its judging day

ack sorry i'm late :(

Honorable Mentions

Kat Princess Forever! I really like it that you had Rix learn to accept herself, instead of continuing to hate herself, and it was an interesting idea to include a plot rather than just description. Good job!

Neverseen! You are definitely a master of ominous writing and the idea of writing about the characters trapped in a book is really original. The ending is also an unexpected twist, and the narrative voice you used, like when the speaker asks "Who are they? Who are you?" is very well done.

Lord Entropy! You did a really good job of portraying the kind of world Alex lives in, with just a few details, like the silent Santa Claus - the tone is very well done, making everything seem somehow lonely and desolate. And by including what Alex does each day, you really give a sense of his character. The description of his appearance is also very clear and detailed, creating a good picture of him. Great job!

Thiird Place

Ultimatum! Your writing is so vivid and
effective. Somehow you set the scene perfectly in the first paragraph or
two - I especially like the reference to "fading sunlight." And the
dialogue is really good- there's a sort of slow, measured feel to it
that fits in with the general atmosphere of the piece.  I also like how
you mention that human character is just not something that can be
predicted by algorithms, because it's so true.

Second Place

CelineBurningBright! There's so much joy and exuberance in this piece that I really struggled deciding between yours and Moon Wolf's...  It's also very vivid, giving you not just a good image of the character, but evoking the emotions that she's going through. I also like that they're positive emotions of strength and resilience, and that your character isn't just thinking about herself but about others. Enjoyable writing and an appealing character - great job!

First Place

Moon Wolf! I really liked this piece! Your description
is really detailed - you don't leave out anything, and it creates a
really clear picture for the reader. It's also very beautiful and
atmospheric. The image of the night and the girl walking through it is
just super appealing and lovely, and I especially like the way your
character is sure of herself. 

okay heres my entry. (this one even has a title)

Four Marx Brothers (and a fifth)

One thing about telling stories that always bothers me is how seperate a story a story really is from real life. So this is a true story, sort of, but the actual way events played out was probably pretty different. Because, in real life, things just happen. There isn't really a beginning, a middle, or an end. I guess birth and death probably qualify as a beginning and end actually. But, I was born quite a few years ago, and if all goes well, I won't die for a while. 

Before the story starts proper, I should probably talk a little about my childhood friends a little, because they are pretty central to the story. There were four of us.

There was Cudgel. Cudgel was a nickname, obviously. His real name was Charles, but I only ever heard his grandmother call him that. The kids own father called him Cudgel. When he was younger, he as always picked on. He used to be real skinny, and he had a slight lisp. But then, he hit sixteen.  And boy did he grow. Two hundred pounds of sheer strength, and about six foot six inches. He looked kinda scary, but he wasn't really at all. He talked rarely, and spoke softly. He smiled often, and grown-ups loved him. He had beautiful eyes.

There was also Zeppo. If any of us was the leader, it was her for sure. She had a sharp, wicked smile, and a bright voice. Her real name was Miriam, but she called herself Zeppo. She wore the same battered green jacket every day, and had long, sleek, black hair. She was sharp, in every meaning of the sense. Bony, and brimming with wit. Adults liked her too, she knew how to play them. There were rumours among the kids at school that she liked to set fires to old buildings sometimes. The rumours might've been true, I don't know. She had problems at home, I think. 

Ther, also, was Maccabee. He was the one I knew the least about. His name really was Maccabee. He always wore these dirty t-shirts with the sleeves cut off. Usually the shirts were for old metal bands I never listened to. He was tall, the tallest of us. He had wiry limbs, greasy hair, and a paunch belly. His voice would crack frequently. I never really saw him show any honest emotion. He would smile an evil sort of grin occasionally. But-no- I did see him once, it was storming you see. He was running down the road, screaming his lungs out and carrying a sledgehammer. He started hitting a mailbox, repeatedly, with the hammer. He did this until the mailbox post was nothing but a pile of mulch, and the metal box had been smashed open. I wasn't sure, because it was raining so heavily, but he may have been crying.

And then there was me.

One day, I was sitting in my house, eating a TV dinner I had microwaved. My parents weren't home. They were rarely home actually, throughout my childhood I saw very little of them. They weren't bad parents really, when they were home, they were very loving. I suppose they were away for work, but I honestly have no idea what heir jobs were. But anyway, I was eating toast, when Zeppo knocks on my door. I go to answer it, and she's there, smiling the smile she does when she has a plan. "Hey, Casey," she says "The guys are gonna meet us in the woods." So I go and follow her. No questions asked, because I really have nothing to ask. My childhood was in many ways a wasteland, I had few goals or aspirations, I went where the people around me lead me. 

