Contest April-May 2020 Short Story Contest Reading and Voting Thread

Discussion in 'Fluff and Stories' started by Scalenex, May 1, 2020.

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Which Story or Stories Do You Like Best? (choose up to four)

Poll closed May 31, 2020.

  1. Story One: "Bowl of Blood"

    6 vote(s)
    35.3%

  2. Story Two: "Abomination"

    7 vote(s)
    41.2%

  3. Story Three: "Awīak"

    3 vote(s)
    17.6%

  4. Story Four: "Lost and Found"

    3 vote(s)
    17.6%

  5. Story Five: "Return of the King"

    3 vote(s)
    17.6%

  6. Story Six: "Fire of the Old Ones"

    3 vote(s)
    17.6%

  7. Story Seven: "Prayers for Vengeance"

    5 vote(s)
    29.4%

  8. Story Eight: "Tipping the Scales"

    5 vote(s)
    29.4%

  9. Story Nine: "Praying for Reasons, Praying for a Purpose"

    3 vote(s)
    17.6%

  10. Story Ten: "The Ritual"

    7 vote(s)
    41.2%

  11. Story Eleven: "Blooded Water"

    5 vote(s)
    29.4%

  12. Story Twelve: "The Bloodswamp War (part 1)"

    2 vote(s)
    11.8%

  13. Story Thirteen: "Ask and It Will Be Given"

    6 vote(s)
    35.3%

  14. Story Fourteen: "Tzeentchian Rituals"

    5 vote(s)
    29.4%
Multiple votes are allowed.
Page 4 of 8
  1. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    I did that at the beginning of the contest. I don't want to overuse Droopy.
     
    Scalenex, May 30, 2020
    #61
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  2. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    I like it.

    Lots of stories getting good votes. Good crop this time guys.
     
    Lizards of Renown, May 30, 2020
    #62
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  3. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    Story One: “Bowl of Blood” by @Warden

    Story Two: “Abomination” by @thedarkfourth

    Story Three: “Awīak” by @DeathBringer125

    Story Four: “Lost and Found” by @Lizerd

    Story Five: “Return of the King” by @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl

    Story Six: “Fire of the Old Ones” by @Infinity Turtle

    Story Seven: “Prayers for Vengeance” by Scalenex

    Story Eight: “Tipping the Scales” by @Lium

    Story Nine: “Praying for Reasons, Praying for a Purpose” by @Paradoxical Pacifism

    Story Ten: “The Ritual” by @Lizards of Renown

    Story Eleven: “Blooded Water” by @Carnikang

    Story Twelve: "The Bloodswamp War (part 1)" by @Sudsinabucket

    Story Thirteen: "Ask and It Will Be Given" by @Killer Angel

    Story Fourteen: "Tzeentchian Rituals" by @Tk'ya'pyk

    We have a tie between Lizards of Renown and thedarkfourth! Congratulations to all.


    We have a tie between Lizards of Renown and thedarkfourth! Congratulations to all, this was a great contest all around.

    Special thanks to our first time entrants Lium, Lizard, and Sudsinabucket!

    I award the Scalenex Cup to Warden.
     
    Scalenex, Jun 1, 2020
    #63
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  4. Killer Angel
    Slann

    Killer Angel Prophet of the Stars Staff Member

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    With such a tense competition, with so many stories running for the victory, i find that a tie is very appropriate.
    Even the third place is a tie between my piece and Warden's!

    The only clear winner imo was for the piece that took the scalenex cup; something different that Bowl of Blood would have been unsatisfying... :p

    Funnily, none of the winners took my votes (personal tastes, both are very good). My fav. stories were Bowl... and Prayers for vengeance.

    But hey, kudos to everyone. What a great comp! :)
     
    Killer Angel, Jun 1, 2020
    #64
    Warden, Lizerd, Imrahil and 3 others like this.
  5. Killer Angel
    Slann

    Killer Angel Prophet of the Stars Staff Member

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    Some personal note about my story, "ask and it will be given".
    At the beginning, it wasn't a very voted one. I was falling back, after a couple of weeks it was near the bottom. I'm glad it recovered so well! thank to anyone that voted it.


