Well, the time has come to once again pick a winner of this month's writing competition. I'm never sure how to do this, this announcing the winner thing. I'd like to console everyone who didn't win, hold their hands and say, “You're still a good writer. Don't worry.” But compassion often looks like pity and who wants to be pitied.
Sometimes it's better to just get it over with.
The Judges
Before we announce the winner, though, I'd like to thank the growing list of amazing judges for this contest: Patricia Hunter, Lisa Burgess, Tara Boyce, and Nancy Vandre, all winners of our previous contests. If you haven't yet, you'll want to read their winning stories. They're excellent.
I'd also like to thank Danielle Duvick, who also acted as a judge for this contest. Danielle is a professional editor, and graciously donated her time to help the judging. You can follow Danielle on Twitter to get fascinating updates about books and publishing.
Alright, let's get this over with.
Photo by Neal Fowler
Honorable Mentions
The first honorable mention goes to Brian's very funny, Bloomapalooza story, which posed a hilariously provocative question, why in the world do we name our seasons the way we do. I loved how meta it was, a entry submitted to a writing contest about an entry submitted to a writing contest. Very fun!
The second honorable mention goes to Just B's Season of Betrayal. This story broke my heart, but the narrator's powerful moment of resolution at the end was captivating and beautifully written. Well done, Just B.
The third honorable mention goes to Nora Murrad's One Palestinian Woman's Spring. This story was raw and uncomfortable, but the ending left me saying, “Wow,” over and over again for about ten minutes afterword. I loved this story.
The last honorable mention (yes we have four this month because the quality of writing was so high), goes to Marianne Vest's Spring, about a courageous woman with diabetes. Not only is Marianne the single most involved writer at The Write Practice, she is one of our best writers. This story is subtle, emotional, and perfectly written, which is just what I've come to expect from her. Thanks for sharing this with us, Marianne.
Runner Up
The runner up is Oddznns' story beginning, “Spring is a coil of blame in a mattress.” This story is a force from that first line, with its double entendre and notes of TS Elliot. Oddznns' tragic story plays with another piece of classic literature, The Diary of Anne Frank, and does so with poise, mystery, and bludgeoning power. Gosh this thing is so good.
The Winner of Show Off: Spring Edition
The winner of the April's Show Off writing contest is Dominic Laing's Ice, Custard, Hapiness, Amen. There are so many good things to say about this story: the way that it captures the voice of the inner city, its poetic music, its complicated religious notes, its sheer exuberance. Let me just say that Dominic is one of the most innovative young writers I've ever read, and we will be seeing more of him as he settles into his voice.
Congrats to everybody! There were so great stories this month (ok, there always are).
Joe, in the future, after the stories have been posted, can there be a direct link back to that post on the top of your page or in the preview of the “go read these stories” post? I found that as the week progressed it was harder and harder to get back to the stories to read them. (Other contributing factors could have been laziness and a limited amount of time).
Katie
Hey Katie! Each of the stories mentioned has a link taking you back to the specific story. Is that what you’re asking for?
Not really. I’m asking that when you post the “submissions are now closed” post, there’s a direct link to the comments section in the preview of the post. So during the judging it’s easy to get back to the comments for those of us who can’t read them all (or want to read more than we can do) in one sitting. Does that make sense? Sorry for the confusion.
Katie
I agree, that would be really handy, even before submissions are closed if possible. With over 200 comments, it can be hard to find the stories.
A worthy victor – congratulations, Dominic! I really liked your piece a lot and am looking forward to reading it in its final version.
Congratulations everyone! It was fun, and I couldn’t have picked winner to save my soul.
Congratulations to everyone, winners, runners up, honourable mentions and everyone else. I loved reading all of them. Well done Dominic.
Thanks to all the entrants – there were some really great stories to read. And congrats to Dominic!
Congrats to everyone! Great writing.
Congratulations to those who won! 🙂
Congatulations everyone! It was another great month for writing.
Congratulations, Dominic, and also the runner up and honorable mentions.
Congrats everyone, and I mean literally everyone. Seriously, pat yourselves on the back–so much good stuff to read as part of this contest. I’m new to this site and love it already.
this was a great first time linking up and getting to read so many great writers 🙂
I just now logged on and was pleasantly shocked, shocked, to see that my story, Season of Betrayal, received Second Honorable Mention in this month’s contest! I’m so honored! Thank you, Joe, for your time, your comments and praise, and mostly for providing us fledgling writers a forum for testing the writing waters! Thank you to all the contest judges and also to those who read and left kind comments on my submission. I do love a writing challenge and I’ll hopefully be back next month. I’m off to read more of the stories that were submitted. So much writing talent in one place. Thank you again for this honor. 🙂
The stories were wonderful. I think this concept would be good for teachers to motivate students to engage in more creative writing. Have suggested to my many teacher friends.
Thanks for sharing it with your teacher friends, Kathryn. What have they said? I’m fascinated to know. I’ve long wanted to start a Write Practice for high schoolers and middle schoolers.
Joe, I have two middles who would be all over this. They have participated in some of your prompts already on the side. I think this is a marvelous idea! You are so positive and constructive and creative — the perfect leader for such a venture :-).
