Welcome story-lovers, writers and contestants!
After a long hiatus and abstinence from fiction writing, I'm getting a taste for it again and want to return to a form that, were it not also for the comments section on the Blockchain, I might have forgotten about in this achieved quality.
In a fit of nostalgia, I pulled up all my #finishthestory contest submissions again and read through them, just like the comments.
Are we able to awaken a similar spirit as our ever-popular @bananafish did back then?
Everything comes to an end, even the best of times, as they say. Is there anything to pick up on, in the same vein?
I looked up the other usual suspects and found that almost all of them have left their blog or were last active many months or even years ago.
Still, I want a revival.
This format has interested and excited me like hardly any other and I had been able to discover something similar among the participants.
So I'm taking the liberty of naming a few who I think might be keen to either try #finishthestory or, if they already know it, join again. @agmoore, @owasco, @carolkean, @amberkashif, @samsmith1971, @jesustiano, @meinekleinewelt.
Please, leave a comment and let me know, if you can imagine to start or start over again and/or support the revival.
It doesn't seem to work without a prospect of reward in numbers too. I'm not sure I can afford it on my own, but would be willing to shell out as long as I want to spend.
In my next post, I will cover
- the rewards,
- the requirements and
- present the very first beginning of a story for all of you who would like to take on the challenge!
Compilation
To whet your appetite, you will find a compilation of the past short stories here. Just a brief outline to give you an impression of the content. You will find a colourful mixture of genres with a slight overhang towards the SF genre. I also copied some excerpts from the comments, I highly recommend reading them under the entries themselves, so have a look!
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The Source
A truly fast-paced opening, I immediately felt carried away and hit the keys!
The Battle of Bloodneck Valley - by @dirge
“Back!” he heard. “Fall back!” In disarray, the others around him fled towards Bloodneck Valley, where they’d encamped. Their position fell. Shog screamed to maintain the line but knew the day was lost. His people fled. He had no choice but to follow.
My finish - The source
The Fair Folk felt an inner hunger, tongues watered, stomachs growled, they gave their horses their spurs, some riders armed themselves against the emerging greeds, at odds with themselves and their intentions, eyes directed at own ranks, not recognizing faces of others in unsaturated existence.
Commenters:
You took the first half of the story forward in a quantic leap. This interpretation underlies cosmic and ontological concepts, in a perpetual dance between the transcendent and the immanent.
Chaos, order, creation, annihilation in a never-ending symphony. A very deep contribution which seems to me like a rushing yet placid river with his maze of secondary channels - f3nix.
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Metallic Kisses
Beginning by @f3nix
This is my personal favorite - if only because of the many references to the SF-Genre. I had a blast, thanks to the starting shot of the author who served the beginning.
With the passage of time, the omnipresent buzz of the generators - and God knows what else in the bowels of that cathedral of circuits - had become like a second skin. Funny how the white noise coming from the racks was indifferent to him and could, at the same time, launch its messages in the most modulated and subtle of languages, in a perfect symbiosis. After months, Ethan was instantly aware when something in the monotonous chanting cracked, foretelling one of the increasingly frequent system errors. He was developing a third ear in place of a third eye.
My finish - Under my skin
In his dream Ethan heard the melody ... he saw himself floating in a tin can ... Melancholically he bathed in his bubble of sleep when a sudden noise cut through.
Commenters:
the idea is a winning one and plays with the reflective mood of the first part by counterpointing a frantic one in a well written crescendo.
Could you please give me more details about your plot idea?
I want to know what happened to the crew!
If I had not read the comments, I would never have understood the references contained in your story. Now it seems much more significant!
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Killers & Lovers
The Last Will and Testament of Geralda Connors - by @gwilberiol
The very first sentence of the beginning story got me hooked. Right away I wanted to dive into the character creation.
My name is Elisha Crow and I hate my job.
I'm waiting in my office, a sealed envelope before me on the mahogany desk.
I glance at the potted plant, plastic since the real ones keep dying on me. Then at my Harvard's law degree nailed to the wall.
My finish - Killers & Lovers
"Mrs. Connors. You haven't spoken your sister for over thirty years, but about a months ago you telephoned him." I nod towards the gardener, who now coughs in shock.
"The old hag is sitting on her millions like the devil on a dung heap. Have you sworn in the family doctor?" I pause. "Those words sound familiar to you?" Starting to be disgusted by the merciless me.
