[Kuzco]: 212.Reason To Win

Why I should be Writer of the Year:

There are some reasons that I think make me worthy of the honor. The two stories that I submitted for this competition are stories I cooked up and wrote in a matter of days. I am not lying about this, the total amount of time I spent on them, and I’m not talking hours, a day is, for example, a whole afternoon. The time doesn’t amount to more than a week and two days.
That’s two of the reasons I think I disserve the honor. I write FAST and I still write mostly well. You will find mistakes because I didn’t have more than a week and two days for this, my university ruined my whole time, along with my other extra-curricular activities. I’m here, at this moment, taking advantage of the time fuse, eyes tired and fingers hurting, because I just wrote 10 A4 pages on one go, finishing the “The Adventure of the Three Geeks and the Man of Metal.” 
Other than writing fast and well, I am skilled in thinking up an interesting tale, of whatever type, and telling it the right way, so it connects. What I lack in writing skills, I believe I make up for on writing speed and plotting ability, story telling capacity. Obviously the most time I have to work on stories, the better thought out and special they will be. That’s why I did what I did with my submissions. I didn’t submit my best, I submitted my worst. I believe that if I am to disserve this honor, it shouldn’t be with the best piece of my life…but rather the weakest. A 66 pages long story about a drunkard and a 44 pages long story about me and my friends being transported to an alternate reality, thus gaining superpowers and being apart of an ancient prophecy. All plots that seem void of any special meaning, but as you read you will see those definitions are but secondary to the true stories I tell.
Another reason I think I disserve the honor is because I don’t write for the hell of it. All my stories have a point, the core of the tale, the moral of the story. They are really stories, built on characters that are supposed to exemplify personalities, made around situations that you can find familiar and understand. I try really hard, because this is my main goal with any story, I try really hard to pass on THE message. And I’ve taken various strategies, learned from the best, tried and failed, tried and succeeded. It’s a learning process and I’m still learning, but I know I’ve reached a point where I’m good enough to tell stories people can listen too.
As I said before, these are my worst pages. And why? As I was saying, 66 pages long story, 12 of which are reviewed. 44 pages long story, 15 of which are reviewed. All the reviewed pages were written before August, hence before September. All the other pages were written both through some days on October and in this last week, most of them were written this last week. You have there dozens of pages that will flunk out on the grammar and vocabulary due to small localized types and mistakes I don’t have the time to read through. Also, I had to hurry the narration and description a lot in the last chapters, on McAllister’s tale I even cut a chapter off, changed the plot a bit, to make it on time. They’re the first stories people will read that aren’t like I want them too, but that’s what I want. I want you to look at the bareness of my skill and judge that! Greater preparation would only be throwing smokes in your eyes, the one that throws more smoke wins. I could’ve gone for the book one, I have 150 pages of a book in English, I’d pick 5 chapters, work on them during a week and two days, and that’d be it. But I saw an opportunity to push me to write these two stories…stories whose messages I wanted on record. I am not afraid to write, I enjoy it.
I think I disserve the award because, and this is the main reason, I’ve kept on writing ever since I was 14 years old, with next to no motivation from anyone. Ever since my Portuguese teacher complemented me, I haven’t heard crap from anyone. None of my friends read my stuff, some read some short stories but they couldn’t stomach my book. My father read my book and liked it but then I messed with it a bit and now he doesn’t anymore. My mother doesn’t read any of it. The biggest help I’ve gotten in my life as a writer was here, in this site, by participating in contests. They flushed out my biggest problems, most of which I have fixed, or at least put effort into it. But that’s the reality, 7 years of writing are not a lot, I’ll concede to that, but I’m even more motivated than I was in the past, and it’s self motivation. I need to see my stories on paper, on the computer, on RECORD. I need to know that if people want too, they can read them. I am a real full-fledged writer who’s trying his hardest to be the best he can, so he can tell his stories, carry through his messages and, with luck and blessings, make a real difference on the populace.

Some last words: As some of you might know, I am co-working on a webcomic. It’s a webcomic being made out of a story I wrote last year, based on research I did on legends and myths. When I told this to a friend of mine, he asked me: “I don’t get it. One thing’s writing a 40 page story. Another is writing a 40 page story without any certainty of anyone ever reading it. How can you write without knowing if anyone will ever know the story? Read the damn thing?”
I didn’t have an answer, so I gave this one: “I need too.”

We have a saying in Portugal that roughly translates into this: “He who enjoys the run, doesn’t get tired.” I’m enjoying this run so much, I enjoy every last moment of it…it’s been a blast, it’ll keep being a blast, and for this reason, and all the previous ones, I think I disserve to be nominated Writer of the Year, for the short stories.