Hey all! Sorry I was so late in posting today! I started reading a book and had to finish it before I realized I hadn't posted this yet! Sorry to keep you waiting. If you missed any of the stories go here to read them all. Here's what the judge had to say (Thanks, Erin!):
I was so excited to see what everyone would come up with this week. I chose a sentence that didn’t leave me with any expectation and I loved the results.
Rebekah Postupak: I loved how hauntingly beautiful this story is. It really pulled at my heart. Your descriptions, especially of the girl in the bed, paint such vivid pictures. Very well done.
Cory John Eadson: I love how you have somehow been able to capture what my own dreams sound like with this story. What I loved the most, however, is that you have so much depth within the dream. She’s not just dreaming about flying, she dreams of flying because she is limited in real life. It make me feel free and happy with the narrator, but also sad knowing that she will go from “swooping and diving and rising” back to her wheelchair.
Casey Rose: Your story made me tear up. I am so close with my own sister that I couldn’t help feeling like my own heart had been ripped out at the thought of Lia losing hers. My favorite part is the juxtaposition of the happy dream’s description to that of the nightmare. They both haunt me. Also, your ending is golden. Beautiful.
Giselle Marks: I really like the way that you are able to get the reader to feel that pull between the waking and sleeping world. I love how the narrator wakes up and the way you have conveyed her resistance and slowly becoming aware of the world around her.
Emilykarn: I cannot even begin to tell you how delighted I was to have a story about demon ducks. Seriously, I giggled the whole time. I loved the twist at the end and could almost hear the maniacal laughter. A true delight.
JM MacF: This one feels like a twisted love story. And I absolutely adore what you’ve done with it. It felt whimsical and reflective and I really couldn’t see where it was going. But when I got to the end, I was so excited. I had to reread it with the new knowledge and loved it even more the second time through.
mtdecker: I love the mystery you set up in this one. I love the way that the narrator’s own anxiety is portrayed through the description of her observations. While I know it probably doesn’t exist (yet?), I’d love to read whatever larger work this piece would be part of. I think it is a great foundation for a larger narration.
drmagoo: I love how complete your story is. In 500 words, you managed to give a detailed backstory, a recap of past events, and where the narrator is not. You have expertly drawn out the narrator’s resignation of her situation in her waking hours and coupled it with her hope within dreams.
mysoulstears: Oh, man. You are so right that this is only the birth! I want to know so much more about Terras Fae and how one gets there. I want to know more about the “stand against the humans of Earth in a time yet to come”. I loved this. Really loved it. Let me know when your novel is done. I want to read it.
writtenbetweencovers: For real. Love this story. Your descriptions are spot on. I imagined that I could feel the rumble of airplanes in my own belly as I read. I love how you are able to start with such a carefree scene of a couple hanging out on a summer night and, by the end, have it switched so completely to a serious scene that left my own stomach in knots of doubt along with Dom.
Nick: Even the way you have set up the *lines* of your story aids in the telling. I love that the narration is broken, stream of consciousness, peppered with repetition. By the end, I was just as haunted by the smiling and waiting as I imagined the narrator was. I read this one over and over. Very well done.
You all didn’t make this easy on me. Not even a little bit. But, here it goes:
SPECIAL CHALLENGE CHAMPION:
Writtenbetweencovers: I loved your covert use of ducks. Rouen and Dom Mallard are genious. Seriously. Great use of duck.
RUNNER UP:
Casey Rose: You pack so much emotion into your 498 words. And I absolutely love the relative peace that your ending provides.
WINNER WINNER CHICKEN (or duck) DINNER: (or, you know, Grand Champion...)
JM MacF: Beautifully done. I spent the entire time thinking “Where is this going? Where is this going?” and then I got there and it was marvelous.
Congrats to you all! I was so pleased with this turn out and I’m looking forward to what JM MacF has in store for next week!
"Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
-- Ulysses by Alfred,Lord Tennyson
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