Weekly Wattpad Contests

Contest #39 Results

Preliminary notes:

I loved the participation this week, and everybody seemed to enjoy the prompts. The work overall was incredible and everybody should be really proud of what they've done. A while ago I promised that I'd try my best to participate as well, and this week I actually did. There's a reading list on my profile with all the entries, every week, and you should check that out.

Shoutout to Writicious who I've noticed was very involved with the other entries, gave supportive feedback and is a paragon of this week's contests community involvement.

Also, did'ya see? I commented this time. I think I like that and I'll do it again. Just an extra level of interaction that I cannot imagine living without now.

I'm still learning how to judge properly and give useful feedback, so this week I'm going to list my notes and elaborate on them a little. You let me know if it's helpful this way.

Finally: I've debated third place so long and I've eventually decided that Nadia from @Contests has pretty much given me free reign in this book, so I can do whatever I want. As such, I'm abusing this privilege. We have two third places. Welcome to my world.

The Winner: SabineDeMauvais with 'Mote of Destiny'

The concept is wild and crazy and I love it absolutely. Sabine went wild with the prompts and I think it made a very interesting story. I recommend you check it out and let me know if you agree.

The tone of the story is somewhat casual and comical – it reads like a modern informal piece. The thing with tone is that it sets the platform for how the story is presented. It gives a basis for the characters' interactions, their personalities and the way they develop the plot. Two of my absolute favourite quotes this week comes from this story:

'They were gods amongst mortals. Well, not quite. Not yet, anyway.'

And this fun little interaction:

"You're not going to open it, of course." The woman smiled wider, her teeth bright white against the framing of dark lip stain. "That would be very bad."

"Oh, no. 'Course not." Rex took the box and tucked it inside his jacket. "Like you said. Bad stuff."

The narrative is wonderfully descriptive, and paints a very vivid picture of the events. Coupled with the tone, it plays in my head like a funny movie.

With that, as well, the characters were so interesting, so different and wonderful and fleshed out. They had fun interactions and complicated relationships, and all of that in less than 1500 words.

The language itself is supportive of the narrative flow, and the structure is fluent. This just makes it so much easier to read and such a pleasant experience.

Side note: It pleases me to no end that SabineDeMauvais said she enjoyed the project. That's honestly my most important goal at the end of the day – to make the practice fun and rewarding. Writing is such a wonderful craft, and if you have an honest passion for it, the only that should matter is enjoying it.

Second Place: ForevaFranticFangirl with 'Life, Death and the Grim Reaper'

This one is here because it's a fully fledged narrative – it goes from the beginning to the end and it is worth the read.

What I mean to say is that the main character goes on a journey. They have a lesson to learn, and the events of the story are how she learns that lesson. It's not necessarily an easy lesson, or one that is fun to learn, but she comes to understand something important and valid, and, consequently, so does the reader.

It has philosophical undertones, and of course nobody needs to agree with them. This is a story about Sarah Anne Dower, not the reader. The lesson is what she needs to learn in her un-life, and it's heartwarming to see her self-actualisation.

Even moreso, it's heartwarming to see that journey characterised by a unique and powerful relationship to the world around her and the character in it. It's so pensive and moody and it is, in my books, a gem of literary work.

Everything in this story is a representation of something vital to the character's journey, and while I have not the time or energy to write a fifty page essay on it, I can guarantee you'll find something if you dig a bit.

Side note: I've been looking into the philosophical ideal for various reasons, and whether that was intended or not, I think it resonates with this story. Go do some research and lemme know what y'all think.

Beautiful and well done with the prompts!

Third Place: TimberWoolf with 'Make it Rain'

So at first I thought this was a joke. Honestly, who would put up something like that and expect it to –

Oh, wait, hold on. Let's try this again.

Third Place: SmallNotesOfBoredom with 'There is no title so I'm going to make up my own, part 1: Living Little Lights'

I feel like we're seeing this new world through this character. We're learning the world along with her, and her optimism is wonderfully refreshing. I especially like how she's going on this journey of discovery and trying to figure out what's right and wrong and good and bad.

Honestly, the main character is what sells this story to me. She doesn't know who she is or why she is, but she is so fully developed and unique that none of that really matters.

I think it was an incredible interpretation of History Repeating itself.

Third Place: Writicious with 'There is no title so I'm going to make up my own pt 2: Reaper and Darling'

One of the first things they taught us in film school is Binary. So I'll type this entire review out in binary.

01001001 00100000 01101010 01101111 01101011 01100101 00101110 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01101110 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00101110

Ha, I'm having so much fun today.

So, the concept of binary is that there are two sides to any given story. It motivates the conflict and the emotional relevance. In this story, I believe that binary to be Duty versus Desire. It's so well ingrained into the narrative thread – the main character has an exceptional sense of duty to her work, and is guided by her own desires to do well. The conflict arises when her desires are tested, and consequently her devotion to her duties.

This is on here for excellent use of this technique.

Honorable Mention: @(Insert all Entrants here) with 'Title of relevant story'

Excellent interpretation of all the prompts, and a unique outlook. I hope y'all have had fun. Really. I'm very proud of all the stories I've read, and I think you should be too.

Concluding Notes:

I had fun with this, but if you prefer that I stop being weird, then let me know and I'll consider it.