Just logged in a few moments ago and saw the results of the summer contest. Three things: 1. Congratulations to @matwoolf. Painted Lady was my favorite story, and the one I voted for. Even though I have never read any of matwoolf's fiction on this site, I had a feeling I knew who the author was. 2. Congratulations to everyone who posted an entry. These were all fun to read, and putting together a complete story is a worthy accomplishment. This is the first time I've entered a contest here, and it was nice to see so many other entries. 3. Thank you to the 4 who voted for my entry, The Fall of Calakmul. I appreciate the votes. I chose 2nd person and alternating present and past tense because they're complained about so much. I posted fully expecting that no one would vote for the story. Thanks to you four for going down the rabbit hole with me This was fun!
Isn't it amazing how our imaginations took us on such different rides with that photo? I don't believe I've ever written from a photo prompt b/4, and yet in this instance the story line I wrote about came immediately to mind when I saw the photo. Course, I had just (the week previous) attended the 50th class reunion of the 8th grade "graduating" class of the K-8 Catholic school I had attended. Stories had been swapped there with folks I hadn't seen since childhood about the nuns, the day Kennedy was shot, life w/o color TV, etc. It was a first for me to try to write in a humor genre, so I would be interested if anybody thought that I pulled that off. I certainly learned that there are many talented writers on this forum to learn from.
It's always interesting to see what people come up with from prompts. I've written off of photo prompts before, and I always find a wide variety of stories, from those that incorporate the elements of the prompt literally to those that are meant to simply invoke imagery from the prompt. The creative uses of the prompts are one of the most fun things about a contest like this. I've decided to put back a few hundred words I cut from the story to hit the 1000 word mark and find a place to submit it. If you, or anyone, has any thoughts about what you liked or didn't like about it (apart from POV) the feedback will be useful. If anyone else wants specific feedback on their story, I'm happy to provide it.
Guys I'm glad you're both here, considering I voted for one of you and almost voted for the other. My third choice is the one that actually won-it was a bit too art-house for me, and I felt more of a story was wanting. Steerpike, as you know I almost voted for your piece but I'll say it here for everyone. The writing was very powerful. It possessed a certain magnetism, but I really don't think I can ever fully grasp the story until I see it written in a better tense, either first or third past. If you ever change the tense. Please let me know. DueNorth. I voted for yours. It was hands down my favorite. I think, in terms of technical writing, only Fall of Calakmul (minus tense) and Painted Lady rivaled yours, the latter maybe having the slight upper hand. However, I'm just going to say yours was the only piece that really resonated with me. I felt like that boy was real. Granted, I am not sure a boy who actually speaks like that in real life would WRITE like that in a letter, but I was very much willing to overlook this slight shortcoming. You have charm and elegance in your work (at least this one). Keep it up. Not winning doesn't mean your story wasn't the best ;-)
I agree that @DueNorth wrote a very good story. It was on my short list. I went through and read all of the stories, then re-read a handful of them. I didn't vote right away but spent a couple of days mulling it over. During that time, Painted Lady kept coming back to my mind unbidden, and I re-read it twice more before casting the vote for it. @123456789 I'll let you know if I decide to change the POV. I'm going to see what kind of luck I have submitting it with its current POV, and if I don't have any I may rewrite it in first or third. I'm not sure, yet, which of those I'd prefer for this story.
BTW, and for future reference, every aspect of the creative process for this contest was "in house". The graphics for the contest posts are my own creation, the photograph is @obsidian_cicatrix's personal work, and of course the entries are obviously the individual written artwork of the members. This was something I wanted to keep as a running thread through the whole contest, that it's 100% writingforums.org. If anyone is interested in participating in the creation of future special contests like this, please let me know, understanding that this idea that it's all us, for us, from us, is something that I would like to preserve for future endeavors.
