WooHoo! I have the winners! You all made it tough for Eric! If you didn't get a chance to check them all out, go read them here. Otherwise, read on to see what the judge had to say.
Rebekah Postupak: I loved the slow reveal of Sibille’s ghostlike status, and you expressed your indignance at not being able to use dialogue in a creative way that helped drive the character development.
mysoulstears: The dialogue from the gate was great – exactly the kind of babble that someone on the edge would hear from an inanimate object somehow out to destroy his life.
Jackie Castle: Nice twist – it was a well-written horror story that gave me an unexpected ending. It was also a nice idea to have the squeaking gate be a positive instead of a negative.
Jeremy Milburn: I liked the atmosphere of this story a lot, but there were a couple of places that lost me a bit. Near the beginning, I wasn’t sure who Tara and Barb were, and it took me a while to figure out who was the narrator in the story. Also, the transition at the end was a little too sudden for me – maybe a result of the cap on the length of the story. If you had a little more room, this one would have benefited.
Ben Miller: Great job with imagery and telling the story of the caretaker who’d been working a difficult job that still drove him to do well for a very long time. The mystery of who the matriarch was and what they were protecting against left me wanting more.
Michael Simko: A lot of nice images and dark ideas here, but it felt a little cramped and rushed. It wasn’t clear where “here” was or what the everything that happened was. I think that would have given more weight to the images you created.
todayschapter: What a beautiful story of loss and grief. Filled with great details of a life only someone inside the experience would understand.
Special Challenge runner-up: Jackie Castle
Special Challenge Champion: Rebekah Postupak
Runner-up: Rebekah Postupak
Grand Champion: todayschapter
Thanks, everyone, for writing such enjoyable stories! I look forward to reading more next week.
Thank you for forgiving my rebellious compliance! It was a true challenge (and a truly enjoyable one!) to craft a story with character development and a forward-driving plot without the use of dialogue.
ReplyDeleteCongrats Runners up and Winners! Well deserved. Thanks for the comments Eric. :-)
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