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.
Winners of constrained writing contest #13
This week we had an external judge joining us. Let's hear it for @foragingquietude!
Here's what she had to say about this week's winners and other entries, in her very own words:
Judge’s overall note: Thank you @svashta for letting me be the judge for week 13! 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. For this contest, I decided to judge your entries based on creativity. Also, as @simgirl said last week, feel free to join The Writer's Block on discord. It's there to help you with your stories. They will proof read and help you prepare your stories for posting or publishing. It's a great tool to use. I joined last week!
The winners of this week’s Constrained Writing Contest are:
- 1st place : 0.270 SBD + 0.05 STEEM : @veganrabbit with the entry “Goodbye”.
Judge’s note: I liked the way you held off informing the reader that the conversation was between a dog and her owner. I think that added a nice twist to the story.
- 2nd place : 0.162 SBD + 0.03 STEEM : @simgirl with the entry “Shimmer’s Morning”.
Judge’s note: I thought you described the general actions of a cat really well. The movements and even Shimmer’s portion of the conversation was very believable. I would have liked for Shimmer to actually speak with her human owner or at least another animal. I think the lack of understanding between the two of them, takes away from the talking aspect. However, you worked the story nicely with the owner’s understanding of the cat even though they didn’t actually speak to each other.
- 3rd place : 0.108 SBD + 0.02 STEEM : @jessicakluthe with the entry “Tweet”.
Judge’s note: I know we spoke about this in the comments on your story, but I really liked the message you conveyed with your story. However, I think the overall message may have been stronger than what was actually happening with the grandmother and her bird.
Honorable mentions in no particular order:
- @spalatino with the entry “Decision”
Judge’s note: Your story had an interesting twist to it, but it felt a little choppy. I think the story needed to slow down a little so the reader could absorb what was happening. In order to do that, it would need to be more descriptive.
@svashta’s note: Thank you very much, to all of you who participated, and those who just stopped by, read the entries and dropped some upvotes!
Because this week the prizes were on the lower side, @foragingquietude and I decided to forgo our cut and instead spread that amongst the winners!
That means 1st place gets 50 % of the post’s payout, 2nd place 30 % and 3rd place 20 %.
With that out of the way, onto constrained writing contest #14!
Rules:
This week it’s all me again! And here are the rules I’ve come up with for this week;
- Use “however, that’s not how it really happened” somewhere in your story
- The story must be at least 250 words long
- 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 and will be picking the winners based on my own preference, but try 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!
