ForumsArt, Music, and WritingThe Bard and the Scribe's Writing Contest: Poetry and Short Stories

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kalisenpai
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kalisenpai
1,858 posts
Marquise

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Welcome to this brand new and unsolicited contest! The Bard and the Scribe’s contest consist on two categories: poetry and short stories. Here are some rules you must follow in order to participate:

  • Post only original content. If it is discovered that you have plagiarized, your poem/story will be disqualified.
  • Keep it family friendly: no offensive material.
  • Write in any style that you may like, but stick to the theme. Also, remember that a short story should be, as its name says, short (1000-2000 words maximun (less that 1000 will also be fine; although I'm NOT going to count words. This is just a rule to avoid stories of more than 5-6 Word pages).
  • Theme will be different in every round and each round will last for a month.
  • There will be 2 winners per round, one for each category. When the winners are announced, I’ll flip a coin and one of the winners will choose the next theme. If the result of the coin is tails, the winner of the poetry category will choose; if it is heads, it will be the winner of the short stories category.
  • You can submit as many entries as you want.
  • You can participate in both categories and, therefore, there is a chance in which one person wins both categories.
  • As there are two categories, you should write in which one you would like to participate, as well as writing a title. Example:
Poetry category
“Title of the poem”
Poem itself

Currently the only thing you can win with this contest are bragging rights. However, if any mod offers to hand out the merit/quest to winners, I’d be more than pleased.
Be creative and good luck to everyone!

  • 42 Replies
kalisenpai
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kalisenpai
1,858 posts
Marquise

As this is the first round, I will choose the first theme: Loneliness.
This round will end on December 1st.
Good luck!

Yellowcat
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Yellowcat
2,869 posts
Treasurer

Very Short Story
"Alone"
Hello? Is anyone out there? No, ok.

Majestic_Fish
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Majestic_Fish
1,917 posts
Chancellor

Kali short story contest

Short story. I will try to write whatever. Key word:try. It will end like some elementary kid wrote something cool he saw. Eh. I dunno. #InstantRegret

Black. This was the only thing I could see. The shadows in the room seemed to be alive, dancing and mocking me of my inability to confront life.
All what I could hear was my heartbeat. Its sound filled the entire room. The sound continuously echoing in my mind.
This is bliss. No one criticising me, no one speaking to me.
This is bliss.
Bliss.

THIS IS BAD #InstantRegret

Majestic_Fish
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Majestic_Fish
1,917 posts
Chancellor

Title? I dunno.
The ideal room.

PLGuy
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PLGuy
4,755 posts
King

@kalisenpai Shouldn't a story have Beginning, Middle and End? I think that @Majestic_Fish wrote a cool beginning. But I'm not sure, you're the boss here xD

If there's 1 month time, then I'll let ideas hatch in my mind. If it comes to serious writing, then that mill in my skull grinds slowly but surely ;-) OK I wanted to sound cool but the truth is that I've never written any story for a contest xD

kalisenpai
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kalisenpai
1,858 posts
Marquise

@PLGuy, yes, a short story usually have beginning, middle and end. What I meant with the rule that "short stories should be short" is that you cannot write a story of 10 pages. (I've changed the rule so it's clearer: short stories should be less than 1000 words (aprox)).
However, the shortest story ever written says something like: "And when I woke up, the dinosaur was still there". (Augusto Monterroso)

PLGuy
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PLGuy
4,755 posts
King

That shortest story has it all I think: In the beginning he was sleeping, during middle he woke up and in the end the dinosaur from his dream was still there xD I'll stick to the rule of 1K words then ;-)

huwbert2013
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huwbert2013
239 posts
Bard

Out from the dark she came, running between my legs as I opened the door.
She headed for the food bowls, as if she knew exactly where to go and started finishing off my own cats meals. Oliver appeared in the kitchen archway, curious about the newcomer. Slowly he crept up to her and sniffed her tail. A low growl came from the grey visitor as she warned my boy not to get too close. Meal finished she scratched at the door until I opened it, and she slid back into the night.

Yellowcat
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Yellowcat
2,869 posts
Treasurer

Totally not plagiarized:
Short Story
"Fantasy Land"
Once in a notdoppler, secret's get-aways from everyone and my poptart disappeared. Suddenly, I realised nothing was right, since they, dragons, were actually mean because a really strong orc was lurking down hollow in Mommy's purse while building the secret weapon potato which was the weakest and most unworthy invention ever again in Her secret hideout. Before, orcs were enemies, but now they are lovers because their teeth were fixed. However, they hated their obvious left teeth, that they always created many problems which caused multiple orcs that destroy all cities in the region quickly to end our world with disaster and strife. Therefore, we must surrender before they activate the Annihilator and become feared by many creatures from the past. The Almighty will create a wonderful soggy cake for Michael, although he is the only man who pursues the Dao dog, whose ears are holy only because they can befriend the new Sacred Goddess, GodPoop. Only for her MAJESTY humans created a legendary canine.

PLGuy
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PLGuy
4,755 posts
King

@Yellowcat the loneliness of GodPoop, the Goddess, is something that was always bringing a tear to my eye. ;-(

kalisenpai
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kalisenpai
1,858 posts
Marquise

Woah, guys, it's gonna be a really tough competition with @Yellowcat's story!
Mha hart, mah sole...

kalisenpai
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kalisenpai
1,858 posts
Marquise

NEWS: this contest's prize will be the Quest/Merit, but only if it has enough participation

zdrk
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zdrk
285 posts
King

The lonely moose
It was in the end of autumn when I was walking alone in the bog. My goal was to find a mating partner for the cold and soon to be arriving winter. Everything was almost set. My horns that were grown huge, as long as my feet, would definitely attract females. I only had to decorate them with some colorful plants and I was ready. I made a loud shout towards the forest. Few moments later I got a scream back that felt like an echo of my own shout. I started running towards it. I kept exchanging calls over the distance. I was running faster and faster by every meter that I was getting closer. I was so excited and happy to meet my lady. But then, all of sudden, I heard a whole different noise. Noise that felt out of this world. Followed by a sting in my chest. Seconds later my legs gave out and I fell. The last thing I remember before my eyes finally fell shut is the vision of not being lonely in that moment.

zdrk
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zdrk
285 posts
King

Just in case I'll let you know that my written short story is not plagiarized and is actually something that happened with me a month ago during a hike in a bog. No, I was not the lonely moose. But I encountered a hunt for a moose where hunters fooled him with some fake female moose sounds to lure him to a trap.

PLGuy
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PLGuy
4,755 posts
King

@kalisenpai I finally ended my story xD The problem is that it has 1751 words... Is there a chance that you would extend the limit to 2000 words?

Also it doesn't mean that my story has low quality. I tried to shorten it but it only looses the sense and... maybe some kind of a message if that's not too big word ^^

Edit: I just slowly read it in 7 minutes. Also wikipedia says that there are many ranges of maximum words for short stories:

Other definitions place the maximum word count of the short story at anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000. In contemporary usage, the term short story most often refers to a work of fiction no shorter than 1,000 and no longer than 20,000 words. Stories of fewer than 1,000 words are sometimes referred to as "short short stories

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