The alien in the cornfield (Halloween horror short story, Write Anything challenge)

It was a rainy afternoon, the kind that makes you put on your coat, open the door, sigh heavily and then turn back to flop down on the couch and stay there. But not for Bill. At least not this time.

9/11 challenges

Hey everybody!



You thought this was a joke, but I really mean it... Confessions of a chocoholic.



Yes, this calls for lolcats... (Despite 9/11)


It’s 9/11 today and exactly ten years ago horrifying things have happened, but as some of you may know from the ‘about me’ page; it also happens to be my birthday. Yeah, I know, not a day for celebration, but I didn’t pick it.

March of the penguin - 150 story, entry to the 5th in-thread writing competition

Since I hadn't put this up yet and I'm busy today, I scheduled this story. It was my entry to the 5th edition of the in-thread writing competition in the Blogger Help Forum (aka 'The Coffee Shop'). I suppose most of you who are active in the forum and participate in the contests have already read it, but for those of you who haven't, here it is.

challenge

write a story of exactly 150 words containing these 5 obligatory words (the ones put in bold): dictator, troop, riding, questionnaire, penguin.

my entry

The contest was finally won by Victoria P. You can read her entry in the thread or in my post on it.

"The new dictator promised his people that he would lead them to victory. The masses were jubilant.

He set off to pound at foreign gates still contemplating one thing: his Arms for the troops. He needed a predator that would inspire trembling in his enemies and still be original. Lions, wolves and tigers, they had become banal. He wanted something fresh to dress his soldiers up as. They would march upon capitals like the animals themselves, mimic its roars making a racket that would incline the boldest to surrender before even a drop of blood was spilled. Their fierceness would be food for legends.

Riding his horse, he thought long and hard, but could not make up his mind. In a fit of brief democracy, he gave out a questionnaire.

A servant handed him an envelope, which he eagerly opened and was taken aback.

“You guys want a frigging penguin?!”"

In-thread writing competitions: update

Alright, I realize I'm shamefully late with this, but here's a quick summary of what's been going on with the in-thread writing competitions...So for those of you who were wondering, here's the update.

The 6th edition:

was won by Hannah, who also won the first edition, so that shows what a phenomenal writer she is.

challenge

as always to write a story of exactly 150 words, this time with these 5 target words: Lovely, Vocabulary, Brother, Preserve, Reflection

Hannah's entry

"It was open-casket. I wasn't sure why, my brother looked ghastly. Bloated, pale. Perhaps the mortician was proud of how well he had preserved the body. I suppose he'd done a good job, considering. The two weeks it had spent festering in the woods hadn't done it any favours. 

He looked different to how I remembered.

Still, I imagined that I could see accusation and betrayal in my brother's eyes. I lowered my gaze to the coffin, where I could see my reflection in the polished wood as it was lowered. I looked lovely. Lovelier than I had any right to look, given the circumstances. 

But his death had been ruled a suicide, much to my relief, and now I didn't have to share my inheritance with anyone. Who wouldn't be happy? I felt a smirk tugging at the corners of my mouth. I guess 'compassion' wasn't in my vocabulary."

Award

And here is Hannah's rightful prize:

The 5th edition:

was won by Victoria P., who finished way ahead of nearly all of the competition with following submission.

challenge

write a 150 words story using these 5 words: riding, questionnaire, dictator, troop, penguin

Victoria's entry

"The room looked white and sterile, resembling a doctor’s office in all the wrong ways. The girl next to me was fidgeting nervously and frowning over a sheet of paper. Chill out, it’s not like your life is riding on the freaking job!

Ugh, the inevitable pre-interview questionnaire. I never understood what exactly they were hoping I’d answer to “Where do you see yourself in five years”

“I will have achieved the position of Global Dictator, following the creation of my troop of killer penguins by a team of paid geneticists. Having gained access to all of the Earth’s resources, I shall invest in a program to explore deep space and eventually start my Intergalactic Empire of Evil. And Cheese. This illustrates my superior leadership and communication skills.”

-         Miss Jenkins, Mr Barnes will see you now.

I stared at the blank sheet on my lap. One of these days…"

award

And here is is Victoria's well-deserved virtual trophy:

The 4th edition:
Alright, let's cut this short: I won, so I officially declare myself winner... Now I have something to tell my shrink about... *awkward*
You can read about the challenge and my entry to it - 'Mistaken Genius' - here.

