The New Creative Writing Challenge

As set by Ferret, winner of the challenge on “Sport”:

For the next contest: Write a short fiction piece, 1,000 words or less, that includes:

• should not take place between sea level and 200 feet.

• the word “secret”

Entries can be essay, memoir, fiction and poetry, rhymed or unrhymed.

Stories due here by 10 p.m GMT on Tuesday, June 15. (Three weeks from today.)

In order to broaden the endeavor, this challenge will include photo stories. If you would prefer to address this challenge by submitting your story in photographs, you may do so. Here are the rules for the photo stories:

• Stories must include a minimum of 5 photos and a maximum of 10
• The photos should have a narrative thread • And somehow suggest, a secret.

67 thoughts on “The New Creative Writing Challenge”

  1. Thanks Jaime, and I’m not sure about this one, but I guess a loose interpretation will do.

    Just a question though about the photo stories; is any narrative permitted or just captions?

  2. Well, I can’t really speak for Ferret, but if it were me I would say any narrative and that captions are entirely optional perhaps not even desirable.

  6. Got me, Pseu. I never have figured out the difference. It seems to vary widely in guidelines. I’ve seen it drop as low as 75 words, but it doesn’t seem to go over 1,000. I think it depends on the editor.

  7. Woo Hoo,
    Here I am on my pda in Side (See day) Turkey.

    Minty MBE,
    The rules are straightforward. If it does not specifically say yooou can’t do it, then its fair game. 🙂

  9. Furry, I thought we’d seen the furry back of you for a bit. Can’t you go and annoy a few Anatolians? 😮

  10. Anatolians? I’ve always fancied an Anatolian sheepdog. Round one up, for me if you see one, eh Ferret? It begins with ‘s’ after all. 😉

  11. Woo Hoo,

    In one hour we are booked in for a full body Scrub and Shiatsu massage. 2 full hours of manipulation. Its 29 degs and I am working on my third pina colada. There is a Straw so the S thing still works. Oh and don,t forget the Stogie. 🙂

  14. Good question, Isobel. I didn’t even think about that. Ferret? You out there? If he doesn’t get back to us, assume it’s “should not take place between 25 and 200 feet above sea level.”

  15. Hmm,

    No part of the story can be set between 0 ft and 200. That gives you the entire core of the planet an 201ft and upwards including but not limited to, the entire universe. 🙂

  20. Two entries so far, and both real beauties.

    5 days to go people, I shall keep looking here for links to competition entries so please remember to post a link or this dumb furry mustelid might miss it.

    I had a great time on holiday btw but now have to spend a few days dealing with all the dreary stuff that piled up while I was away. 😦

  21. Furry, you’re back (and front of course)! I hope your pink ears aren’t too burnt from all that overground exposure? Or did you wear a mustelid`(gerrit?)?

  22. Thanks Hugh,

    I have never been a lounging in the sun kind of furball. I much prefer the shade of a well positioned bar. 😉

  23. Furry, who neds a fancy link? Here is is, the latest tale of Slacky Bottom for your dleight:

    The Secret

    It were Whitsun or ‘Oliday Monday
    (Whichever o’ them you prefer)
    And Medad says, “D’yer fancy an outin’?
    To Blackpool – or some place owert’ there?”

    “Ooh, yeah!” says me sibling. “There’s shoppin’
    And scarey great rides I love too!”
    “And don’t forget t’Tower,” I added.
    “Just like Paris wi’ fish n’ chips too.”

    “Okay,” says Memam, “let’s be off then,
    But one word o’ warnin’, you two:
    Money don’t grow on trees ‘ere in Slacky
    So don’t spend like Parisians do!”

    In Blackpool it rained wi’out stoppin’.
    And Medad said, “It’s clouds from the West!
    But don’t think it’s diff’rent in Scar’bro’-
    It’s just Yorkies who say that in jest.”

    We did all the usual walkin’
    Along t’Prom, and enjoyed the odd ride.
    We scoffed a fish dinner at one-ish
    And paddled our feet at ‘igh tide.

    Then I asked, “Can we go up yon Tower?”
    “If you want,” says Medad. “Go wi’ Mam.”
    I’ll be off on my Clandestine Mission;
    And for starters I’ll ‘op on t’ next tram.”

    Memam took us up Blackpool Tower
    To see all them sights all around.
    “If the rain would ‘old off for a minute
    We could see Irish Coast, I’ll be bound.”

    So what’s our Dad’s ‘Clandestine Mission’?
    I asked her. She said with a smile,
    “It’s a secret what makes ‘im so thirsty,
    But ‘e’s suppin’ along Golden Mile.”

  25. Hugh,

    It’s good but it doesn’t satisfy the requirements for the competition I am afraid. None of the story can take place between sea level and 200ft you see.

  31. Oh I have a poem that is about the Staffordshire hoard. It’s under the ground but I don’t know if it’s at sea-level. Probably not. I’ll link it up if I can find a photo.

  32. Thanks Rick,

    Thats four woo hoo!

    Jaime,

    Underground sounds good, as I remember parts of Staffordshire were regularly flooding so perhaps it is a lowland region. I’m prepared to accept the hoard was buried below sea level. If the poem mentions it being dug up however. Rules is rules.

