DON’T READ THIS YET – IF YOU WANT TO VOTE ON THE POLL FIRST!!!
SEE BEARSY’S POST
These were the parameters:
“….up to 2000 words long on the theme of ‘wedding.’ The first scene will start with two people in a room. There’s a key on the table. During the story you should include the words ‘football’ and ‘armchair’. The closing date is October 31st at UK midnight.”
Well, The Royalist (https://charioteers.org/2011/10/25/newly-dead/) surpassed himself, of course, going off-course with a surrealist mis-interpretation which was vair amoozing. (It’s time to get your eyes tested, young man. The theme was wedding. Not weeding. At least it wasn’t about welding.) He had the other bits… two people and a key on the table, plus football and armchair. So not ‘nil points’!
LW took another surrealist slant with his extra-terrestrial tale of tentacles and inter-species breeding, and he fulfilled all the criteria, if you can call these odd creatures ‘people’….. Inventive way of fitting in ‘football’ too… (https://charioteers.org/2011/10/04/the-imminent-wedding/ ) It made my mind boggle, especially when I thought of the two canoodling.
OZ’s relatively late entry was a spooky tale (https://charioteers.org/2011/10/31/cheshire-ghost) and ticked all the boxes – except the keys weren’t on the table… they had gone…. Eerie…Very apt for a 31st October closing date! (Though the title gave the game away, so it lost the element of surprise there)
Ferret, borrowing characters from a famous ‘Not the Nine O’clock News’ sketch with a new twist cleverly included all the elements too (https://charioteers.org/2011/10/04/not-so-creative-scribble/) and demonstrated his ability to use Essex boy dialect / slang with fluency. And I could just hear Rowan Atkinson saying the lines as I read it!
Bearsy told an atmospheric and convincing tale of escape from Germany, with many details true to the era, (https://charioteers.org/2011/10/21/aunt-lisl-comes-to-stay/) adding to the authenticity. Clever avoidance of the word’ Wedding’ right to the last moment, which made me smile!
Bilby’s story ( https://charioteers.org/2011/10/29/in-the-bleak-mid-winter-october-short-story/ cleverly interweaves the past and present: a ghost story combined with a tale of love and tragedy and a coming together of the two on a snowy night many years later. Good use of dialogue in this one and subtle use of the required elements.
Ara’s tale was another taking a surreal twist ( https://charioteers.org/2011/10/24/a-match-made-in-heaven-short-story-competition/ ) with two characters about to be married, but each carrying a huge secret…. trying to be mere mortals, neither revealing to the other that they are in fact angels.
Last night I printed off all the stories so far and read them carefully, making notes, then just before bed I checked and there was a late entry by Bleuebelle , which I didn’t read until this morning. (https://charioteers.org/2011/10/31/havisham/) Just as well… it was another creepy one and well written, based on the Miss Haversham story, depicting a marriage doomed to fail and a ghostly encounter. Again, maybe the title gave too much away – ?
It’s strange how so many of the entries were surreal or spooky, given the fairly ordinary… no very ordinary parameters of the competition! I have had great fun reading all the submissions – thank you everyone who took part.
Now for the decision ….this was difficult. There’s some good stuff here. Some of the stories felt rushed at the end and would work well with a little more expansion. Most didn’t use anywhere near the 2000 word limit, so there was plenty of scope there!
In the end I chose Bearsy as the winner for the most complete rounded tale and clever use of the prompts. I now invite him to step forward and chose the theme and parameters for the next competition.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Yay!!!
Well done that Bear! I voted for Bilby in the poll but you were a close runner up chum.
Expertly judged Nym, I wouldn’t have liked the job. There were some belters in there. 🙂
Thank you Ferret!
Well played Bearsy. Now don’t be shy. Put a big pic of the Bear on the side bar.
Nice synopseseseses of the stories, Pseu, and fair judging.
Well done to everyone that took part. Super collection of stories.
The idea behind this competition came from a prompt I had a few years ago and mine started like this:
The Summerhouse
Outside there is an occasional shout in the distance, the sound of children playing and the low thrum of a small plane overhead. The hot day seeps in through the thin wooden walls of the summerhouse, pushing in oppressively, the air stuffy with the odour of cut grass and dusty cobwebs. Garden furniture clutters one corner, the sun bleached cushions haphazardly stacked. The faded curtain over the glass door is half off its runner, held in place by a plastic peg. They sit there in the gloom listening to the intermittent buzz of drowsy flies: Anna has her fingers clenched resisting the urge take the key while Jack waits, his chin in his hands. Then he reaches forward to touch her thin arm and she flinches.
“Well?” he says. There is no response. “Come on Anna: everyone is up at the house. This door is locked. It’s safe. We have time…” he pauses, “time for you to tell me- what’s bothering you? What’s going on?”
Anna slowly unclenches her fingers and spreads them wide on the table. She does not look up.
“It’s Mum.” A slow tear spills. “She wants me to help her…” she falters, her voice breaking.
“Help her? In what way?” Jack is leaning forward in his chair.
“She says she can’t go on … Don’t tell Dad: he mustn’t know.” Anna’s voice has taken on a hard edge. “She wants to die.” She looks directly at him, “She wants me to help her- but I don’t think I can. Not alone.”
Congratulations, Bearsy! 🙂
You make notes, Nym? I’m impressed.
Good judging and great to see so many entries.
(Thank you, Furry One)
Difficult subject to write about. Sounds interesting though.
Well judged, Nym, and I enjoyed reading all the entries.
Congratulations, Bearsy! 😉
Well done Bearsy; excellent story. And thanks for the comments/judging, Pseu 🙂
Pseu
Many thanks for re-opening the competition and doing such a grand job of judging the entries. It’s always nice when the judges take the time to let everyone know their thoughts. 🙂
Competitors
Many thanks to everyone who participated, without your efforts there would have been no competition. 🙂
Bearsy
Well done! (He’s still asleep so doesn’t know yet!)
bleuebelle an image for you to consider for your avatar.to replace the white cat in a snow storm one you have currently
thank you, whoever did the next stage of that last comment 🙂
Well done Bearsy and indeed well done to all contributors, what a wonderful competition with a high standard of entries. 😀