WINNERS of Finish The Story Contest - Week #1

Illustrious story lovers!

Today we see the winners of the first reawakened "Continue the story" contest.

Each of the contributed stories had its own unique strengths and colorings of how the imagination entered into a dance with the author.

Indeed, it was not easy to assign the places and so my own rating system helped me in that I used the B grade to assist me in making a decision at all. Still, with fiction, it's always difficult to stick to a set of criteria, however fairly you've worked it out.

So here are the winners of the first week - Congratulations!:

1st place: Hive account@owasco - 8 hive
2nd place: Hive account@itsostylish - 5 hive
3rd place: Hive account@kemmyb - 3 hive

I will say right off the bat, though, that Hive account@wrestlingdesires and Hive account@litguru's stories pulled me in as much as they kept me intrigued. They almost stand on their own. I wish I could pour out hive dollars here too, but that's beyond my ability:) - I found the use of the dialogue style device in both here particularly refreshing.

I hope you are not disappointed, but rather feel challenged, the ambition to connect a story started with all its used clues and attributes with your own following it.
I am glad that you competitors also commented among yourselves and gave your impressions. That is one of the purposes of this contest.

Hive account@owasco was the most convincing, in her continuation many of the beginnings of the story are cleverly integrated and she achieved a deepening of the characters, which I put as one of the important criteria. Very lifelike storytelling.

Hive account@itsostylish was convincing in the use of confusion, smells and associations that could be taken ambiguously and that kept me guessing as to what was now real and what was surreal. My own imagination thus experienced a freedom.

Hive account@kemmyb 's continuation of the narrative resulted in the death of our protagonist, a choice I personally applaud because there is no sugary happy ending here. Also, her re-editing of the narrative by having the truck drivers talk in slang at the end and suggesting their involvement in the accident enhanced her story.

To everyone else who read or participated, thank you so much! I hope you stick around and continue to feel inspired to share your stories.

Now what to do with the most helpful comment? I'm not sure how to award this one. Maybe you can help me out and submit which of the comments you found most helpful? I had thought of this as an extra bonus to motivate engagement and to give each other technical or other assistance.

All of us who write and want to improve probably know our own weaknesses best. Personally, gut instinct is often a helpful clue when I find myself too quickly tempted to use a cliché as an aid, or too quickly passed over an important element where I actually felt, even as I was writing, that I should have better directed my attention there.

There will be another week of the "Continue the Story contest", that's for sure! Stay tuned and watch out for it!

Thank you, dear contestants for taking part in this writers journey, I hope, you had as much fun I had.

Leave a comment, please, of whose engagement you think has lifted you or brought you to the point to feel inspired to work on your writing skills.

Thank you.

---