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 #20
The winners of this week’s Constrained Writing Contest are:
- 1st Place - @spalatino with the entry "Heart of Grey"
svashta’s note: As with all your stories, @spalatino, you managed to really get all the character traits of Gandalf right. An old, wise man who is a local legend (has great respect). I thoroughly enjoy your stories for the character development - and of course the story itself also! I love how you also included his relative - and how you made Grey's words very, very powerful. Robert is, indeed, a name fit for a king. And Bob isn't. :D
- 2nd Place - @rindaman1234 with the entry "A story about needless violence"
svashta’s note: As I already mentioned in the comment on the story itself, I believe there's too much unnecessary violence all around us. Physical, mental, ... ... you name it. It's like we forgot that we're all... human. Who could work together toward great things, not against each other toward nothing but rage and terror. I believe you captured the feel of Don Vito Corleone excellently with the family aspect. That man was all about his family.
@svashta’s overall note: It would appear this week's constraint was too big a challenge and we only had 2 entries. I have tuned down the difficulty for this week to see if difficulty was indeed the issue here.
With that out of the way, onto constrained writing contest #21!
Rules:
Last week there were sadly only two entries. I suspect it was because the constraint was very hard, so this week I'm coming up with something much easier!
Here are the rules I've come up with for this week;
- Write a story where your character(s) can only see 2 colours and don't know any other colour exists. They can be different for each character.
- White and black count as colours.
- 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!