We walked down the street for a while, passing little houses, mobile homes mostly. Eventually, Zeppo and I made it to a little entryway into the forest, and sure enough, Cudgel and Maccabee were there. Cudgel was just standing around, a little awkwardly, and Maccabee was sitting quietly, humming a little. Zeppo looked at Cudgel, who didn't seem to get the message, and Maccabee prodded him. Cudgel flinched, and spoke reluctantly. "Hey Casey. My, uh, cousin told me about a place down in the woods. And, Zeppo seemed to think it'd be cool if we checked it out." I nodded, and Zeppo smiled. We started our walk down into the woods. We didn't really say anything on the walk, and it was a pretty long walk actually. But eventually, we made it to the place.

The place, Cudgel explained, was called Steven's steps. It was a set of stairs, leading down into the earth. But at the end of the stairs, there was only a rock wall. Zeppo smiled. "We'll be spending the night out here," she said. Nobody protested. Zeppo set a campfire, with ease. (which lends credence to her alleged pyromania.) A couple hours passed, and nothing of much note happened. We sat in the dead leaves and talked. Maccabee stood up at one point, and gave a vicious impression of a vaudevillian stand up comic, which I do not remember much of. Eventuall, and gradually, a presence seemed to descend on us. I have heard stories of kids meeting monsters and demons in the forest, but this felt like no monster or demon. We were not haunted, or terrorized. It was a visitation. We saw nothing, but each of us felt the thing appear. It was like a spirit, like a localised force, like a hole in the world in the shape of a person. It sat with us, and we fell silent. We remained silent until the sun rose. 

I can best explain this as a religious experience, the only one I have ever had. As we left, I remember Cudgel quietly saying, "My eyes have seen the glory." And Maccabee hissed back,"My eyes saw something."

~~

okay thats it thats my entry 

oh my goodness i completely forgot about this! I'm so sorry! 

seeing that there are only two entries so far, I'll extend the date to October 10! 

I walk out of the grocery store and make my way toward my car, as I get closer to my car I see that there is a note on my windshield. When I reach the car I read the note, it is handwritten, it says; “Drive west for 100 miles.” Why, I wonder, would someone put this on my car? I decide to do what the note says for absolutely no reason. I put my groceries in the car, drive out of the parking lot and turn left(west), I then reset my mileage so that I know when it has been 100 miles. I start driving…. 50 miles later, I am smiling, windows down, radio turned up, singing along to the music. The radio is playing country music, I am having a great time just driving 100 miles for absolutely no reason. I am 90 miles into the trip and getting close to 100, I start to wonder what am I supposed to do when I get there? I suppose I’ll turn off, and if there’s no turn I’ll just pull over and see if anything happens. At 99 miles I start to slow down, I see a turn off up ahead, I am right by the turn off when I get to 100 miles so I turn right.  

Oh hey look this thing's still up and going nicely-

Add me in! I haven't gotten to use my writing pen in a month so this is going to be some good practice. Now, nature... 

--- 

"Doctor Janus loved watching sunsets by the sea."

A14 paused slightly before continuing.

"He'd come out to the pier at six, when the sun was still above the horizon and the sky was still wrapped in its obstinate blue coat. He wasn't always on time. Sometimes he'd be there early, or sometimes a few minutes late, but he'd be there at twilight."

"But he wasn't there to watch the sunset, not really. He would read the beginnings of the sunset like an open book, allowing his eyes to skim across across lines of white wispy text and flapping black punctuation marks, all printed on fragile blue pages of firmanent. He'd stand there until the sun went down, not moving even after the last rays vanished from sight, as if caught in a trance. Other times, he would close his eyes as if thinking of something, or nothing in paticular."

"The beauty of nature is, indeed, uncomparable. There's something enchanting about the sea that can't be copied down on paper: The setting sun would slowly inch down, slowly relaxing itself to meet the embrace of the murmuring clouds; it would hide itself into the blanket of white like a dove returning to it's nest. At the same moment, the sky would connect with the water below, with clouds melting into blue water and water dyeing itself with white clouds; the clouds would vanish into the crystalline of the sea, while the sea would blush with the milkyness of the clouds, in such a way that the two were forever mixing and intertwining as if caught in a majestic dance, and you could never tell one apart from the other anymore."

"Then the clouds would part slightly, and the sun would burst from the clouds in a flaming sphere, its rays igniting the white haze, torching the sky into orange, and spraying the clouds into magenta. The lonely lighthouse on the nearby shore would be engulfed by the colors that burst across the sea, and the outlines of the seagulls would be clearly outlined above the shimmering surface of the water below."

"Doctor Janus would stand on the pier and watch the enormous scene unfold before him in silence. I am sure he was feeling the same as I was; he must have took it as some sort of relaxation, hanging in his frame of mind and reading the inside of his thoughts, his heart, his past, fragments and memories illegibly scattered, leaving him unable to comprehend, nor let go; but still enough for him to stand in silence for a few moments, and to drink in the beauty of nature before him to quench the burning emotions in his heart."

---Wanderings by the sea