Alright today I’m going to do a survey of how many people think it would be good to do a Write Practice kids edition. Look for it in today’s post.
Congrats everybody! 😀 I liked all the stories that were posted on here. I’ll definitely try to win the next one, too. 😉
You’re the coolest, magic violinist!
Thanks. 🙂 I work on my stories daily and hope to be an author someday but I’m not sure on how to find a publisher who wants to publish children fantasy stories.
Could anyone please give me their honest opinion on the first chapter of a book I’m writing? I don’t have a title yet, but it’s a fictional story about a country ruled by a king. There’s a girl named Anya who works for the king and needs to retrieve a magical emerald for him so the goblins hidden in the woods won’t take over the kingdom. Here’s the first chapter.
Chapter 1
Anya ran through the woods, fear beating against her heart in a rhythym worthy of a drum.
She wiped sweat off her forehead, breathing hard. She was sure the goblins had seen her. How could they not have noticed the immistakable glint of green as she stole the emerald?
Anya quickly climbed a tree and removed her pack. She pulled out the precious emerald and clutched it tightly, hardly daring to believe that it was real. Was this the actual emerald she had been attempting to steal for months now? Anya pressed her ear to the emerald. Sure enough the familiar buzz of energy that meant the emerald was real was there.
Anya replaced the gem carefully, wrapping it in the cloth she had with her. She closed her pack and slid down the tree, scratching her elbow as she went.
Anya heard a branch snap and, with practiced grace and speed, she leapt behind a bush and landed lightly on her feet, not making a single sound. She moved a few branches out of the way so she could peer through the bush.
Ten naked green creatures were running through the woods on all fours. They were extremely skinny and their arms and legs were long and fragile looking. Their ears were long and pointed like an elf’s. Their eyes were small and always black. Their voices were either very high-pitched or very low. It was never in between. They were obviously angry.
Anya squinted her eyes and strained to hear what the goblins were talking about. They were speaking in loud whispers. One goblin was pushing another goblin to the ground agrily and seemed to be accusing him of something. The other eight were huddled in a circle and were talking a little more calmly. They seemed to be plotting something.
“I told you to stay by the emerald!” a goblin said to another goblin lying in the dirt. “Where were you when you were on guard?”
“I-I- was guarding the C-Captain,” the goblin in the dirt stammered. “H-he needed p-protection.”
“No he didn’t, you brainless git. We can get another Captain. What we can’t do is get another emerald!”
“Please! Please!” A goblin armed with a smaller version of the sword Anya held pulled the goblin off of the terrified creature cowering on the ground.
“Stop wasting time, Snorc,” the deep-voiced goblin growled. He grabbed Snorc’s arm. “We need to find the human.”
Snorc pulled his arm away from the other goblin and bared his teeth.
“I want to make sure I don’t get punished for this,” Snorc said. “When we inform the Captain of what happened, I want it to be made clear that I didn’t do anything.”
Goblins, Anya thought. Always looking out for others.
“We might not have to tell him anything if we find that girl fast and get the emerald back.”
“You don’t understand,” Snorc protested, fear visible in his eyes. “You don’t have to be scared of anything. The Captain won’t punish his second in command. You don’t know the means of torture he punishes us with.”
“I know full well what the Captain does for punishment,” the goblin retorted. Anya saw his ugly green face draing of color slightly. “And I agree full-heartedly. Now let’s get a move on.”
Anya waited with baited breath for the goblins to gallop off into the woods. Unfortunately, they were going the same way Anya needed to go to get to the King’s castle.
Anya peeked around the bush for any remaining goblins and, spotting no danger, set off down the woods, landing lightly on the balls of her feet. Anya sticked to the shadows, hoping if she ran into trouble that the goblins wouldn’t notice her in the darkness.
Any noise that Anya heard made her jump: a squirrel scurrying across the leaves, a bird singing loudly, an occaisonal deer that snapped a branch in half.
The woods were darkening faster and faster as the sun set. The trees rich with leaves blocked out most of the sunlight, making it harder to navigate the large woods.
Anya had no trouble though. She could walk through the woods with her eyes shut and her feet would take her right where she needed to go. Anya couldn’t keep track of how many times she had walked this path. She had come to these woods many times to hunt for food with a poorly made bow an arrow before the king had sought her help. Those days were the worst. Anya remembered the times where she had to beg for scraps from the garbage can and people felt bad for her and tossed her change for food. She remembered when her ribs were poking through her skin and half a loaf of stale bread was a feast. She remembered a soldier coming through the woods on horseback and watched her fight off two goblins that had swords. She remembered his stunned face as she finished them off with a flourish. The soldier didn’t explain anything but told her to climb on behind him. She was taken to the castle and was given a bath, some proper clothing, and more food than she could ever imagine she’d be able to eat. Then she was brought to the king and the soldier was right next to him. She listened to the soldier explain to the king was he had seen her do. The king had told her all about the emerald and the goblins want to take over the kingdom. He had told her that the emerald gives the holder magical powers and that the king needed it back so the goblins wouldn’t over throw him and leave the kingdom in ruins.
Anya made it out the entrance of the forest and saw no goblins. She hurried down the lane and into town where most of the shops were closing up for the day. She hurried to the castle and the guards let her in, closing the gate behind her.