May Writing Contest

  I am here to announce the Second Annual Fantastic Writing Contest of Awesomeness!
  GASP! Yes, we are having the second annual contest...NOW! This year, the rules are quite different than last year. This year, you can have one entry, to make judging easier for me. Here are the basic rules:
  I am going to give you the beginning to a story. You must finish the story. Simple as that. Wait! AND you must give it a creative title. Hang on! AND there are a heap of other things you can get bonus points for.
  So here are the detailed rules:

Requirements for the Second Annual Fantastic Writing Contest of Awesomeness

1. You must complete the story. Minimum is 1 page (standard 8.5 by 11), single-spaced. Maximum is however many pages you like.

2. You must give the story a creative title. This title will have a bearing on the judging.

3. Bonus points for the following:

            A) Having a twist in your last one or two words. For example, if you made people ask a question through the whole story or through the ending part of it, and then answered the question in the last sentence or two. Or if you introduced an interesting plot twist in the last couple words, something that leaves your reader satisfied. (For example: “That’s how I met your mother” at the end of Over the River, by Tiger. Or “BLEEP” at the end of The End, by Lemony Snicket. If you’ve read that book, you know what I’m talking about.)

            B) Including the sentence “Eating bananas is a whole lot easier than slicing up laptop computers” somewhere in the story -- and making it make sense.

            C) Including a surprise plot twist that no one saw coming. The more unexpected and creative the better.

            D) Having a character turn out to be someone different than who you thought he was.

            E) Finishing your story off with a poem. (Or at least including a poem somewhere in the story.)

            F) Having a character go on a monologue about how much he/she loves President Fantasy.

            G) Including a Lords of the Pencil club member in the story. Extra points if it’s Raistlin, and he does the Chicken Dance.

            H) Having your characters travel to at least one foreign country/city. Extra points if it’s Rome.

  And here is the beginning of the story that you must finish:

Title to Be Written Later By…YOU!

By You

            On June 21^st, 2012, Berry Blue got a letter in the mail.

            That was unusual because Berry never got letters -- and he didn’t want to get letters.

            “And if you had a name like Berry Blue,” he complained to no one in particular, “Would you want to get letters with your name right there in the middle of it?”

            But he did get a letter that day -- a letter with only one word in the place where the return address should have been:

            Basdorkinfairy.

        “Basdorkinfairy?” Berry said aloud, looking over the letter. “What’s that?”

            He tore the envelope open to find a single piece of paper with the following typed onto it:

Dear Berry Blue,

     You have been chosen to enter a contest. This contest is the most secretive ever held -- but it also has the highest stakes. If you win, you will inherit ten million dollars in cold, hard cash.

     “Well,” commented Berry, who was very fond of talking to himself, “That’s nothing to sneeze at.” He made a note to pay attention to what was written from now on.

            There are rules to this contest, but you will not be told what they are. There is a goal, but you cannot be told this either. Rules will be given as you proceed. This contest may take you anywhere, and you may have strange experiences. Or not. It all depends on how you look at it.

     Berry thought for a second, and then turned the paper sideways.

            “Hmm,” Berry said thoughtfully. “If I look at it this way, there’s a watermark.”

            Gloppin Dombilterkin, proclaimed the watermark.

            “Is that a name?” Berry said aloud. “Why are there all these odd names about?”

            The letter would not answer him, but Berry was cheerful nevertheless -- no one usually did answer him. That was why he talked to himself so much.

            “Well, then,” he said jovially. “Best to find this Gloppin Dombilterkin. Assuming that he’s a person. Or that he’s a man. He might be a woman. Or he might be a place. Or I might be pronouncing it wrong.”

            So Berry Blue left quite jauntily, as he had nothing else to do that summer, and was content to take this as a possibility.

  Everyone may enter. (Including, of course, Poppy Red.) The deadline is somewhere around June 15th, but obviously I will be fairly lenient, since Much Ado About Nothing is being performed around there, and we leave for Lake Chelan on June 16th. So the deadline may be extended.

  Have fun!

-President Fantasy