• 🏆 Texturing Contest #33 is OPEN! Contestants must re-texture a SD unit model found in-game (Warcraft 3 Classic), recreating the unit into a peaceful NPC version. 🔗Click here to enter!
  • It's time for the first HD Modeling Contest of 2024. Join the theme discussion for Hive's HD Modeling Contest #6! Click here to post your idea!

Short Story Contest #4 - Great War Stories

Status
Not open for further replies.

Ghoulrush

Ghoulrush

Ghoulrush

Level 6
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
129
Markos3520 said:
nice idea the whole.....but i think 1k words as the lowest word limit is not anymore a short-story. and is it something like writing just a story or is it more writing a story 4 a warcraft campaign? otherwise a nice idea for competition.
Click to expand...

No, short stories are usually defined by 7,000 words to 9,000 words.
 

XPQJ

XPQJ

XPQJ

Level 10
Joined
Mar 16, 2009
Messages
354
haha forgot to enter, its not too late is it?



Take the trust, fool the eyes and set us a flame. Deep inside these burning buildings voices die to be heard years we spent teaching a lesson we ourselves had never learned, and if strength is born from heartbreak then mountains I could move and if walls could speak I'd pray that they would tell me what to do. For now I clench my teeth, alone. “So only my little brother, Pinek, came out from the war alive… from the rest of my family, it’s nothing left, not even a snapshot.”- Vladek Spiegelman. There is nothing humane about the actions of the Nazis.

When something so terrible happens to you that it is characterized as a crime against humanity, recovering the loss it delivers is colder then the blood of those that fell beside you. Suffrage cannot be ignored but sometimes it is better to not be there. If you see me, please just walk on by, walk on by. Forget my name and I'll forget it too. Failed attempts at living simple lives, are what keep me coming back to waiting . . . Until nothing is left. Ignoring the signs was the biggest mistake. “Hanging high in the center of town, it was a Nazi flag… here was the first time I saw, with my own eyes, the Swastika.”- Vladek Spiegelman. When mistakes are made the cats never failed to jump at the chance.

No signs of life here, save the embers, the occasional flame, we'd know the way but can't remember, conception to the grave, shout confessions from the greatest heights, where no one can hear, all my fears, my insecurities are falling like tears. Took my good intentions and shoved them down the drain, you did not need an invitation to crush the dreams of a generation. Imprisoned from the culture breathed, we cannot take this sitting down but out matched by fear the corner becomes a home.

The drones all slave away, they're working overtime, they serve a faceless queen, they never question why. Disciples of a God, that neither lives nor breathes, burn my corpse and let the exhaust be the message to my family. “So the Germans swinged them by there legs against the wall… and they nevermore screamed.”- Vladek Spiegelman. Can this be what the world becomes? We cannot let go, can’t you see, to lose control is to fall free, into the darkest of night. It could be minutes away, it could be hours or days before the bottom falls out, Before the ground gets away. Into this debt we are born a debt we try to repay and yet we blacken the sky smoke rising out of the flames. First a spark, then a flame, now a fire, we explode. Trust and betrayed.

Reject and disregard, these aching cries come from the bottom of our hearts you can't disown us now, we are your own flesh and blood and we don't disappear just because your eyes are shut, now tell me why I deserve to die. Lights out because the fuse has blown, this is a war that was lost the day it began, because it’s the race we run but it keeps us at the start. This happens almost never but it happened once to millions, and it will never be the same. The differences that make us human are the differences that make us prisoners.

Something I cannot change I was born in a place that lives by the sword and thus to it’s blade we’re condemned don’t you understand why we scream? My dreams are of children orphaned by blood spilled at these hands here on the graves of the innocent Nazi’s raise their flag. Sometimes the fate you suffer is so much worse than death; we’re way off course now and we’re drifting out to sea so cut the anchor on your heart to be set free. To live through the time any love is a weakness that will be toyed at relentlessly until you do not have the strength to go on. To traverse this burning bridge one must have no trust in anyone but himself unless he wants to be used.

The sky is no longer blue, the ashes fill the air, and still no one knows why. No one knows why there is this fate for those of us, are we not human, what makes you better? It is your choice to decide who can live or just survive. To the ends of this lost world you have marched and you have sworn to a tainted crown of thorns as the hungry sails unfurl we are thrusted from the shore and it's hope that we search for. When the air that we breathe becomes the air that we choke is when we know every human is not humane.

From the smog of disconnection, from the work in the field, humanity is people caring about people, but from the trail that you left we know they do not care. The freedom of choice is a gamble, that those who betray break the rules of humanity, and when taken too far you cannot get back up. Walk on wounds that seldom through to slow you down, and now take a step back and see what humans are. Where is the strength we relied on to survive through the countless drafts and horror stories? Sucked from my own body, my soul is trapped with my strength. So lets trade shoes just to see what it’s like to be me, I’ll be you, you be me, feel your pain you’ll feel mine, we can see through each other’s eyes and then tell me what humanity is. Somehow the intentions were ‘good’ but when people set eyes on the sky once blue but now grey with the ashes of my brothers the only thought that will enter their minds is sorrow. You know you caused it but you are acting like you do not. Humanity is a trait common between all of us, but different in each of our minds, until the sky paints a picture that can set everyone’s minds to the big picture.


