Surely you have happened upon the classic opening line "It was a dark and stormy night..." *dramatic music plays*. It is our aim to challenge you damn good writer peoples to take this classic opening and make it your own!



I have never judged a contest on WritersCo before. I have helped my big bro [Mister Saint] by giving my opinion on writing and contest entries, and I have hosted and judged my own challenge at fanfiction.net, so I have the general idea of how things should be done.

I will make this very simple. Each story was read and looked over for flow (how well the story read, if the sentenced linked well) "grammar" (I do not claim to be a grammar expert, but if there was a comma missing that interfered with the flow of the writing or something was misspelled... things like that) plot (did the story make sense and was it well-paced?) and tone (how did it make the reader feel, basically). Of course, the writer recieves bonus points for the candlestick!

There will be 1-3rd placings and an honorable mention. Trophies will be provided by [Mister Saint] and I will provide an additional prize for the first place winner: (I have seen this around Flipside and WritersCo in general and think it's a great idea) I will read a piece and provide constructive criticism, feedback, etc.

That being said, on to the judging!

Oh, wait. Should anyone have any problems with my judging, then I ask that you submit your concerns in a personal message to me. But please check the rules on the contest page beforehand, just to be sure. Thank you!



Honorable Mention

[Athilea]: The Parchment

I really enjoyed the air of suspense and mystery you put into the story. There was a lot of action and I liked that, too. You used a lot of good words to set the mood.
However, I had a little trouble with the flow. Your sentences were great on their own, but reading it was a little halting. Another thing that interfered with the flow was the tense switching from third person to present tense. The plot was a little confusing as well, and I'm nto sure I got a good sense of what was going on.
You have a great idea here and I see your main character as becoming very well developed. I'm sure if you devote some time to this, it could turn out great.

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Third Place

[Sabrina Catherine]: 479.Dark and Stormy Contest. All Alone

Let me begin by saying that yours was the only story that made me feel anything. I actually cried at the end... it made me sad. I guess because being alone is one of my fears. You also had great wording, and it flowed pretty well except for a few places. I loved the overall tone... the darkness of it.
First person, though, is hard to write in that it's hard to get around starting sentences with "I". You did a great job of making me feel the character's emotions, but if you had varied the sentences a little, it would have flowed better.

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Second Place

[Kaimee]: 5.Contest Entries.A Dark and Stormy Night

I congradulate you on the excellent flow of your story. The introduction was very good, and I enjoyed the descriptive writing especially the way you wrote your characters. However, the mood of the story was hard to grasp, and I'm not sure I fully understood it. The best part by far was the way you wrote first person narrative.

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First Place

[Fuzzysabeast] : 282.The Unholy

Another grat example of first person narrative only slightly marred by the sentence flow. Again, great wording. There were a few places where it read a little slow, and a few commas were missing. Overall, I loved the mood and idea of this story. The ending leaves you thinking... the way a good short story should. It makes one feel that this is just the begining of a biger story.



Thank you for participating!