Now that we've all had that heart to heart, I have an admission to make.
I haven't invited a guest judge for these results. I'm still considering the trials. Honestly, everything is up in the air at the moment. I still haven't gotten my act together.
But enough dallying, let's look at the results:
First Place: 'The Rope Broke' by SamShuttleworthin Misc Short Stories
First and foremost, ropes do not break. They fray, they snap, they loosen, they tear. Things ropes are attached to can break. The bonds between ropes can break. Ropes, however, do not break.
"Why are you making such a fuss about this, TimberWoolf?"
Well, I think it's an incredible point to consider. I love the phrase 'The Rope Broke' for many reasons. It has a staggered cantation when speaking, a nice rhythm of plosive sounds, and I like the aspiration to end it. Most of all, it is a unique authorative narrative.
This story is my number one for exactly that reason.
When we consider narrative authority, we think about how much we believe the story. While it's not exclusively based on the narrative voice, the narrative voice does play a large part in it. A story with authority is one that induces 'suspension of disbelief' – a quality that draws the reader into it and presents it as a real, true sequence of events for as long as the reader is engaged with it.
The voice is a tool that really helps with that – something we'll cover in the next contest, so pay attention!
While reading this story, we all know how it's going to end. The author tells us as much when we begin, so that comes as not great revelation. Why, then, read a story if you know how it's going to end? Because the events of the story are framed in the unique perspective of the narrator, made interesting by the narrator's experiences with them, and the reasoning behind their behaviour.
The narrative voice captures our attention and hooks us into the story. To build narrative authority, we need to make sure that our characters exist in a time and place in a spacial world. The author does this very effectively:
We know where our character lives, the kinds of things in her house and how she views them with a depressive detachment; we know what her community is like and her living and work circumstances. Everything about this character is real in a real, living breathing world, and we see that world in her perspective, hear about it in her voice.
It's very difficult to disagree with Ellie when we see things the way she does. We implicitly trust that Ellie is being honest, and her opinions are consistent. We cannot deny the dedication to her death that she has, and it's implausible to fault her in her convictions.
I think that the author did a very good job at writing for the prompt, and, somehow, told a different story to the one that Ellie experiences. I wish I could make myself clear, something I consistently fail at these days (so at least there's an authority in this narrative of mine).
Second Place: 'Write me a Star' by RoxyPuppyLovein Weekly Wattpad Contest Entries
The very last thing I expected from this contest was a romance based on the contest prompts. But, somehow, this worked really, really well.
I'm not a great fan of the cliché-feeling happy ending, but I think the author said it well: Don't kiss stalkers.
I think this is a winner because of the narrative constructed directly on the progression of the contest prompts – something I don't imagine was easy or straightforward to accomplish.
The story works really well because of the progression, but also the double somewhat symbolic layer that progression takes.
The messages are reflective of the character's personal development (though, that could have been focused on a little more), the character's investigation to into her mystery romance, and the story's overall progression towards a satisfactory conclusion.
In essence, some sort of magic has been done here and I think we can all take look at this story for direction in crafting effective plot devices.
Third Place: 'Before the Chequered Flag' by in Rise: All My Wattpad Contest Entries!
I think perhaps this is one of the story most directly and heavily inspired by the contest prompts. I feel like this is a winner because of the strong combination of imagery and narrative authority as I outlined it above.
It's a very short piece, expounding upon the magic of how inspiration works, and, while it doesn't give a clear answer to an unasked question, it does give off a strong sense of ascendance. It feels like magic even though it's so ordinary.
Additionally, it's a representational piece telling us that there isn't really an end goal, no fanfare for when you get there. The real magic is the feeling of the journey towards it.
I'm very glad that everybody has done so incredibly well with the prompt this week, and while I was very confident in declaring my winners, I still think that all the entries had something very special that they brought to the community. I'd like to point them all out, but that will take a long time and I don't have much.
So, here's where we're going to start our forum:
Inline comment on this line about the things you've found interesting or effective in the stories not outlined as winners above, and we can all take a look. Consider it a show and tell of our favourite pieces.
I'll see you next week and I wish you only good fortune.
Sincerely
Me
(oh, I really love that song.)