Mistaken Genius - 150 words Writing Competition (fourth edition, host: Cayman)

Okay, writers of all lands, unite! Here are the submission guidelines for the fourth edition of the in-thread Blogger Coffee Shop writing competition (hosted by last winner, Caymantime), so get out your pens and notebooks and get creative!

You have to construct a story that incorporates all of the 5 words, and is exactly 150 words in length.

You will post your story as a reply to this thread. For the sake of clarity, you will italicize the entire 150 words, so that the stories are easy to spot as one scrolls through the thread, and you will bold the 5 random words in the story.

The winner is determined by how many 'Yes, this answer is helpful' votes she or he gets. Any 'No' answers will not be taken into account.

The competition ends a week from now, Wednesday, January 26th.

The winner of this competition will host next week's competition, and be declared winner on Stories Inc.'s blog, with their winning entry posted, as well as a link to their blog.

Your five randomly chosen words are:

Profile
Believer
Exit
Stunt
Spot

To enter the competition, write a story that is in accord with above rules and post it as a reply here.

And this is my entry:

Mistaken Genius

He thrust his fingers deep into the slick and drew smudgy black outlines on the wall. His nimble fingers sloped the profile along the stone canvas. A little thicker on that spot, a little curvier there, as if he was possessed. Beautiful! It was brilliant, it was bold, it was provocative, it would blow them all away... Who in their right minds could see this and not become a believer in Art and his awakening genius?

He held his breath. Was someone coming to peer on his work? He would NOT exit his domain now, not even if Hell itself came for him.

“What the fuck did you do to my room, you little shit?!”

She pulled him upright by the ear and dragged him out into the hall.

“Ouw!”

“Don’t EVER pull a stunt like that again, you hear? MUM!!!!! Picasso’s been playing around with the motor oil again!”

Happy reading/writings, lots of inspiration and good luck to all of you,

Stories Inc.

Writing Competition - And the winner is... (drum roll) 3rd edition

Hey guys!

As those of you who entered the in-thread contest probably already know, the third edition was won by the talented, the twisted, the downright mentally ill:

Caymantime!

So go give him a great big shout-out on his blog or in the thread.

This was his winning entry:

Stories business had improved since helping Drachma with his "little problem".  She began to grind more meat, noticing an eye she'd missed.  She picked it out and threw it in the fire.  She'd found mixing it with pork best.  Best seller, as well.

Business had been declining since the supermarket moved in a year ago.  Butcher shops just couldn't compete with their pricing, unless butchers could offer something they couldn't.  Stories' "special" blend of ground pork was just the something they couldn't offer. 

When Drachma first proposed Stories help with his "disposal" problem, she didn't know if she could do it.   "How do I do it?" she thought.  "Where do I hide bodies?"  Well, she figured hiding bones was much easier than whole bodies.  And so much more profitable. 
Looking at the blend, she had the urge to taste it.  Scooping with her finger, she brought it to her lips...

And this is Cayman’s well-deserved (virtual) competition trophy:

He did a great sketch of my daily life there, even though we’ve never met, amazing, isn’t he? Sausage, anyone? My treat.

For obvious reasons, I decided to award him another award, by popular consensus, I reckon:

Cayman will now host the fourth edition (how time flies) of the in-thread writing competition. I’ll give you the what and where asap.

In the future, there may be more extra awards, based on the general reactions of the public to a particular story.

All best wishes, everyone.

Stories Inc.

P.S.: sorry Cayman, no cash, but would you take a lifetime supply of meat products? I’ve got some fine recipes lying around, Cayman flavour. You do have to come collect them personally do. *grins in anticipation, rubs hands and sharpens knifes* Want me to give you my address? It’s just down the street, just follow the screaming.

Writing Competition, 150 words - Third Edition (host: Nina)

Okay… For quick writers, you still have till the 19th to enter this competition I should have already told you about had the universe not hated me (don’t get me started on all the things that went wrong this week). Bottom line: assignments, bad karma (?), and computers kicking up enough a.i. to make my life miserable when deadlines pop up. I swear it does that on purpose. Anyways... Here’s Nina’s in-thread writing challenge:

Write a short story of exactly 150 words containing the randomly chosen obligatory words

Mixing

Business
Eye
Grind
Urge

Italicize the story, put the 5 words in bold and post it as a reply in the thread. Vote via the “was this answer helpful, yes/no” buttons at the bottom of each reply. Don’t press no or you’ll go to hell. You will.

To enter or find more info, click the thread link. Good luck!

Sorry for rushing through this, but exams are killing me...

