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 #27
This week @foragingquietude was the judge and it was up to her to choose the winning stories.
Here is what she had to say, in her exact words: I won't lie - this is a copy paste of what she sent me.
Thank you to everyone that participated in the contest.
- Write a story from the perspective of an animal, and use the line "I wasn't always afraid of the dark".
- The story must be at least 250 words long and in English
The winners of this week’s Constrained Writing Contest are:
- 1st Place - @tristancarax with the entry Sharkmares
Judge’s notes: You stepped outside the box with your story by giving him human characteristics. There were some minor typos, but overall I really enjoyed your story. I’m so glad you decided to enter!
- 2nd Place - @agmoore with the entry I Wasn’t Always Afraid of the Dark
Judge’s notes: You gave just enough detail in your story to keep the reader intrigued. I like how you used a solar eclipse in your story. It was an interesting take on darkness, because frankly if it gets dark during the day and it isn’t because it’s cloudy, I think it would scare the mess out of people and animals alike.
- 3rd Place - @byn with the entry I Will Never give Up - A Dog’s Story
Judge’s notes: Your story is a very realistic take on the constraints that were given. Too often, animals are “punished” and don’t understand what they did wrong. They try their best to do right by their owners, even if their actions are misunderstood. Even worse, animals are dumped every day if their owner is not happy with them or if they become a financial burden.
Honorable Mentions In Alphabetical Order
@rindaman1234 with the entry I Wasn’t Always Afraid of the Dark But Now I’m so Terrified of It
@spalatino with the entry Final Moments
@suzanrs with the entry I Wasn’t Always Afraid of the Dark
@tiempoyesp with the entry The Fram
If I, by any chance, missed your entry, please do not hesitate to let me know, and I will do my best to redeem myself. I have missed an entry in the past, so I now pay extra attention, but ... It can happen still.
Sorry and thanks!
With that out of the way, onto constrained writing contest #28!
Rules:
This week I am the sole judge of the contest again.
Here is what I came up for this week:
- Write a story from the perspective of a person (in 1st person) with a multiple-personality disorder, and present us with (at least) one of their internal struggles. (Meaning one personality wanting one thing, and another personality wanting another)
- The story must be at least 250 words long and in English
I have written an example story that you can find by clicking here.
Hint: I would very much like to read a(n internal) monologue of a person, and that it would be obvious from the way (s)he speaks that there is a sudden change in personality.
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 the judge of the Constrained Writing Contest is @foragingquietude and she is responsible for picking the winners on her own discretion, but she promise sto try her 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 Discord (Svashta#5207).
*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 will be participating this week. Thanks for setting this up!
Thank you so much, for the award, and for liking my story. Great contest. Great concept. I'm going resteem this post, to give it more exposure, but won't enter. Don't think I want to get inside the head of someone with multiple personality disorder :)
Thanks for the awesome feedback, and the resteem! :D
Fair enough. Not for everyone, I agree. But I really want to see what people come up with, and whether the conflict will be about something very mundane or very serious. :3
Thanks again!
This one sounds right up my alley as one of my characters I live in a lot often has inner fights with who she is and who she's being groomed to be :) But at the same time, I'm a bit confused...
I'm not sure if what you want is someone suffering from multiple personality disorder, in which case, from what I've been led to believe, one personality would not remember the actions of another personality so I'm unsure how to enact that inner turmoil, or if its more someone having a fight between their shoulder-angel/demon so to speak.
Or maybe I'm thinking too much into it trying to be realistic... haha ~hides ~
Edit: I'm definitely overthinking it; pay no attention to me. :) ~hides again, feeling foolish ~
Golem from Lord of the Rings is a good example. 😀
Thats not really multiple personality disorder, which is where my confusion arose 😊 it's all good! I have a way to do this realistically ~evil cackle ~
Ugh.. I... am sorry for the confusion, and for not making it clear enough. I didn't know that doesn't quite qualify as a multiple personality disorder, though. Learn something new everyday, huh?
But yeah, what @foragingquietude said! :D
No, no. Don't be sorry, I'm sorry for not realising and having reality take over my fiction, haha. It's more of a schizoid disorder, the whole Gollum Syndrome thing. Sadly, there have been mental illnesses in my close family which is the only reason my brain got confused, too much real-world knowledge.
But! It's all good! :D I was over-thinking, and am ready to write! Haha.
I fell asleep last night with plans.... plans!!! :D I have Scrivener open right now!
Edit to add: Just in case you were curious at my thoughts - with Multiple Personality Disorder, one doesn't know of the other personalities. You can go murder someone, and then switch to another and have no knowledge of this except there is blood on your hands, terrifying you and confusing you. Though there are a couple of rare instances where one personality feels trapped and aware and unable to do a thing about it. Schizoid Disorders, there's a few variations, and it often gets confused with Multiple Personality, but they hear voices. It's not just a thought in their mind, they can -hear- the voice as clear as though it's another person talking, have a conversation with it, in many cases 'them' as there's more than one. And that's my ramble for today! LOL.