    With this one, i wanted to revisit the "Birth" of Tehenhauin, the prophet of Sotek.
    Both of them have always been figures veiled in mistery. In Lizardmen's fluff, Tehenhauin appeared from nowhere and even the Old-One status of Sotek was subject to debates among the Slanns. Tehenhauin himself has always been portrayed as basically a fanatical figure, obsessed by sacrifices.
    At this point, i decided to use the old trope of "if a sufficient large amount of people believe in something, that something becomes real"... a thing that every 40k ork player can tell you.

    At that point, the story developed:
    a pestilence Grey Seer got an idea: if skinks lose their faith in the Old Ones, the magical power that gives lizardmen the edge, will vanish. But how? by giving them a false new faith.
    So…
    1) buy a frankenmonster with a head and mind of a skink, which will act as translator and scribe, to write false Sacred Plaques with the prophecy of the advent of this new deity… (Sotek, but the reader still doesn't know)
    2) slay a village with a magical poison, one that gives visions… the skink that will survive this, will be forced by the visions to go in the place where the false plaque has been "hidden"
    3) the poor mental damaged skink, which is a mere labourer, will find the plaque. This simple-minded guy, thirsty for vengeance, will learn of a new God that will deliver said vengeance. The Skink now got a task: to spread this amazing new truth to a world haunted by skaven.
    4) the skink goes, many skinks listen to him and abandon the faith in the Old Ones; lizardmen's magic becomes weak, skaven win the first battle
    5) the same happens in the big city
    6) the Backfire and the revelation. With so many skinks that pray to Sotek, the "magical energy" reaches a critical point, and Sotek becomes real… with the powers that the Grey Seer gave to it in the false plaque and also with, probably, the personal increases given by Tehenhauin himself. The power of Sotek also frees the mind of the frankenslave, which kills the Grey Seer. The age of Sotek has begun.
    7) not present in the story… this explains why, in the fluff, Tehenhauin came out of nowhere, and also why the Slann debated for so long before accepting Sotek into the pantheon of the Old Ones. They knew the plaque was a false one, but now the new God is undeniably true.
     
    Killer Angel, Jun 1, 2020
    #65
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  6. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    Lizards of Renown, Jun 1, 2020
    #66
    Carnikang, Lizerd, Imrahil and 1 other person like this.
  7. Nazqua
    Carnasaur

    Nazqua Well-Known Member

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    I think your brutal campaign to draw attention here Is working! keep it up, Expand the ranks, THE SHORT STORY CONTEST SHALL RULE!
     
    Nazqua, Jun 1, 2020
    #67
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  8. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    Thanks.

    "Brutal campaign"? Wow and here I was thinking it was quite mild!
     
    Lizards of Renown, Jun 1, 2020
    #68
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  9. Nazqua
    Carnasaur

    Nazqua Well-Known Member

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    Hmm... Maybe your right, I mean... you GIVE the people a choice to click on the short story thread.... Really, It shouldn't be optional.
     
    Nazqua, Jun 1, 2020
    #69
    Scalenex, Carnikang, Imrahil and 1 other person like this.
  10. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    Phooey, joint fourth with a load of others. I honestly thought that I was onto a winner with my entry this time, given that it features one of Warhammer Fantasy's most beloved characters arriving into Age of Sigmar.

    Never mind, it's only a bit of fun. Well done to @Lizards of Renown and @thedarkfourth for the joint win, and it could be said that my vote actually decided that it would be a joint win (sorry @Lizards of Renown mate), for 'Abomination' was one of my favourites. I wonder who gets to choose the theme for the next contest?