Yes I realize there is no character development as of yet . . .
I tried taking a different approach then just describing the conflicts of a war, and tried to educe the thinking aspect post-conflict. I'm not a good writer so any tips by any users would be great :grin:
 

Vengeancekael

Vengeancekael

Vengeancekael

Level 37
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
6,528
XPQJ said:
LOL thats just awesome



my own fault xD
Click to expand...
Better luck next time and read the deadline next time as well.

More on topic, i just finished reading TWIF's story and i must say, it was ground breaking o.o How long did it take you to write it? lol
Well his chance of winning is really high right now, but we'll see when i've read the other stories as well :)
 

Grey Nightmare

Grey Nightmare

Grey Nightmare

Level 20
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
2,999
But not the final ;) ?

Hehe, anyway it's always (for nice people) to criticise their own work and praise others.

A Judge's job is hard, we should respect his judgement :)

Btw he didn't say it was bad, just not up to your calibre - which tbh I didn't expect it to be anyway!





BTW.... TWIF Your descriptions.............................................................................................................. *Draws in breath*
"WOW!"
 

Grey Nightmare

Grey Nightmare

Grey Nightmare

Level 20
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
2,999
Maybe it was? I don't mind, though I think if it aced any section, it would be that... purely because that's what I spent most of my time on, not because I think I did it well :)

The actual story now I think about it was a bit meh...

That's what happens when you write without planning D:
 

TwistedImage

TwistedImage

TwistedImage

Level 13
Joined
Oct 31, 2009
Messages
1,481
Grey Nightmare said:
Maybe it was? I don't mind, though I think if it aced any section, it would be that... purely because that's what I spent most of my time on, not because I think I did it well :)

The actual story now I think about it was a bit meh...

That's what happens when you write without planning D:
Click to expand...

Planning is a bad idea. If there is one thing you should not do, it's planning. You should base stories on a what-if. For example, "What if a pony found a Super Mario antropomorphic star in an underground dungeon inhabited by antropomorphic magnifying glasses of doom?"

..That would be hilarious to write, tbh.
for ye observant ones, yes, I did grab that from On Writing.
 

Miz

Miz

Miz

Level 3
Joined
Aug 15, 2007
Messages
34
Some awesome works, and some I am kind of on the fence with but I have a few I think are my favorites so far, and I would like to see win but I won't say who because that's no fun.

I completely forgot about this contest otherwise I would have submitted something :hohum: (Failure on my part)

@ The Word Limit for Short Stories
That's debatable. A short story can be any length in words as long as it doesn't display the full attributes of a Novel and even those are debatable.

So I don't think their should be a word limit that only stunts creativity. :thumbs_down:

TwistedImage said:
Planning is a bad idea. If there is one thing you should not do, it's planning. You should base stories on a what-if. For example, "What if a pony found a Super Mario antropomorphic star in an underground dungeon inhabited by antropomorphic magnifying glasses of doom?"
Click to expand...

I disagree, Overplanning is a bad idea, but planning in general depends on the style of writing you are doing. Writing a Mystery or some kind of psychological thriller or horror; if you don't plan it won't make any sense, at all.

I personally think Basic Planning; essentially to have some basic outline is a requirement but under planning can be a problem especially in longer works because you might not even see how you can draw a clear line to your climax and then to your conclusion that you want to make without making huge plot holes in the story.

Character Planning on the other hand is critical, you have to know your characters better then you need to, to make them realistic of any sort. If you don't think a character through they won't seem like real people. (i.e.: a robber who just robs for no exact reason or depth in his personality.) If that is the case, the reader might just lose any appeal, feelings or interest in that said character.

Yet for fun stories the "What If" statement is probably the funniest way of doing things. I love writing stuff like that and I usually start a story out that way and plan from there. But I disagree with a total lack of planning because it will make a chopped up story that is flat and one sided. Possibly even easily predictable.

Anyway; Good luck to all those who submitted, I should be joining next contest. :sad:
 

Ghoulrush

Ghoulrush

Ghoulrush

Level 6
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
129
TwistedImage said:
Planning is a bad idea. If there is one thing you should not do, it's planning. You should base stories on a what-if. For example, "What if a pony found a Super Mario antropomorphic star in an underground dungeon inhabited by antropomorphic magnifying glasses of doom?"

..That would be hilarious to write, tbh.
for ye observant ones, yes, I did grab that from On Writing.
Click to expand...

Ummm.... No?

Do you seriously think that Tolkien and Shakespeare wrote their novels without planning? Hell, do you think ANY good author writes their novel without planning? If you don't spend the time on creating important themes that interweave with the novel perfectly and excellently complement the character development and atmosphere then... then you simply are not writing as well as you could be...

I know that I dropped out due to finals but... are you sure that you should be judging this?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

leet.firefox
  • Locked
Short Story Contest #6 - Survival Horror
6 7 8
Replies
368
Views
22K
Dragonson
Dragonson
SilverEx
  • Locked
Short Story Contest #3 - Heirloom
5 6 7
Replies
343
Views
20K
Pyritie
Pyritie
The World Is Flat
  • Locked
Short Story Contest #7 - Space Opera
5 6 7
Replies
307
Views
28K
Apheraz Lucent
Apheraz Lucent
Midnighters
  • Locked
Short Story Contest #4
2 3
Replies
101
Views
4K
Midnighters
Midnighters
aaron
  • Locked
Short Story Contest #5 - Dual Perspective Partners
8 9 10
Replies
479
Views
29K
Vizel
Vizel
Top