Entry to second edition of the in-thread writing competition

I haven’t yet posted my entry to the second edition of the in-thread writing competition here (which is quite convenient, I seem to have a few time-management problems this exam period, so now I no longer have to worry about today’s post), therefore I will do it now, even though the contest is kind of already over... (See next post for more information and go congratulate Nina)

The challenge was to write a short story of exactly 150 words, containing the randomly chosen words preliminary, yellow, contrary, dying, draw, so here is my submission, which came in second by the way (hooray! :D):

The Babysitter

The atmosphere was tense, the pressure maddening. They eyed each other suspiciously, the predator and the prey. Sweat dripping down their faces...

This time, he’d show her good!

This time, she’d beat him bad!

It would be great, it would be contrary to all expectations and preliminary to all success, winner take all... This was The Long-awaited Battle! They braced themselves for the next move.

“Foot on yellow!” He bellowed smugly. She’d never pull that off...

“Dammit!” It felt like dying, but she made it! A primal savage cry of joy welled up from deep inside her.

Both dug their teeth into their lips, a hardened expression; this was it. It burned. Each muscle hurt, but give up? No, sir, they would NOT!

Their self-elected referee hopped closer on his plaster, calling out: “For God’s sakes, cut it out already, it’s a draw.”

Fool! There were no draws in Twister!

There will soon be a third edition, hosted by this edition’s winner and I’ll keep you updated on that as soon as it’s up.

All best wishes,

Stories Inc.

P.S.: the post with more info on the previous contest should be up today, I try to get it ready in between courses... Yes, it’s a disaster. Please forgive me for not being around as much the coming weeks. I’m also going to try to avoid the forum, because I know what’s good for me. Well, more because if I don’t spring into full action now, it will be utterly hopeless. *sigh L*

Writing Competition, 150 words - Second Edition (host: Hannah)

Hey there,

In for another in-thread writing contest? The second edition is now hosted by Hannah, the winner of the last Blogger Coffee Shop Writing Competition. This edition is another 150 words – of which 5 words randomly picked and obligatory – challenge.

These are the rules, as quoted from the fabulous Hannah:

5 words will be chosen randomly through here; http://watchout4snakes.com/CreativityTools/RandomWord/RandomWord.aspx

You have to construct a story that incorporates all of the 5 words, and is exactly 150 words in length all together.

You will post your story as a reply to this thread. For the sake of clarity, you will italicise the entire 150 words, so that the stories are easy to spot as one scrolls through the thread, and you will bold the 5 random words in the story.

An entry that is not 150 words exactly, that has not been italicised, and that has not bolded the target words, will be ignored, because I just cannot be bothered to sift through everything and find stories and/or words in stories.

The winner is determined by how many 'Yes, this answer is helpful' votes she or he gets. Any 'No' answers will not be taken into account, because seriously, stop being petty.

The competition ends a week from now (IE; Next Tuesday), at whatever time I can manage to get online.

The winner of this competition will host next week's competition, and be declared winner on Stories Inc.'s page, with their winning entry posted, as well as a link to their blog.

(Example entries can be found here, if you're still unclear about the rules; http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=6576a96d76aeb054&hl=en. The 'italicise entries' rule is new, that's why the entries here are not italicised.)

Your five randomly chosen words are; Preliminary, Yellow, Contrary, Dying, Draw

You can enter the competition by posting your entry here.

Good luck to all of you and I’ll be looking forward to reading all of your entries at the Forum ;)

Writing competition: here's the challenge! - 150 words short story 'The Vial'

Hello, bloggers!

In for a little challenge? I just started a writing competition (a really tiny one) in the Coffee Shop. To enter, go to this thread and write/post a story of 150 words containing the words remedy, subject, monopoly, report and discipline as your answer. The winner will be determined by voting in the forum (result on Saturday, you can submit till Friday). Good luck to every participant! Here’s an example:

---

The Vial

---

He carried the vial across the street like a torch. All his life he had looked for it, this remedy... Those that called him mad and left, the lonely years, the humiliation, the deceit, the betrayal, all the sacrifices he made ceased to matter, accumulating in his outstretched hand.

“A monopoly!” The CEO said, a trace of drool along his chin.

“The report was promising: every trace gone in each of the subjects.”

“Lovely.” He listened only to the coins ringing in his head, rubbing his hands. “The Holy Grail of the discipline, mine.”

He groped for the vial with eager claws. Somewhere between vigour to obtain and reluctance to let go, the vessel was flung through the air.

Frantically reaching for it, their hands continued to clash. Both men held their breath as the beautiful crystal of dreams with a jingle like heavenly music, scattered into a thousand pieces.