YWS Birthday Short Story Challenge

Hello everybody! To help celebrate YWS's 20th Birthday, the lovely NadyaStatham and I are hosting a fun little short story competition!

The contest is open now, and will run until the evening of [updated]!November 24th, roughly 9:00 PM EST!

Complete the primary challenge below, and submit your piece to this thread when you're ready! There are only two rules here; get that piece in before the time limit, and absolutely NO use of AI!

The primary challenge is...

• Create a 20-line short story or flash fiction piece. The piece should be acrostic, so each line or paragraph should start with the letters of HAPPY20THBIRTHDAYYWS.

You can get bonus points for these optional challenges as well...

• Involving an element of cake in your story.
• Featuring a character named "Nate."
• Working in collabs of 2.

Rewards include 20 points for participation and each challenge completed--a total of 100 possible points, with bonuses for contest winners! Plus, if you are able to complete all the challenges, you will receive a completionist badge!!

Spoiler

A tease of the lovely badge ~

Good luck and happy writing everyone, and Happy Birthday YWS! ☆┌iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii┐☆

Sadly no time for a collab, but here’s something I came up with

“Howdy!” Nate said to the crowd

Assembled before him. The

Primates of various species made a

Plethora of greeting noises in response. “Now,” Nate continued

“You might be wondering why I have gathered all

2000 of you here today.” The primates looked around, all of them having

0 clue what was going on. Nate continued.

“There are dragons, you see.

Hundreds of dragons, all trying to make a

Birthday cake better than ours.

I told them they will

Rue the day they tried to best

The monkeys.” A gorilla raised

His hand. Nate sighed. “I know,

Dave, not all of you are monkeys.” He cleared his throat and rephrased.

“Apes and monkeys, tonight,

You will make the greatest cake the

Young Eater’s Society has ever tasted!” The crowd hooted and hollered in excitement.

“We’ll see about that,” the kangaroo

Spying on them muttered to herself.

Awesome work, @niteowl!

Spoiler

I don't know if I did this write because I tried to do the short story with just 20 words, and I'm not always good at following directions, also I didn't have a collab partner sadly. If I didn't do it right would you mind PMing me sorry for any trouble. <333

Nate smiles at Dossereana who comes out carrying a coconut cake, with words on it saying Happy 20th birthday YWS!

I tried.

Spoiler

Helen sighed, “Do you have any cake?”

Alan rolled his eyes, “Nah, Nate ate it all, apparently chocolate cake is his favourite.”

Petunia scoffed, “I can’t believe you would feed your pet dragon all the cake. That’s so selfish Alan.”

“Please! It’s not selfish at all, I didn’t eat any of it! I just let my dragon go crazy on it.”

“Yeah we get it Alan, your irresponsible and your dragons gonna be sick, now shut up.” Helen slurred.

“26-year-old you is grumpyyy.” Alan sing-songed, snickering.

“0% chance she’s not gonna kill you for that.” Petunia retorted.

“True,” Helen declared, “I would totally kill you if I wasn’t so tipsy.”

“Helen, oh Helen, you aren’t tipsy sweetie - your drunk, that’s what happens when you drink two bottles of champagne alone.” Alan blew a cloud of confetti from his hands.

“But,” Petunia tossed her empty beer glass aside, “It’s not all bad, you’ve literally had the most amazing party ever.

“Idiot aren’t you?” Alan sneered, “We’re practically passed out the floor of a closed disco, drunk, covered in confetti and salsa.”

“Really? You really think that means the party was not amazing?”

“Tell me how that means the party wasn’t bad?”

“Hmmmm, lets see, came to disco, danced, got drunk, had the time of our lives. No yeah, your right, what a terrible, terrible party.” Petunia’s voice dripped sarcasm.

“Dummy, we’re 26, we should be doing something worthwhile in our lives! Not getting drunk in a cheap disco with underage kids with fake ID’s!”