I voted for Matwoolf, I thought his was strange and lovely. Very unique. I like stories where the language really speaks to me - like this - beautiful! Yours was a good read Steerpike, the visuals awesome, but for some reason I couldn't get past the second person. Usually I'm pretty open to anything creative but I can't seem to get into second person. I want to ride along with the hero not be addressed the hero. I'm glad you got votes. I had fun reading everyone's entry, everyone did a wonderful job! It was fun to see everyone's different takes on the photo. We should have more contests like this, kudos to everyone to everyone who organized it.
@peachalulu thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it. It would be interesting to find out from the people who did vote for mine what they thought made the second person POV work. I'm curious about that, since I don't generally write in second person.
I voted for your piece, @Steerpike. I was going to hold back from mentioning which item I voted for, but that seems a little silly now. I voted early on so my vote in no way swung anything. I thought the use of 2nd person was an interesting risk you took. Someone earlier mentioned you picking a "better" tense, but I think that term is nonsense. Better? What meter are we using to measure? N/A. There were many good pieces up for bid, and I liked your piece overall, but it was the risk you took in going that route that got my vote.
I feel bad for not reading them all and voting but I'll read the winning one now out of curiosity. I'm just really busy and it seemed too time consuming to read them all. Congrats @matwoolf
@Wreybies thank you. I am gratified that you liked it, and even more that the choice of second person played a role in your voting for it, rather than you voting for it despite the POV
Let me explain quickly my use of the word "better." The meter I was using was how easily I could digest the story. Not always- but often- second tense throws me off a lot. I think why this might be the case is obvious (Peachalulu explained one reason) So, I mean to say, a better tense that allows me to more entirely comprehend the scope of the story. Sorry if I was not specific enough -_-
Huge congrats to everyone- I thoroughly enjoyed reading them all! I had quite a shortlist, including Painted Lady and the oft mentioned Sister Angelica. Kudos to you both. I thought both those and a Bit o' Rain captured a child's voice/perspective really well- something that's very hard to do. I wanted to mention Bit o' Rain especially as I was shocked it got no votes- I nearly voted for it so definitely a case of missing out for me because it wasn't my favourite, not because I didn't like it! I voted for Two Little Ducks- just the right amount of whimsy for me... I didn't enter this one because nothing leapt out for me personally from the picture but I loved watching and reading- please do run some more if you would like to @Wreybies ! Once again, well done all and thank you
Just realised @Wreybies was looking for volunteers rather than requests! I'm happy to help out if that's useful...
You're welcome I didn't even notice it was second-person on the first read-through. It just seemed natural. It was a toss-up between yours and Fred, for me, and in the end yours took it because on the second read-through I did start noticing all these interesting things you'd done. Good job. Would read again.
Congrats to all! I voted for @Drummy49 's Mushrooms and Rainbows, because I found it to be incredibly fresh and interesting. Hilarious, too. I thought @Viridian 's Fred was wonderful, but I also very much enjoyed @GingerCoffee 's and @BookLover 's stories. Good job everyone!
@Steerpike I voted for yours. I like playing with POV myself, so that didn't worry me. Yours felt the most complete to me... not saying I understood it all, but I saw a whole picture painted and there was just the right amount of detail for me for it to resonate. It's been interesting going back and reading them all again now they're de-anonymized. I feel like I'm reading them slightly differently, based on what I think I know about individual intention or style.
Thanks you @NigeTheHat and @Woof. I'm glad you both liked the story and voted for it. I've done a bit of editing to it and I'm going to see if I can place it somewhere. I'll let you know how that goes
Congratulations to the Winners! and thank you Ivana for your praise and your vote! I'm glad you found it funny, as I was aiming for a humorous and unconventional angle with my story. To be honest I sat there staring at the picture and not feeling much inspired until I got to thinking that the only way it really made sense was under the influence...and thus my psychedelic journey was born. It could use more polishing but it was fun to write. I really enjoyed DueNorth's story "Dear Sister Angelica". Like others have said, I can picture that boy and those girls driving him mad, all the while he incurs the wrath of the father and the school...very clever how it tied the picture in and was a joy to read. Fred also sticks out in my mind as a memorable story. All in all, congrats to all who won and participated, and thanks WF for running a fun contest.
