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 #30
The winners of this week’s Constrained Writing Contest are:
- 1st Place -
the entry Memoirs of a bus stop
Judge’s notes: From what I've talked with elder people, you've nailed it completely. The dialogue was pristine, and just captured oh, so very well. I believe we can all relate to your story, no matter the age, so job well done! ^^
- 2nd Place -
with the entry High call
Judge’s notes: You, too, managed to capture the dialogue perfectly. What I immedatiely felt with your story was how the dialogue came to life. I could tell how each person was feeling when they said (or didn't) say something which is hard to accomplish, but you did very well.Only thing I'd like to point out is that "..." doesn't count as dialogue. It's silence, and therefore not written down.
- 3rd Place -
with the entry A conversation about women
Judge’s notes: Thought fiction (I hope), I believe we can all very well relate to a case of existential crysis when we feel like a failure and that nobody likes us. You've also pointed out in your story how important it is to self-reflect then, and I just straight up loved that. Good work!
Honorable Mention In Alphabetical Order:
with the entry A new beginning
with the entry Rainbow Shards
with the entry Ghost therapy - pulling through
with the entry Of children
If I, by any chance, missed your entry, please do not hesitate to let me know, and I will do my best to redeem myself. I have missed an entry in the past, so I now pay extra attention, but ... It can happen still.
Sorry and thanks!
With that out of the way, onto constrained writing contest #31!
Rules:
This week I am the sole judge of the contest again, and here's what I've come up with for this week:
- Light and dark are reversed. Every light-emitting body (think sun, torch, lightbulb, ...) now emits darkness instead, and in the abscence of these light emitting bodies it is bright. In short, that means that when the sun is out, it's "night time", because you can't see because of the "sunshine" (because the sun now emits darkness). If there are no light emitting bodies anywhere nearby, it's light, but turning on a lightbulb makes the room dark(er).
- The story must be at least 250 words in length.
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 sole judge of the Constrained Writing Contest, and am responsible for picking the winners on my own discretion. 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 
*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!