    The other three I voted for were 'Bowl of Blood', 'Prayers for Vengeance' and 'Ask and it will be Given'. Three of my votes were definite choices, but to me the fourth was a real toss-up between 'Prayers for Vengeance' and 'Blooded Water'. 'Blooded Water' introduced a new way of writing Lizardman stories by using smell as much as sight to indicate ranks and emotions, whereas 'Prayers for Vengeance' provided an especially novel reading experience due to the tale being told from the points of view of two different protagonists at the same time. Eventually I decided upon 'Prayers of Vengeance' due to the original way the story was told, with both antagonists praying for vengeance against each other and believing they had the victory. Watching both sides of the story of the battle unfold was especially captivating.

    I'm especially impressed with both the quantity and quality of the stories this time around, so I give a big hand to everyone who took part! :)

    You had the choice of four votes - which others did you choose?
     
    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl, Jun 1, 2020
    #70
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  11. hanskurt
    Skink

    hanskurt Member

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    I voted for stories, 2,4,8 and 14.

    But none of the stories were bad, and I voted for just the way I felt at the time. A different day I might have selected all different ones.

    There were none I read that I thought, this is not been done properly.

    whats interesting is how you can see the different stories have their own different writing styles.

    Some have very regimented blocks of text, as some are very loose.

    To me this says how each person is organising the story in their head.

    Some ppl meticulously plan out in chunks, others it’s sort of a spontaneous stream of ideas. There is no right or wrong way.

    But obviously writing style is linked to personality as well.

    So can you like someone as a writer but not as a person? Lol
     
    hanskurt, Jun 1, 2020
    #71
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  12. Killer Angel
    Slann

    Killer Angel Prophet of the Stars Staff Member

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    of course yes.
     
    Killer Angel, Jun 1, 2020
    #72
    hanskurt, Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl, Lizerd and 3 others like this.
  13. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    Definitely.

    I have professional authors that I read, where I like some of their stories but not others.

    All of the stories in this contest well bright stories, some funny, some serious, but all had a definite create to them.

    You can look up examples of professional writers whowrote story after sotry and then finally made big.

    Just keep writing! You'll get there.
     
    Lizards of Renown, Jun 1, 2020
    #73
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  14. Lizerd
    Skink Priest

    Lizerd Well-Known Member

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    Congrats @all :D amazing stories. I would write more thoughts later but im out of it right now, i will post more in a bit.


    also people actually voted for my entry which is an achievement enough for me
     
    Lizerd, Jun 1, 2020
    #74
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  15. Imrahil
    Slann

    Imrahil Thirtheenth Spawning

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    Great Stories all around.

    Congrats for the winning Stories.
    Looking forward to the next Contest.
    Hopefully I can finish my story on Time for that one(depending on the theme)

    Grrr, Imrahil
     
    Imrahil, Jun 1, 2020
    #75
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  16. DeathBringer125
    Carnasaur

    DeathBringer125 Well-Known Member

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    My short story idea didn't really fit the theme too well, but I have had that idea for a while and couldn't resist writing it lol. Also, here is the inspiration for Awīak.
    IMG-1909~2.JPG
     
    DeathBringer125, Jun 1, 2020
    #76
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  17. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    I can see why you went with the story. Very cute.
     
    Lizards of Renown, Jun 1, 2020
    #77
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  18. Killer Angel
    Slann

    Killer Angel Prophet of the Stars Staff Member

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    Cute girl! :cat:
     
    Killer Angel, Jun 1, 2020
    #78
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  19. hanskurt
    Skink

    hanskurt Member

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    nice familiar you have there!
     
    hanskurt, Jun 1, 2020
    #79
  20. hanskurt
    Skink

    hanskurt Member

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    I voted for your story. It was good, started off mysterious. Had character interactions.

    Some times when you start out at things, you are good because you haven’t had time to learn bad habits yet.

    when you do things for a long time you can end up going to weird crevices that only you care about.

    my advice, keep it light and fun, have fun. Don’t worry if your doing things the right way or other ppl like it. Just try to do it so it’s what you like.
     
    hanskurt, Jun 1, 2020
    #80
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