With multiple personalities, they aren't always unaware of each other... There is often one personality that is always aware of all the others. Some of the 'alters' can be completely unaware of others, some might be aware, but unable to control the others (like observing a TV show or whatever) and some can control/manipulate/take over.
As I was dealing with the issues, there were times when it became apparent through my boyfriend's observations, that I had personalities that I absolutely was not aware of (I thought I was literally just sleeping a LOT, but in reality I was up doing things, talking with him, etc) ANYway... long story. Just thought I'd chime in with my own experience.
(I have Dissociative Identity Disorder used to be called multiple personalities, although mostly integrated now, I have dealt with the whole lovely process before for years and was in therapy with others who had the same issue)
Thank you for sharing your experience... I'm sorry that I didn't get it completely right and if I offended. :(
I have more experience relating to the Schizoid Disorders; my dad was Schizophrenic and would experience the auditory hallucinations and the talking to himself, which was very confusing to experience as a child. I knew that he was ill, but I didn't really know what Schizophrenia was until I was an adult and started worrying that it was genetic. At the end he started taking on personalities, so to speak, the most memorable being when he assumed the identity of the man who lived next door and had passed away a couple of years beforehand, and tried to get into their house. But he had no knowledge of this and was aghast when we told him what had happened. That's annoyingly my main memory of the man now.
I'm not at all offended :) It's not a well understood thing from what I understand, and of course it varies. It's exacerbated by things like movies, but I feel like I actually have the exerpience to clarify, so I did.
That situation with your father sounds so stressful. My brother in law was schizophrenic and the different was 9very simplistically) explained ot me that multiple personalities are all inside your head, but schizophrenia was hearing voices from outside your head. In my BIL's case, he would see things outside of himself that spoke to him and he became terribly paranoid. He's spent some time homeless because he was afraid to go back to his government assisted housing because of his delusions. It is a sad thing and I just feel very fortunate that I was able to have the right support to deal with my own issues in a way that didn't destroy my life.
Thank you so very much for sharing this. I'm very sorry to hear this and I wish you all the best!
Actually makes sense, actually, and to just throw every "such disorder" in the same basket would do many people injust. Thanks for clarifying, but... well... I still don't know how to edit the post to make it "medically correct". :/
Oh, you don't have to! Haha. I'm the only ning-nong who didn't understand. xD Just, pretend I wasn't here ~waves arms around woOOOooOOooOoooOo ~ (But only forget this post, remember the one with the link in it, haha!)
My memory is actually pretty bad, so no promises on what I will forget, sadly. :P
Whoot! Thanks for the win!!! I really enjoyed this challenge.
Very happy to hear that! Hope to see you participate again in the future! ;D
Well your current challenge is right up my alley, so I'm hoping I can find time to write an entry! :)
Awesome! I hope you can find the time as well! :D
For best or for worse, this is what I came up with. I even did some research, which seemed to go out the window once I began writing. It was difficult to write this and I’m not sure I’m giving you what you ask.
https://steemit.com/constrainedwriting/@tristancarax/rambling-fool-constrained-writing-contest-28
Well, regardless, Thank you very much for your entry! :D
Will read it real soon! ^^
Hullo! Here is my entry! :D https://steemit.com/constrainedwriting/@kaelci/unfortunate-identities-constrainedwriting
Sorry again for my confused babble before xD
Uuuuu, thank you very much! Look forward to reading it and seeing what you came up with! :D
After spending DAYS searching for a situation in which I could fit this and keep it mostly short (and appropriate)... here is my entry:
You again! :D How awesome :D
I can already tell this will be good ^^
I'll give it a read soon! Thank you very much for your entry ^^
"You Again!" I read that in an old school dastardly villain voice!!! :)
Thank you for the inspiration to write on the topic. I've been wanting to forever, but just couldn't seem to get started. I hope you like it.
Had to look it up to know what you were talking about :P
Funny stuff ^^
Well done everyone. Some amazing writing there. This contest is definitely bringing out some talent. This week is going to be soooo difficult but so much fun. Good luck everyone.
This week is HARD, I agree, but I am certain there can be some AMAZING stories written around the constraint! At least, I very much hope so! :D
I hope to impress again - I have more time this week. ;)
Sounds awesome! Can't wait to see your entry! :D
Ooooh this weel CW looks promising, i always wanted to make a story about this.
That sounds awesome! :D I'm looking forward to it! :D
I am writing .soon come it...
I like read about of one or many things what all people think in sec. When we are with persons for days and days
Happy day . my entry
I love the idea of this contest. I hope to participate soon. Keep up the good work.
Happy to hear that :D Looking forward to your future entry ^^