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CW short story competition 2 results

Which story appealed to you the most

  • Total voters
    5
Hurricane

Hurricane

Well-known member
Right due to GIMH's lethargy (can I get a bonus point for throwing that word in) we have 3 entrants this year. This guarantees a new person will be crowned as the CW short story champion. It is a title you will get to hold for a while because given the last one was in 2012 the next one won't be until 2018 most likely.

Our two judges are - Howe and Fred

Can the two of them please communicate off line to mark the stories and then can the head judge post in here to announce the winners.

Scoring Guide as follows:

Scores out of 10 for each section unless otherwise noted:

Beginning (out of 5): Does writer engage the reader's attention immediately? Is tone, setting and characters established quickly?

Characterization: Are characters believable, well-rounded? Actions and interactions consistent and well motivated?

Plot: Is the story interesting and compelling to read?

Style: Is writing fresh and free of cliches? Is there a strong/creative use of the english language and a compelling writing style?

Mechanics (out of 5): Is grammar and punctuation correct?
Spelling accurate?
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The contestants are Heef, myself, and CPR. I won't be revealing who wrote each story until the end. Although I suspect one of the stories is a bit of a give away. Feel free to speculate.

There is a poll so that the voice of the people can weigh in on which story appealed the most.

At the end the authors can make some revealing comments about their story and the genesis for it and so on.

I will PM the judges to alert them.

One final note. I have a relatively new computer. If anyone needs me to save these stories to an older version of word please advise and I will do so.

Thanks to the contestants and the judges in advance.

Cheers
 

Attachments

Hurricane

Hurricane

Well-known member
Well if it's not rocket science shall we just start openly talking about the stories. I have a few comments to make about the prose of the other stories.
 
Howe_zat

Howe_zat

Well-known member
I've already sent my points to fredfertang so I don't see why not.

I thought this year's was much closer than last year's with three high quality efforts. I got the impression that '48 hours' was yours, 'the blag' was Heef's and 'the execution' was cpr's.
 
Hurricane

Hurricane

Well-known member
Here are my thoughts as I doubt Fred will be influenced by them.

I loved the colour motif in the Blag, and was dissapointed that it dissapeared by the 3rd chapter. I would have liked for it to have been a perpetual theme throughout the story with various symbolism woven into the story based on the motif. Bonus points for the use of the word ephemeral. I have been trying to work that into my CW posts for years but rarely find an excuse to do so.

The execution reminded me of a story I might write if I was feeling particularly inspired. Parts of it had a stream of consciousness feel from the writer where the story just poured out and wrote itself for several paragraphs. When a writer hits that point the story becomes artistic and not so much a cerebral exercise. As such I got carried away not by the drama of the situation but by the flow of the words themselves. Which is my favourite experience as a reader.

Very good stories both on par with GIMH's winning effort from last time around. Pity he didn't enter so we could topple one of his efforts.
 
fredfertang

fredfertang

Well-known member
I will also be seeking an opinion from the at some point but hopefully not too soon Mrs Fertang III who has just graduated with a first from the OU in creative writing - it seems already that she disagrees with me, but then women always do
 
fredfertang

fredfertang

Well-known member
We have a unanimous decision by the official judges, both Howe and I going for "The Blag" by a single point. We disagreed on second however, Howe's preference being "The Execution" and mine "48 Hours" - oddly however she who in theory should be in the best position to judge didn't like "The Blag" at all, claimed not to understand it, and preferred "The Execution" - seems the lady and I may not have as much in common as I had hoped!
 
Hurricane

Hurricane

Well-known member
fredfertang said:
We have a unanimous decision by the official judges, both Howe and I going for "The Blag" by a single point. We disagreed on second however, Howe's preference being "The Execution" and mine "48 Hours" - oddly however she who in theory should be in the best position to judge didn't like "The Blag" at all, claimed not to understand it, and preferred "The Execution" - seems the lady and I may not have as much in common as I had hoped!
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Wonderful and of course the author's names below

1st place The Blag - HeefDavis
2nd equal - The execution CPR, 48 hours Hurricane

Thank you very much Judges that was worth waiting for, and thank you to the prospective Mrs Fertang for giving an opinion to spice things up.

Heef winning it for his colour of clothing motif no doubt which I thought was delightful.

Well done Heef, well done CPR.
 
Hurricane

Hurricane

Well-known member
I can also see clearly looking at the judging guide how Heef would have scored the most points. Definitely did the best in characterization for example. I don't think I paid any attention to the scoring guide in my story and just went with a couple of loose ideas I had.
 
HeathDavisSpeed

HeathDavisSpeed

Well-known member
fredfertang said:
We have a unanimous decision by the official judges, both Howe and I going for "The Blag" by a single point. We disagreed on second however, Howe's preference being "The Execution" and mine "48 Hours" - oddly however she who in theory should be in the best position to judge didn't like "The Blag" at all, claimed not to understand it, and preferred "The Execution" - seems the lady and I may not have as much in common as I had hoped!
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Ha. 2nd year in a row some haven't understood my story. T'was a good competition, close between all the entries I felt - though it was a shame there weren't more stories in the mix. Roll on the next comp!
 
HeathDavisSpeed

HeathDavisSpeed

Well-known member
Hurricane said:
I can also see clearly looking at the judging guide how Heef would have scored the most points. Definitely did the best in characterization for example. I don't think I paid any attention to the scoring guide in my story and just went with a couple of loose ideas I had.
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I didn't look at the scoring guide either. I just has this idea that I'd had for a while and wrote it down on paper. Had to cut it back a fair bit though to get it under the word limit.
 
Hurricane

Hurricane

Well-known member
HeathDavisSpeed said:
I didn't look at the scoring guide either. I just has this idea that I'd had for a while and wrote it down on paper. Had to cut it back a fair bit though to get it under the word limit.
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I felt yours had the best structure and mechanics. Best description too.
 
fredfertang

fredfertang

Well-known member
There was an enjoyable element of suspense in Heef's - not in a dramatic sense, just not knowing where it was going and waiting to find out - really couldn't get my head round why Nat didn't understand it, but then she's always worked in the public sector, so perhaps that has something to do with it
 
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