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.
It's nice to see, after a long time, someone pick up the banana-shaped baton and continue the race! Bravo, @erh.germany!
You know we have an official community, here: https://peakd.com/c/hive-169028/created, where we would very much like these posts to be collected (there is a Hive feature that allows you to post simultaneously on your profile and on a community, or they can be shared).
We also have a Discord channel, here: https://discord.gg/wtm3kkUyQE, where you can put links to the contest and keep in touch with the participants.
😉
Hey! Thank you for replying!
I am not using peakd.com, so I am unaware you have a community there, I am a bit of a technical submarine, if you know what I mean. I did look up on discord on the former official banana fish realms when I thought about this post, but found them closed. So I am a bit confused now. I answered you though on your private channel, already.
:-D
Hi! It's @marcoriccardi here.
If you're using hive.blog, you can find the Bananafish community here: https://hive.blog/created/hive-169028 😉
For everything else, including problems with the discord channel, I leave you to discuss with @f3nix on the private channel because I am unfortunately unable to help you. Good luck with the contest!
Thanks for the link and to reveal your name, I was not sure who answered.
I see that you do the Haikus there.
I am already in conversation with f3nix on discord, but thank you :) Searching for the former contest, I found it dead, so I thought it'd be a good idea to run it anew. I don't want to hurt any copyrights and so I removed the graphic already. I really hope, we can make the contest an inspiring environment again.
Would you join?
I wish I had time for joining! I'm fully busy with a tabletop role-playing game project in which I'm author with other 3 people and editor. Thank you very much for asking me and good luck!
It will be a nice contest for all those whose niche is fiction writing.
I would like to invite some of my fellows whom I find quite expert at fiction writing.
@kemmyb @sunyag @davidbright
Ah, a 'finish the story' contest? That's interesting... I'll read through this post to understand it better! Thanks, dear Amber for the tag. 🙂
Most welcome my friend
Thanks for this tag, I will check it out and see what I can do with this piece. I hope to come up with something powerful to finish the story..
The contest hasn't begin yet. It is the call for the potential contestants
Ok.. Am yet to o through though.. I will go through the write up soon.. Thanks
👍
Thank you for the support and tagging some writer lovers, too. Highly appreciated! :)
I already begun the story and the requirements for the contest. Guess, I'll need some days until I publish. I am excited about it.
Good luck to you 👍
Interesting, im in.
👍
Welcome!
I'm in!
Great, thank you and welcome :)
Can you tag those of who you think, they might join?
@mgaft1 I think you would be interested in this. Can you tag some others, such as philglaz whom I can't find?
@zeleiracordero-2 check out the original post on this comment.
@cliffagreen interested?
Hey @erh.germany :-) This looks great! I have bookmarked and will read over the next couple of days. Definitely tag me though when you do put out your next post on this. Perhaps you'd like to tag @wrestlingdesires, @an-man, @onewolfe, @dibblers.dabs too as they may be interested :-)
Interested to read more yes...
I'll have a look in a few hours, thanks for the tag ❤️
!LUV
<><
@samsmith1971, you've been given LUV from @wrestlingdesires.
Check the LUV in your H-E wallet. (1/1)
👌 Thank you and welcome!
I will tag you for sure and hope the crowd will grow :)
I was JUST looking for this Monday, and noticing what you did ... everyone who used to run this is no longer here on the chain ... but if it can be restarted, I want to know about it!
Yes, I thought the format deserves a revival. Happy, that you became interested. Shall I tag you, once the story and requirements are published?
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STOPHello @erh.germany,
What a great idea. People enjoyed doing this. Right now I am kind of overwhelmed with responsibilities for the Ink Well community and LMAC. A lot of reading, so much so that I often don't have time to write blogs I plan. However, if you get this going, I will be delighted to read the stories and support the authors.
Some of the people who responded here are great writers. You should have outstanding results.
Hope you are well and pursuing interests that bring you joy.
Regards
Thank you, agmoore :) I am certain that having you once in a while as a critique giver will enrich the contest. I remember the old times and conversations and read it with pleasure. The blockchain serves well as a reminder of good times.
I am well, married meanwhile.
You seem to have a lot of fun with LMAC as far as I can tell, the contest it's quite a success.
Best wishes to you!
Hm, that sounds interesting!
I'd like to try this contest. Would be the first time writing in that manner :)
Yes, give it a try. Did you read some of the stories I teased here? If you go into the commentary section, you'll see how much fun it can be. And since you are a steady writer, I can see you participating here.
Greetings :)
Interesting.