“Ah, Alan the preachy priest. Did no one ever tell you – shut up! YOU SUCK!!!”

“YOU SUCK!! I HATE YOU!”

“YOU BOTH SUCK!!!!” Helen yelled on top of her lungs.

“WHAT!!!!???” The two started violently.

“Snoring. Me. Was. You. Idiots. Wake. SHUSHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

Great work, Khushi!

HAPPY20THBIRTHDAYYWS

How does one write a story, as an acrostic? I
Asked to myself, wondering, pondering, writing some lines
Pencil pushing paper, erase-marks, try again...
Perhaps I just need some inspiration...
"Yes" @Nate handed me a cake. "This cake is your inspiration, alliyah."
2 was prominently marked on the cake by a "2" candle. Where's the
0 for "2-0" I asked. Just then @ReviewBuddy the hired caterer for the party
Took another candle and completed the message. "There" 20 years.
"How long it's been" I sighed, leaning back on my cane as
Belated memories of years and years and years
I had been part of the site trickled through my memory -
Roller-coastering through jokes, and poems, and challenges - with
This challenge being the latest one.
How would I complete it? I thought to myself, now stretching for words
Days had passed since I had first started the challenge and
Yet, I wouldn't give up, I couldn't give up! This was birthday week!
Yes, I wanted to try to see if maybe
With a little more time and alas just one more line, a
Story could be formed...

Me and @Kaia wrote this together
(OMG this was so fun to do!!!)

"How long have you been sitting here staring at that cake like that? You've become obsessed!" Ashlyn exclaimed as she stepped into the room.

Aaron didn't seem to hear his sister. His eyes were fused to the layers of delicate icing spilling over the cake in front of him.

"Pistachio cake is my favorite-how can I stop looking at it?" he responded, folding his hands on the table and running the edge of his tongue over his lips as he stared at the cake.

"Pistachio?" Jed echoed as he entered the dining room. "Why in the world would you choose that flavor?"

"You don't like pistachio?" Aaron asked, his shocked eyes lifting for the first time from the surface of the cake. He reached across the table and arched a protective arm around the dish holding the prized dessert.

"2 hours until your party, Aaron. Don't eat any of it until then," Jed ordered, watching Aaron's eager fingers skeptically.

"0 of us will get any cake, Jed. He'll eat the whole thing, I'm afraid." Ashlyn sighed. "I should have gotten a bigger one."

"That's not true!" Aaron interjected, his bright red eyes bouncing up defensively.

"How is it not?" Ashlyn responded as she sank into the seat beside him. "Your stomach just never fills!"

"Because I can't eat the whole thing," Aaron insisted.

"If you could, you would, though," Jed responded, cocking an eyebrow at Aaron.

"Right? He eats everything in view if no one's watching him," Ashlyn agreed as she stared at the cake.

"That's not true. I'd share it with you guys!" Aaron exclaimed, flashing his concerned eyes between the two.

"How? The cake's kind of small for your type of appetite," Jed responded matter-of-a-factly. His arms crossed as he leaned against the doorframe.

"Don't worry. Nate's genius brain will think of a way that we can make it work," Ashlyn responded, a touch of hope in her voice.

"And then what? We all get a super small piece?" Jed asked, apparently dissatisfied with the answer.

"Yeah," Aaron responded, disappointment sinking into his face.

"You know, I vote Aaron just eats the whole thing," Ashlyn suggested as she sized the cake up again.

"Who likes the flavor anyway?" Jed added, stepping back. "I'll pass."

Sheepishly, Aaron glanced down at the cake. He couldn't help smiling. It was all his. He had the best friends ever.

Awesome!! Great work, Sky and Kaia!

It just dawned on me, how late this is!! I'm so sorry, it's been a busy time and very hard to coordinate behind the scenes! ToT

Well, I think it's time to announce the winners!




And now...













Rewards will be coming soon! Great job, all of you, and thanks for participating!


Special thanks to NadyaStatham and the GenLit Crew