    Submit it by all means but points may be subtracted for non adherance. 🙂

  33. Furry, I demand a recount. Slacky Bottom is 650 ft asl and we paddled below sea level, since walking on water is a more recent skill of mine. 😉

  34. Hugh,

    Look buddy if you are paddling in the ogg, your ankles may well be below sea level, but you, in the main (see what I did there?), most certainly are not. Ye cannie change the laws o’ physics cap’n.

    Submit if you want Janus but points will be deducted for any blatant rule flouting.

    I am the small furry judge and my decision is open to persuasion. 🙂

  37. I noticed that yesterday Ferret.
    I’ve to set the creative writing thing on MyT later, but I honestly don’t even know if anyone will bother since hardly anyone is going there now.
    Speaking of which. Bearsy…sigh. Can I get the kiss of life here if I grovel madly enough..?

  38. Claire,

    Agreed, I find MyT a total chore now. Some toerag has stolen my avatar too. Grrrr.

    Glad to see you are still using this place though, I like your style. 🙂

  39. Ferret – When you bend over to do a bit of creative writing ….

    Do your pink ears flop over and cover your eyes? 😦

  40. Ta Ferret; right back at ya.
    Not sure everyone would agree re my style though – you weren’t around for my latest bout of mud slinging last week. Wasn’t even Wrong Time Of…
    MyT is the Marie Celeste of the bloggosphere now. C’est triste.

  42. So Claire,

    Any chance of a submission from you for the competition?

    The deadline is 10pm tomorrow night. GMT of course. 🙂

  43. OH Christ is it? I forgot all about it…merrily going along, in own ditzy way 😉
    I’ll see what I can do. Trouble is, I like the military style stories that people are coming up with over here – it’s completely different to the lyricism and literary flavour of the MyT comp, but I like it a lot. I don’t think I can come up with anything comparable, Unless I join the TA for a month and report back! 🙂

  45. Bearsy,

    Let me be the first to call a spade a manually operated, multi drop, terrain relocation device and concur with the subtle juxtaposition of your expert perambulation. I find your jovial inventive misdirection to be very pleasing on the ocular nerve. 🙂

  46. Translation

    “Let me be the first to call a spade a manually operated, multi drop, terrain relocation device and concur with the subtle juxtaposition of your expert perambulation. I find your jovial inventive misdirection to be very pleasing on the ocular nerve.”

    equal

    “Tee Hee, very funny” 🙂

  48. Ferret – How does a “Pleased Ocular Nerve” do a LOL? does it drop out of its socket or does it do a dance around the optical cavity? 😦

  49. IS,

    IRISk looking foolish when I say I wasn’t a brilliant PUPIL in biology. I suppose your latter is the case, either way I am sure it has a BALL.

  52. Don’t have a blinkered approach to the whole thing. Lashings of encouragement needed to encourage this pupil to have a go at being Iris Murdoch impressionist this time around.

  53. The blind carpenter picked up his hammer and saw and then said, Eye love Eye Scream but eye am blind and cannot sea. 🙂

  57. Furry, mine is resubmitted by dint of rule 93C para xiv: “Rules shall be bent in the interests of avoiding extreme duress when favouritism is shown to scuba freaks”.

  58. Hugh,

    Look chum, I am merely trying to say that while your entry is very good, it made I chuckle, it does not fit the criteria laid down at the start of the competition. Everyone else has observed the rules and I therefore think it is impossible for me to award first place to a worthy but invalid entry. Maybe you should save it for a later compo where it fits the criteria.

    I have tried chum several ways and I can’t wiggle it to fit the rules.

    We are obviously at an impass here so here is my suggestion…

    Poll every other entrant in the competition, secret ballot style if you like, if they are happy for me to judge your entry on an equal footing to theirs them I am more than happy to do so. Is that fair?

  61. Fuury, you deserve a pink gong for diplomacy! I’m just pulling one of your furry legs so a poll will not be necessary or even desirable. Thanks anyway! 🙂

  63. OK guys,

    We are into the final furlong now, here is a list of the entries I have so far. If I have missed anyone please let me know.

    If you have not submitted yet, get your skates on there are only 8 and a half hours left to the deadline.

    Isobel&Cat Victim 328 Words
    O Zangado Postcard From Portugal 997 Words
    Janus The Secret 228 Words
    John Mackie Disaster for Scotland 821 Words
    Ricksrants The Circle 757 Words
    Pseudonym Coming Up For Air 442 Words
    Sipu Popocatapetl in the Sunlight Gleams 999 Words
    Minty MBE Global Warming: A Lesson 947 Words
    Indoles Simulatio Super Short Story 18 Words

  66. So, Ferret, do you want me to make up a prize for the winner along the lines as yours. At that site where yours is posted there is actually a virtual bookshelf on which you can place all the little e-books you make. We could set one up for Bearsy’s Bookshelves. What do you think?

  67. Jaime,

    It sounds like a brilliant idea. If you are happy to do that for the winner, I know I was chuffed to bits with mine. 🙂

    I will now take a bit more time to assess these two new entries and come up with a verdict. I see one of them is about mining. A topic very close to my small furry heart. Claire may have played a trump card there guys. 😉

Add your Comment