Finish the Story Contest - WEEK #17
A contest with a pot of 4 @steembasicincome shares + SBD payout, where everyone wins? You're in the right place!
59 @steembasicincome shares + 21.288 SBD awarded till now through the contest!
Prize categories:
1st place : n. 2 steembasicincome shares
2nd place : n. 1 steembasicincome share
Popular jury : n. 1 steembasicincome share (remember to vote your favorite!!)
All other participants will receive a share of the entire SBD payout
Who's @cyemela? (from the author's mouth)
Special thanks to @f3nix for organizing this amazing End the Story contest. Really enjoy writing with you all. I’m @cyemela, and the author of three books. Just finished my role as Executive Producer of my new audiobook Red Roses available soon. For more about my books go here
Happy to try writing the start of the story for this weeks contest. Trying historical fiction to go along with my audiobook Red Roses.
I recommend you all to visit his Amazon webpage since Cyrus is a truly skillful author! We all wish you the best with Red Roses full launch!
Things that please the Bananafish mighty god!
- vote, vote, vote your favorite story!
- Try to post your story the earliest possible and not at the last moment.
- Sustain, comment and upvote each other as a true group of friends and fiction lovers.
- Respect the 500 words limit.
- Post in your blog instead than in the comment section.
- help our contest & workshop to grow by giving it some visibility.
And now.. let's dive into today's story!
Third Wheel Coming
Some years had passed since the Priest of Durham married The Lady of Berwickshire to her Scottish Prince.
The time drifted along peacefully as he’d settled back in his role with the people.
And so, as he had way back when, he rode his horse to the Durham seashore to watch the waves and pray.
Only far off upon the horizon, he could see a ship rowing toward him. As it got closer he could see the danger and rode away back to the village.
Ulfric Red Beard and his Viking army landed on the shore then moved inland.
The Priest of Durham made it back to the village in time to warn the constable. The constable alerted the local militia. The nobles were notified and scrambled knights on horseback.
When Ulfric Red Beard reached the village he met the English forces defending the town. The Vikings outnumbered them 3 to 1 because of the element of surprise.
Ulfric Red Beard stood seven feet tall, a giant in the 1490s, he walked onto the battlefield, raised his battle axe above his head, and yelled foaming at the mouth:
“I’m going to behead the first Englishman that steps within reach!”
Just then the skies opened and an alien spaceship appeared from nowhere, hovering above them.
The epilogue of these events got lost within the folds of history, due to memories being purposely erased. However, there remains the following one last account of what took place that day.
Join the fun! Here is how this contest works:
An unfinished fiction story or a script is posted.
You finish it with your own post or a comment in the comment section. A limit of 500 words is recommended.
YOU WIN! 4 @steembasicincome shares to the writers with the best ending + SBD payout between all the participants who won't get one of the 4 shares.
The result will be out on Monday 25th June, 14:00 PM - two o' clock in the afternoon GMT+7 (U.S. West Coast time zone). Submission deadline: Monday 25th June, 12:00 PM - noon
The @bananafish has come between us!
Here is my entry based on this weeks fantastic prompt. My VP isn't great today so I will be back to read and vote peeps tomorrow, I promise. Manged to keep it to 697 words this time😉
My continuation of the story:
In the Lap of the Gods
Welcome back Rowan and thanks for this breathtaking ending! (Below I made a comment where you can express your vote for the best story)
Hi @f3nix, hectic past couple of days for me but I have now read, commented and upvoted 5 of the entries and enjoyed reading them all :-) P.s. Your prompt last week inspired me to writing a longer SciFi story which I just published for another comp on steemit + I have the first 2000 words of a second story I'm saving to submit to Ares, Asimov’s + many of the other SciFi/Fantasy paying Magazine's. Just wanted to let you know that your comp/initiative is inspiring people. I wouldn't have got so in the Scifi mindset if it wern't for last weeks Finish the Story Contest :-)
Which reminds me. I want to give something back as a thank you for this gift of inspiration so I was wondering if you would like to come on my 'literary corner' segment on the Monday night whaleshares show to promote your contest and talk about how you came up with it etc? Check out my run down/promotional post from a previous week to give you an idea of what the segment is all about. + check out the graphic below for when the show is on. You can use a phone to talk on the discord server and this post (or the next finish the story post if this one is past payout when I get the reward whaleshares given to me) would also receive a boost in the form of a whaleshares vote. Let me know if your up for it buddy. Cheers
Dear Rowan, first of all, apologies for the belated reply! Mrs. F3nix (from which I, unfortunately, live apart) came back for the summer and I'm trying to create the most improbable alchemies to keep at least the essential presence on steemit. I am honored for your offer and most of all I'm excited about this contest being a source of inspiration: it means that my goal has been reached! My friend, I'm sorry but other than being terribly shy, I'm also a bit deaf and I'm worried I would understand half of what you say from a stream program.. Mrs. F3nix, who is mother tongue, offered to translate but it's still a bit too much emotionally overwhelming for me! But thank you infinitely for your presence and support here in the contest. Some things:
You rock man, I'll greet you with the last version of the contest banner (the official one will have less blood stains!)
That's fine matey. If you can't make it you can't make it. I will still promote this comp on the show and just wanted to ask if you mind me using this image in my promotional post I'm about to put up as a link back to your blog?
Here's a bigger one, still different I'm modifying them to find the right one ;-) of course, you can use it! Soon there will also be a banner for the participants.. Thanks again!