Commenters:
The background research you have done give this story such a rich vibrancy, and although it accurately captures the feeling of a standard murder mystery, with a psychic twist, it has a much higher quality than the standard long running detective tv show. I love the mystery around the violin, the possible gift that could turn to a curse.
Damn, that violin misdirection surely saved the day. Blessed be upon the violin player, regardless the psychic aspects surely were played with and in good usage. Other than a few grammatical errors which are probably accidental, gotta say I could see the scenes play themselves out. Oh Francine, yah bloody ghost; crazy yah didn't do the criminal in with a good ole spoop.
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Winner winner Tschikn Dinner
The Taste of Chicken - by @f3nix
As the story is initially told, it prompted me to expand on the horror
"What do you feel now?" The scalpel of a monotonous voice, cold as the halogen light blinding him.
"Let me go".
My finish - Winner winner Tschikn Dinner
This ghastly huge figure, which the other whites always followed and which cut at him and gave him energy shocks, then stood bent over him. Maybe asked questions.
Commenters:
I loved the insight about the Demiurges and their twisted change in time. I also feel like knowing more about the Mother Unit "tschikn" and the Chief's decision to make it available.
Amazing enjoyable super alien story!!
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Certainty
Lucid Dream - by @f3nix
I fell in love with writing the story further. At the same time, I also hated it somehow...
There it was. An immense sphere, soaked in the amniotic liquid of the lucid dream. An embryo of edges, curves, dimensions, and impossible geometries. Static and fluid at the same time, iridescent, elusive and hypnotic in its eternal becoming. There it was. After the struggle and the debris. There it was. Yoh's conscience.
My finish - Certainty
Whatever was left of Ethan was now completely united with the AI consciousness and he ceased to exist. Whereby it had been unclear, even for him, whether he had been human before in this hybrid body, mostly exoskeleton. The artificiality had taken over from here and all data was inside.
Commenters:
My human mind immediatly went to "why?" - "why would Yoh restore the Decatur for traveling - why traveling if its consciousness was vast and a conjurer of worlds?". But I gave myself an answer through a second read of your contribution. It just doesn't matter. The Gods' ways are incomprehensible for men. The search for meaning is something I'm projecting onto Yoh, but also something that has no reason to be there.
... You marvelously handled the end of it all, the eternal journey of the whale that dreams of our universe. Thanks for an (un)fulfilling read!
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Spoon fed Memories
The beginner of this story made it possible to develop a contrast to the given character.
By @calluna
"Well my heart dropped and I nearly fainted before he could speak. That awkward young officer grabbed my hands, looking me firm in the eyes, 'He's not dead Mrs Ellerton, he's fine, I just need you to come with me'. I've never packed a bag so fast in my life!"
My Finish
"Yes, darling, yes! You also know that your grandpa Nick was a physicist, don't you? Well, he worked with the British government. They built nuclear weapons during the war! But I didn't know that at the time! My goodness, I was so excited because the young man and I finally arrived up in Kenton Bar, at Newcastle. And what can I say! Deep down I followed him, because the main entrance to the bunker was actually hidden in a small guard house."
Commenters:
I love Natalie, counterposed to Susie. You took an active role in the storyline building by inserting a new character who, in a way, amends for the first one. This, in particular, is valuable in the perspective of what the contest fosters, a.k.a. walking off the beaten track. I found the dialogue particularly immersive and found myself trying to guess what was Nick's special gift. Your ending is very sweet, like a balm for the reader's mind.
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Matt and the Shaman
When I read "Brownies", I immediately had the plot of the story at hand. The rest was great fun!
The Extraordinary Café - by @theironfelix
Over Matt’s head, a clock's hand ticked a steady background beat, drawing his attention. For all wandering eyes, it was ten to two; she was twenty minutes late. A huff of impatience escaped his cracked lips, his mind drifting back to the crowded room.
My Finish - Matt and the Shaman
Matt didn't feel him hitting the ground at all. On the way he had lost his "me". Strange ... that he no longer had a concept for what "his", "him" and "he" was. Basically ... very true, yes! ... the world was quite a funny place, .. why had he ever missed anything or anyone? How beautiful everything was, even the ugliness was beautiful.
Commenters:
What an amazing way to end. Such a simple sentence, that hits home so much harder than a sentiment closer to 'happily ever after' ever could. A lot to reflect on is this wonderful trip <3
I love the joyful mood that you're capable to transmit to the reader. The Shaman represents the feminine energy of creation and the whole of all things. Enlightenment is not a serious thing, more like a sublime crystal laugh of the universe. An ending that bears in itself (like many of your writings) the potential for a prolific discussion about spirituality. Well done!
