Story Starters Contest

I was almost done with my experiment when I noticed the box was empty.

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That wall is definitely new.

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She crouched and hid under the desk as the footsteps drew near.

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Are you brave enough to finish the story? Can you take a beginning and make a middle and end to wow the audience?

Will you tackle the challenge of taking a story starter and turning it into something new and unexpected?

In This Contest:

You will be given a line to start a short story. This line must appear, intact, somewhere within the first five sentences of your piece. Your story starter will be unique to you, so no one else in the contest will have it!

You will have a month, from the 1st of September to the 30th, to write and edit your piece. All works must be submitted by September 30th to be considered for judging.

The Prizes:

1st Place: 1500 points or 3 reviews

2nd Place: 1000 points or 2 reviews

3rd Place: 500 points or 1 review

All prizes offered by Kays!

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What's the catch?

There is none! If you would like to participate, post here, and you will receive your story starter on August 30th US CDT (to account for timezone differences).

When you post in the thread, please include these things: what tense you would prefer to write in (past, present, future), and what viewpoint you would prefer to write from (1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person). Story starters will be individually provided based on these requirements!

If you would like to be a guest judge, please PM me and I'll get in touch with you about it!

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Contestants:
1. @Lightsong (3rd/past)
2. @Wolfical (3rd/past)
3. @PrincessInk (1st/pres or 3rd/past)
4. @Dino (3rd/pres)
5. @Chierynn (3rd/past)
6. @fortis (2nd/future)
7. @eternalrain (3rd/past or 1st/pres)
8. @Aralynne (3rd/past or 1st/past)
9. @Sassafras (3rd/past)
10. @Dulcet (1st/pres or 2nd/pres)
11. @Dracula (1st/past or 3rd/past)
12. @birk (3rd/past)
13. @bluewaterlily (3rd/past)
14. @Holysocks (1st/pres)
15. @Cutieboingwritez (1st/past)
16. @ThemagicalEbonyFox (1st/past)
17. @Sonder (3rd/past)
18. @Lumos (3rd/past)
19. @Leftywriter (1st/past)
20. @Stormcloud (3rd/past)
21.@neptune (1st or 3rd/past)
22. @Sheytato (3rd/past)
23. @everonlyaudaciously (1st/past)
24. @DarkPandemonium (3rd/past)
25. @Gravity (1st/present, 1st/past or 3rd/past)
26. @Justlittleoleme2 (2nd/past)
27.) @Lael (1st/past)
etc.

I would like to sign up. I prefer to use past tense, 3rd PoV. Thanks!

Delightful! I love short story contests like this because otherwise I would never come up with the inspiration for one.

I'd also prefer past tense and 3rd person POV, por favor!

Awesome! Honestly, I wasn't sure what kind of response this little idea of mine would get. I'm a fan of story starters and story prompts (I write drabbles based off prompts to chase away writer's block, so) but I've never playtested anything like this before.

Glad to see such a positive response!

I'd like to sign up!

@PrincessInk do you have a preference for tense or POV?

I promise I won't send you something weird like 2nd person future, but I might mess around a little bit if you don't specify.

Sorry @Lareine, wasn't paying too much attention to the specifications for signing up.

Preferences:

1st person present tense OR
3rd person past tense

I'd love to sign up! 3rd person present tense, please c:

I saw "short story" and began furiously clicking the link, trying to get my lousy internet load the page faster.

3rd person past tense, please.

Can't promise I'll actually do this, but I'll try!

2nd/future pl0x

Ah, might as well give this a go :p

3rd person past tense or 1st person present tense please!

Might as well try!
3rd/1st past, please.

Count me in. Most likely 3rd/past

Count me in too, please! 1st/2nd person, present tense. :>

Sounds like fun, I'll join in! I'd like either first or third person in past tense, puh-leeze.