Cool, cheers mate. Here is a link to the promotional post I have just put up and do feel free to come to the show just to listen if you would like :-)
My ending is, as always, slightly above 500 words:
https://steemit.com/fiction/@marcoriccardi/third-wheel-coming-the-miracle-finish-the-story-contest
As anixio suggested..I made a comment here which will work as a place to express the popular vote ;-)
@f3nix, I have a suggestion regarding votes of the public :)
Maybe you should make a comment right after making a contest post, on which all of us will write our favorite and nothing else. I presume that it'll be much easier for you to count names in one comment, than scroll through all the comments of the contest. Because this contest has been growing and growing and soon we'll regularly pass 50 comments!
This is a great idea @anixio! Will do it now..
Hello my friends!
I'm back with fun story for this contest.
Hope the history lovers will appreciate the twist :D
Edit: Because of the word limit I excluded a lot of explanations, and left quite a few hints. Using those hints readers can see the complete picture/story :), or so I think :P
Welcome back @anixio the great! About the words limit: it influences the judgment but if you have to do 550 because of something you consider essential..and if that something gives a real plus to the story..then do it. Just keep in mind that a bordering that doesn't add any value can become counter-effective ;-)
It's 540 words + the reference to this post which is kinda part of the story...
Just read it and make your own decision :P
I won't mind any way you decide because I had so much fun writing this one :)
Having fun when writing is always the key and best reward. 540 is totally acceptable.. you know me, my friend, and the way I see this place and "rules" ✌️😎
Ok I am over the word count by a good 10%, but here we have my entry
Third Wheel Coming
It was too hard to pick one to vote for, so please put my vote to @theironfelix or @raj808 - where ever it will count more!
I am excited to get going on this historic prompt, @cyemela can I just check, this is set during the reign of Henry 7th, the perkin warbeck saga time period, but also the viking invasion, how historically accurate are you looking for? I was full on ready to start when I noticed the date, and everything I had researched was for a story around 800-900AD and based on some of the mysterious viking remains found earlier this year :( - I will just have to write two - although thinking about it... maybe I have an idea but the challange will be to get all of it under 500 words. How important is accuracy here? Seeing the picture with the prompt, I am guessing this is pretty fixed as a Roses story? Finally, is the protagonist John Sherwood or Richard Foxe?
@calluna, I think you can just let your hair loose on this one... Yeah, I too was thinking about the Vikings end of history but things were not adding up.
I agree with @oivas, @calluna .. considering that a spaceship is about to land between the two factions, staring open mouth. I think that Cyrus will be quite lenient, I will look for his answer and keep it in mind when awarding.
Adding: about the words limit, I just answered to @anixio about it, the way I see it ;-)
We will see what I end up with ;)
Ok ok, I have something, I am trying really hard to hack the word count down (need more of those battle axes) 566 words + a viking incantation and translation - gunna just get the old blade sharpener, give it about slash, and then just post it. Then if you and @cyemela think it is too many, it is an easy way to disqualify me from the prizes ;)
Slash the adjectives with that sharp blade, Cal! ;-P (but when it's good it's good, no matter the word count)
You say this, but one day you will just get a novel ;)
Yeah. You're right. The book's about Richard III. Thought of a Viking invasion flashback for the Priest of Durham only they happened earlier. For this excercise Historical Fiction only in that it takes place in the 1490s.
And to clarify Red Roses takes place in 1485 and covers the last months of Richard III's life leading up to The Battle of Bosworth Field that basically ends the Wars of Roses. White Roses vs. Red Roses. Written like Shakespeare. As a member of the Richard III Society we point our finger at Richard III the play by Shakespeare as what tarnished his reputation in history. This audiobook portrays Richard III as a soldier King. Think I get some free links. Would love any sort of reviews.
Richard III House of York actually White Roses:
I am such a fan of this period of history, Richard III was not a bad guy, not even arguably the most destructive of the three sons of York. He stood by his brother. I can't believe he killed the princes in the tower, and am not even sure they were both in there, I really enjoy the alternative theories, especially those with plenty of evidence - I will have to check it out, I get faaaar to excited about history, I am looking forward to seeing where you fell on things. I am not normally into ebooks, but this worth making an exception for!
The audiobook is better. Should be available soon.
You can always get more info here:
http://www.richardiii.net/
Awww I love audiobooks, let me know when it comes out and I will be right on it!
Nice prompt @cyemela. Up until the last line I was thinking it's going to be hard to avoid killing most of the characters again! I will try to keep the bloodshed down a little bit this time.
LOL. It's your imagination that counts. Looking forward to whatever you create. Tried to keep it open to whatever. Only wanted to use a character from the book and the setting. This is fun for me after working on this project for over a year now. Thanks!
I did promise to spill a bit less blood…. but I just couldn’t help myself. Also, sorry didn’t see your title until I had already finished. Here is my story.
I would have expected everything but not a ...fashion crime! O_o
The start of the story is fantastic @cyemela, I just love it.
My favorite books are history-fiction novels, I can read them 24/7, there are just two problems called everyday life and job :P
I agree with you, it's fantastic and I think it's particularly enticing due to the fact that it transports us to a fresh new environment, yet maintaining our taste for the unconventional. I can't wait to see what will come out. Cyrus is a rock of this contest.
Comin' in hot with a submission: the invasion of Durham for ye. Whether thou are a peasant, knight and viking, I have recover'd the real account of what happened that day!
Welcome back man! In case you want to vote your favorite story, I made a comment below, you can place it there.