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Horror Vacui
At this beginning, I knew I really wanted to involve my professional passion in it
Horror Vacui
by @f3nix
The moonlight descended on the east side of the Wagner Tower like an ancestral bone dust. The ectoplasm of a vague awareness crossed a tenant’s mind seeking for oblivion: finally, the dull blows coming from God knows what remote corner of the old building had decided to quit and he would have slept. However, between the seventy-fifth and seventy-fourth floor, a particularly fine ear could have still seized an intermittent, stifled counterpoint of voices.
My Finish
Dr. Wallace was close to losing control.
But then she looked down on Mendoza. Compelled to really look. What she saw and felt reminded her of a sick dog she had once seen on the side of the road in Mumbai.
Everything she had said at the meeting and just now ... who was she? Herself?
She took a deep breath once.
And then again.
Read on
Commenters:
She just Solid Snaked her way outta that situation! She got some smooth moves to pull that off! Resteem’d for the true Freudian-Lacanian level of dodgin’!
Did the king find a comfortable toilet in the end?
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FASNACHAT
What a gift! "Fastnacht" I grew up with, only in our region it was called "Karneval". Juicy memories and I went with the flow of exaggeration.
Fasnachat
by @f3nix
"We do not need to remind ourselves of what it means being late for Grandma Maude's birthday dinner," he said, turning to his wife, whose hand was already wriggling from his, ready to compulsively stuff the car with the many bits and bobs offered by the fair.
Debated between the growing curiosity and the thought of his father-in-law blaming him for the delay, Ben had not even noticed that he had already lost sight of Joelle.
My Finish
Someone made a saucy laugh sound, the skirts were lifted and Joelle thought it might have been herself who had sang and then cried like an animal.
Now she was pushed in front of the wooden platform, numerous hands urged her forward and already she stood on top of the stage.
Commenters:
Wow. What a scene. Transported us into a Bacchanalian feast, a frenzy of erotic excess. You did a lot, with very few words.
Welcome between the brave storytellers of the Finish the Story contest! You reminded us that Carnival is about losing the social superstructures for some days and reverting to our primal instincts...too sad that in the end society always wins!
What a brilliant first entry!
Your third person narration is effective and, by assuming Joelle's point of view, hooks the reader as if she/he's under the fasnachat's spell. I loved the gradual yet sustained rythm and climax along all the story.. wunderbar!
I want to thank the crowd from back then for this wonderful journey through the writing process, the given inspiration and the engagement. Maybe, some will come back and find themselves refreshed. Like it was for me after all those years.
To get freshly started, I hope you'll join me.
P.S. In case, you opened up one of the finished stories, I would be delighted to get feedback down here. Every new reader is a win!
The cover picture I copied from @f3nix, the former organizer and community creator of this contest. I will get him noticed through discord and I hope, I can reach him there to ask, if it is okay to use his design. Or maybe, a new creation shall be made?
Picture sources from the stories in chronological order:
- John Fowler on Unsplash
- Helmuth Ellgaard, far till Holger.Ellgaard - Uppladdarens egna verk (uploader's own work), jag äger som son nyttjanedrätten, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5976665
- Josep Molina Secall on Unsplash
- Mitch Lensink on Unsplash
- Bryan Goff on Unsplash
- Jordan Madrid on Unsplash
- Stefan Keller auf Pixabay
- https://giphy.com/gifs/art-falling-down-xUn3C73gqd7Ak4GNu8/links
- https://pixabay.com/de/porträt-festival-menschen-straße-3161818/
Edit: I changed the title picture. Please, don't be irritated. We might need a new design.
@erh.germany it has been some time. I’ve missed this space very much and often think of it.
If this contest were to get started again, I think flying under the same banner would be awesome.
I think I may know an admin. within a large community who may be willing to support winners with upvotes. Shall I ask?
I’d be willing to write some beginnings because it would help me write, as that has fallen off course. I can’t wait to try on some ending too.
Hey @tristancarax,
how nice to hear from you. It's alright, I have talked to the admin myself and he suggested to use his bananafish-account to which I told him, I feel uncomfortable, so I decided to not use the banner and to put the contest under a different design and wording. When you scroll up my blog you'll find it and see that I have used in the second round "Continue the story"-contest. I will probably do some more rounds but don't have a regular but irregular timing. I hope, you will join when the next is coming up :)
Thank you for wanting to help, I appreciate this.
Bye for now and hopefully see you soon!