)
(Conspiracy theory: a belief that some covert but influential organization is responsible for a circumstance or event)- You can only write in 2nd person (meaning the child is convincing you of the conspiracy theory)
- It can be a made up theory or one that already exists.
- The story must be at least 250 words long and in English
The winners of this week’s Constrained Writing Contest are:
- 1st Place - @rindaman1234 with the entry What if Jacqueline Kennedy Kill John Kennedy
Judge’s notes: You presented the reader with a strong argument for your conspiracy theory. It was a very persuasive story. I don’t think the age of the story teller was quite right. There are ways you could have addressed that in the wording and language that you used. You also had a lot of grammatical errors. If you haven’t already, check out The Writer’s Block on Discord. You can submit your work there to be proofread.
- 2nd Place - @hope-k with the entry Illuminati Confirmed at the Gas Station
Judge’s notes: You did a good job with the conspiracy theory portion of your story. I thought the evidence was a little lacking, but overall it was good. You did a great job with the 2nd person POV, but it didn’t really read as though it was told from a child’s perspective.
- 3rd Place - @incomprehensibl3 with the entry Through Little Eyes
Judge’s notes: Even though this lacked a conspiracy, I felt you did a great job with presenting it from the perspective of a child in 2nd person. I found it to be very persuasive. It was a great theory, but it just needed a conspiracy behind it.
Honorable Mentions In Alphabetical Order
- @cordero212 with the entry My Father is a Hero
- @corderosiete with the entry The Heros of my Homeland
- @hurlamideh with the entry The Conspiracy Theory
- @luzmar with the entry Corrupt in My School
- @mrgranville with the entry I know Where You Are
- @pink-coco with the entry Socks
- @spalatino with the entry Dear Santa
- @suzanrs with the entry “I’m Telling You the Truth”, You Lied
- @tibra with the entry Continuity
@svashta’s note: This week was quite different, especially with the introduction of a constraint to write in 2nd person, which is not something writers usually do. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the stories I have read, and if I am to point out the two of my favorites from the above Honorable mentions, it's easily @tibra and @spalatino. But then again, they have a way of reaching to me in a special way. Maybe they've put me under a spell. I don't know? :|
With that out of the way, onto constrained writing contest #20!
Rules:
Since the contest somewhat gained in popularity in the rect weeks, and since the entries have been improving in quality at rocket speeds, I have decided to throw a bit of a harder challenge at you and see how you all do.
Here are the rules I've come up with for this week;
- Write a story the way your favorite movie character would tell it.
- The story must not be related to the movie(s) in any way. You need to capture the "feel" of the character, not its story. (example: You cannot have Darth Vader tell a story about anything related to Star Wars.)
Because ther are too many different movie characters out there for us to know each and every one of them, here are the ones you can choose from:
- Darth Vader (from Star Wars)
- Ace Ventura (from Ace Ventura)
- Jack or Rose (from The Titanic)
- James Bond (from James Bond)
- Lara Croft (from Lara Croft)
- Don Corleone (from The Godfather)
- Terminator (from Terminator)
- Gandalf (from The Lord of The Rings)
- Indiana Jones (from Indiana Jones)
- Nick Naylor (from Thank you for smoking)
- Elle Woods (Legally blonde)
If you know no character listed above, please make a suggestion in the comments below and allow me to approve it.
- The story must be at least 250 words long and in English
And as for the usual mumbo jumbo, here's the rest of the rules just about every contest has:
- Upvote this post
- Post a link to your entry in the comments below
- Include tag #constrainedwriting among your other tags
- Should you wish to help raise awareness of the contest, please consider resteeming this post (it is by no means compulsory)
Prizes
- 1st place: 45% of post's payout
- 2nd place: 27% of post's payout
- 3rd place 18 % of post's payout
- Judge takes 5 % for his/her efforts
- I will take 5 % for hosting, writing and editing the contest
*Note: In case I receive any donations for the contest, the payout percentages apply to the donation itself as well.
Judges
This week I am the judge of the Constrained Writing Contest I am responsible for picking the winners on my own discretion, but I promise to try my best and be as objective as possible.
What's that I hear? You wish to be a judge too? Well look no further!
To apply for a judge and make up your own rules, simply send @svashta a hearty hello on steemit.chat.
*Disclaimer: I will only allow fellow writers as judges to keep the competition high quality.
Deadline
- Entries are accepted until this post's payout
- Your entry post must be newer than this post
Good luck!
Thank you, and congratulations to the other winners.
Elle Woods... That's funny. I didn't see that one coming.
A friend suggested it, and I thought it could be funny. :p
thanks for the honorable mention..i hope i do better next time...and congratulations to the winners.
I very much hope to have you participate again! :D
I must admit, this was a hard challenge, at least for me, i hope I didn't ruin Gandalf too much https://steemit.com/story/@spalatino/heart-of-the-gray
Been waiting anxiously for your entry! :D
Will check it out in a jiffy! :D :D
hello here it´s my entry for the contest:
https://steemit.com/constrainedwriting/@rindaman1234/don-vito-corleone-a-story-about-needless-violence
Thank you very much :D On my way to check it out ;D
Thank you - for the mention again :)
@svashta you figured out my secret, my writing has the ability to cast spells... Speaking of that, for this weeks challenge I call dibs on Gandalf hahaha. Congrats to all winners
Hahahahahah :D Finally revealing your true form! A sorcerer of great proportions indeed ahha :D
(just so others don't get confused by chance... there can be as many entries as you wish using the same character... there isn't a "first come first serve" system... you pick whichever you wish to pick, regardless of who others picked :P)
I win 1st place? I certainly did not expect that, Thank you!!. sorry about the grammatical errors i´m latin american so writing stuff in english is sometimes hard for me but thank you for the recommendations i´ll keep it in mind.
Lately, there have been several entries from people who don't speak/write in English very well. Because of that, I try not to get hung up on the grammer and instead judge based on creativity or including all of the constraints. This is just me as a judge though. Each judge is free to choose the winners based on their expectations. However, a story that meets the constraints and is as grammatically correct as possible, is the ideal entry to have.
I'll just add to @foragingqueitude's reply;
Whenever you write in a language that is not your own - and hell, even if you write in your own... you just give it your best to do best you can. If you give it your all, but there's still typos, well you've given it all you've got at this point in time, and that - I believe - is what matters most.
And knowing you can improve is one of the greatest knowledges there is! :D
I also write in a language that is not my native - I'm Slovenian and speak Slovene - and I know my English could use a tonne more other words that I don't know, or at least don't remember... and that my tenses sometimes suck, and the list goes on... but with everything I write I give it my all to do the best I can... then improve from there. And reading my first few stories and comparing them to my recent ones.. I've advanced... Both in my writing style, and in my English... And I believe you can - and will - also! :D
Well said @svashta!
@moneyinfant has added your contest to the list Steemit Writing Contests: Issue #35. The list is updated on a daily basis and your contest will remain on the list until its expiration - there's nothing you need to do.
The list was created to save writers the excessive amount of time spent searching through the #contest tag for writing contests. Now they can just come to the list each day, see new contests and use their time doing what they love - writing.
If you'd like to help spread the word about the Steemit Writing Contest List I'd really appreciate a resteem, but it certainly isn't necessary. The project is simply meant to help writers save time and contest creators attract more contestants.
P.S. If you know of any contests I've missed I'd love to hear about them. Thanks!
Congratulations to all the winners!
Great contest and great entries!