Constrained Writing Contest #23 + Winners of Constrained Writing Contest #22
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 #22
The winners of this week’s Constrained Writing Contest are:
- 1st Place - @spalatino with the entry "Soul of the pack"
svashta’s note: In my eyes this week's story of yours was quite different than the rest of them. Usually you develop a character to the point I have a feeling I've known them since forever, but this time you told us a broader story with a little less character development. The idea for the story is awesome, the twist at the end is great, and the queen of the pack is my favorite. :P I wonder what will happen to her now that a new Alpha male has been chosen.
- 2nd Place - @kaelci with the entry "The void's approach"
svashta’s note: Very dark, which I always love in a story. Despite maybe not making it clear enough what will happen when the last person is "sacrificed", I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It had everything a good story needs. Lots of suspense, a good plot, and a fitting atmosphere. Loved it! ^^
- 3rd Place - @suzanrs with the entry "The "ing-less" chat"
svashta’s note: This story was a very playful and cute take on this week's constraint and I must admit I loved it a lot! I also think it raises a valid question about people... well... only ever communicating with the outside world using their computers. Nevertheless, a very enjoyable and fun read!
Honorable mentions:
@pixiehunter with the entry Fate of Leo
What slightly bothered me about this story is the lack of information. What is it with the food? Why exactly did their eyes turn red? Why exactly did Leo die? Overall, I think the idea is excellent, but needs some fine tuning!@pelusa with the entry Nowhere to run
This is one of those stories that has an excellent idea behind it, but poor execution. The typos are plenty, there's misuse of words, ... but all of that aside, you've got the creative mind it takes to write one hell of a story! Just nail that English of yours and you're good to go! ;D
With that out of the way, onto constrained writing contest #23!
Rules:
Well, let's put a slightly harder twist on the previous week's constraint. :P
Here are the rules I've come up with for this week;
- Write a story in which you only use the verbs in their "-ing" form
- 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!
I want to take part, but your contests are so hard! Hello my friend! Hope you are well!
@braveheart29! :D :D :D :D :D Long time no see ! :D
This week's is pretty hard, yeah, but nothing you couldn't manage ;) :D I will be very happy to read whatever you come up with! :D
I'm doing splendid! :D And you? :D
I have a nefarious purpose to contact you.....So, I'm only upvoting you and putting this PRETTY THUMB UP i CREATED to get your attention.
And going to appeal to your appetite to make money by curating others contests.
I want you to cross promote your contest by participating as a judge in a couple of mine:
"SteemIt Decathlon"
Contact me through private chat on on discord channel: Steeminati
I'm the @HumanEmotican
Hi!, Svashta.... This is my entry...
https://steemit.com/fiction/@obaseki/we-all-are-barbarian
Thank you very much for your entry! I will read it shortly! :D
My entry for this week. I think I managed to butcher the entire English grammar with this one :)
https://steemit.com/constrainedwriting/@spalatino/defiance
The meat cleaver sure is a nice tool, yepp :P
Thanks for your entry! :D
Happy day ¡ Here my entry
Thank you so very much! :D I will read it shortly! (I will read all entries at the same time, so at the end of the contest - or close to it)
Here I am.
Got a little bit of a headache. LOL.
I wonder if the left side of my brain can handle reading these -ing stories right now. https://steemit.com/constrainedwriting/@metzli/common-fraud-a-real-story-retold-for-a-contrained-writing-contest#comments
I'll keep checking back :)
Hahahaha :D I believe so, yeah! :D Has to be hard to reread the story a couple times to edit it and check for spelling when it's all -ing haha :D
Will give it a read in the following days :D (Will read all entries at same time ^^)
Congrats to the winners. That last one was difficult, but this one is definitely going to be a challenge! Can't wait to get started!
Yeah, this one is killer haha :D But it was an obvious "upgrade" of last week's :D
Can't wait to read what you come up with! ;)
Hey @spalatino - you stole my crown - well done, and also @kaelci, I loved reading yours too.
Thank you @svashta for yet another fun challenge and for my 3rd place :)
At least I got on the podium with my effort.
So loving this contest week in week out.
I don't think this week's will be as easy at it first looks. Can't wait :)
So very happy to hear you're joining again this week! :D
Definitely much, much harder than last week's. :D But I believe you can do it! :D With some... post-editing, of course. :P
Heh. Draft done. Checking/editing to do. In the line of doing opposites this one will make you cry... maybe 🤔
You've already done the draft? :D Nice! :D That's fast! :D
Oh my, do I even dare read it? :o
Jeeshe. This is hardering thanning I thoughting :D ctrl+f not applicable here :(
Hahahaha :D Nope, no cheating with ctrl+f this time!
All the more work editing! Also much harder for me to spot if you missed any! I'll make sure to re-re-re-re-read :D
Ok @svashta here it is Definitely not the easiest of challenges. The story is true - someone I knew (since has died) but to write it in the form for the contest was harder than I thought. Usually things just flowwwww, but this had rapids, a weir and a waterfall to contend with :D
"ing" words everywhere! Haha! Wow, that really is a hard constraint. I trained myself so well to rarely use -ing words over the past few months ;) now to break my learned habit!
Thanks for the placement :) and a big congrats to @spalatino and @suzanrs ! :D
Awwwww, now I almost feel bad for forcing you to only use the continuous form! :o
I know, it's not as desired as the "non-ing" form, but hey, it has its uses. :P It's a somewhat softer version of the verb :p
I am trying! And, so far, succeeding! Though my brain is exploding!
;)
Good! Good! GOOOD!!! Just as I planned! Evil laughter
It feels good to end on top this week, especially when taken into consideration that both entries from @kaelci and @suzanrs were awesome. Although very different I really liked them both.
I triple checkedy entire entry for possible -ing form. Ufff. It really prolonged the writing of the entire post. This week, I have no idea how to create a story with only continuous form for verbs. Luckily I have an entire week to figure it out. Interesting constraint @svashta :)
Definitely earned it ;D
Also, loving your imagination! :D Pretty crazy! ;D
I checked all the entries also - luckily there's the ctrl+f function that let's you search the entire post for every "ing" there is :P I admit, I'm lazy. ;P
Yeah, it's pretty hard, only using continuous forms, but I believe in you! And your imagination! :D