7 Sizzling Sundays of Summer Flash Fiction Contest / And the Winners Are…
By Writer Unboxed | August 19, 2012 |
The stories have been written, the votes tallied, and finally it’s time time to reveal the winners in WU’s first ever 7 Sizzling Sundays of Summer Flash Fiction Contest!
There was a clear winner in terms of voting.
Receiving a huge 38% of the vote, and the lion’s share of the prizes, including:
- a Sony ICD-SX712D Digital Flash Voice Recorder
- Dragon Naturally Speaking Voice to Print Software
- a Scuba writing slate with pencil
- a Night-Writer pen
- the first EVER produced Writer Unboxed T-shirt
is…
David Olimpio
Dory T. Wellington and the Fire Orange Blue Jellyfish Kite
I stole the kite from Mr. Kensey on my birthday. I stole it while he slept in a chair in his backyard. Me and Dory T. Wellington, we stood on the horizontal fence beams and looked into Mr. Kensey’s backyard at that fire orange blue jellyfish kite and we wanted it.
Dory said, “Let’s steal the kite.”
“I’ll do it,” I said. “It’s my birthday.”
Dory said, “You should do it. You’re faster.”
“I’ll do it,” I said, “because I want to do it.”
And I did. I stole that kite. And then me and Dory, we ran through the open lots in back of my house with the fire orange blue jellyfish kite. The lots where houses weren’t built yet. Just heaps of ant hills and spider holes, and patches of grass, and chiggers. The lots where me and Dory rode our bikes, and sipped Capri-Sun, and ate Peanut Butter and Honey sandwiches, and shot BB guns at cans. And once, I shot a BB at Dory’s face, but only because he dared me to because he didn’t believe it would hurt. And it lodged in his cheek real good but it didn’t bleed. And we laughed when I did it, and Dory never cried.
I was grounded for weeks after that. But it didn’t matter, being grounded. Because I still had Dory T. Wellington. And now, the fire orange blue jellyfish kite. And that cool scar that’s never gone away from the BB in my cheek.
CONGRATULATIONS, David! We’ll be in touch via email to get your snail-mail address, and soon your prizes will be on the way.
In second place, with 16% of the vote is:
Andrea Ellickson
A monster lives in my bedroom and his name is Gary. My parents don’t believe me. Tonight, if I sit in the hallway, cold and shivering, then maybe they will believe me. Maybe they will believe that Gary has two dog heads and a scaly tail. Maybe they’ll believe that Gary reads me fairy tales like Beauty & the Beast and Snow White. He even has a different voice for each of the dwarves.
But, my dad doesn’t usually come upstairs until long after midnight. Sometimes he tumbles against the walls like a lumbering giant, and Gary perks his head up, ready to leap at the monster in the hall. My mother, she doesn’t ever leave her bedroom except to eat bowls of cold chicken soup. Every night, she slips two red pills into her mouth and disappears into silence. I bet she never dreams of fairy godmothers or flying on the back of a winged beast.
The hallway feels like an icy tunnel. Goosebumps rise on my arms and my eyes droop from the darkness. I just want my parents to believe that a monster lives in my room.
“Come back to bed,” Gary says, waving me over with his soft white paw.
I follow him back to my bedroom where he can protect me from empty hallways.
Congrats, Andrea! You’ve won a Writer Unboxed T-shirt and WU coffee mug. We’ll be in touch via email to ask you about sizing, etc…
And our third-place winner, bringing home 9.39% of the vote is:
Michael Molony
The Girl and the Wolf
One autumn day, a girl frolicked about in the forest, kicking the fallen leaves into the air.
Suddenly, a squirrel rushed out from behind some brush. “There’s a wolf about!” he cried. “You should hide, too, before he finds you and eats you all up.”
“Not to worry, squirrel, but thanks for the warning.” The girl pulled an acorn from her pocket and handed it to the squirrel, who was most grateful.
She resumed her whimsical romp and was stopped again, this time by a rabbit who hopped out from behind some boulders. “You must hide now!” he said. “There’s a wolf in these woods and he’d love to make a meal of you.”
“Not to worry, rabbit, but thanks for the warning.” The girl pulled a carrot from her pocket and gave it to the rabbit.
She gaily continued, when a large, menacing wolf stepped in front of her.
“Hey, Roscoe,” she said, with noticeably less enthusiasm.
“How’d it go out there?”
“I know where they’re all hiding,” the girl said, her voice deepening. She then removed her mask, revealing an equally vile wolf. “You be the girl next time.”
Moral: If someone seems too nice, check for a tail.
Congratulations, Michael! You’ve also won a WU T-shirt. We’ll be in touch over email soon.
Thanks again to everyone who participated, and to Debbie Ohi for her generosity in allowing us use of her artwork.
We’d love to hear your thoughts in comments re: if you’d like to do something like this again, and what changes–if any–you might suggest for the future. And until next time… writeflash on!
Writer Unboxed began as a collaboration between Kathleen Bolton and Therese Walsh in 2006. Since then, the site has grown to include ~50 regular contributors and a variety of guests on rotation throughout a given year.
In 2016, the Writer Unboxed team published a book with Writer’s Digest / Random House. AUTHOR IN PROGRESS: A No-Holds-Barred Guide to What It Really Takes to Get Published is a comprehensive guide focused on helping writers over/around/through hurdles faced at every stage of the novel-writing process. It’s received some ***** reviews; we hope you’ll check it out.
If you’d like to be among the first to know about the next Writer Unboxed UnConference, which will likely tie-in with WU’s 20th Anniversary celebration, please sign up for our mailing list!
Write on!
Congratulations to the winners! It was an honor to have my story chosen to participate in the finals. The amount of talent in this competition was awe-inspiring.
I feel I came out a true winner, thanks to the learning experience of trying Flash Fiction. The need to economize on words taught me the importance of finding the most powerful words to convey meaning. Less, is often more. This is a discipline that will now spill over into my longer works.
Thank you WU! – Thank you for helping us all on this never-ending journey to become the best writers we can be.
Congratulations to the winners! I have loved this competition. It’s been an excellent opportunity to get feedback and a massive confidence boost. I would definitely participate in any future contests and will be making flash writing part of my weekly routine. Thank you!!
Congrats to the winners – I really enjoyed taking part in this contest. Please do it again some time.
Congratulations, all! Well done. I enjoyed all your stories, and loved the challenge of writing a short piece each week. Thanks to Writer Unboxed for doing this!
And a special congrats and thanks to my fellow MUG writer Andrea, who pointed me to this contest in the first place… you rock!
Congrats to the winners! While I didn’t submit any entries, I very much enjoyed the contest. The process seemed fair and smooth. Great idea for summer Sundays. Bravo!
Thank you for the “7 Sundays” contest! It was so amazing to see such creative minds starting from the common departure point of the Ohi art and photo, then developing a unique story within 250-words. I hope to see another such challenge in the very near future!
Personally, I don’t feel the prizes were necessary for a true writer’s motivation. The challenge to create the story, with it’s own “unboxed” unique spin, and transfer the tale from picture to pen is rewarding enough. So many individual stories, so many different styles of writing was incredible to read.
After the week has closed, one suggestion in future challenges would be to have a constructive composite critique by the Writer Unboxed selection committee of each story. This would create a learning tool for the participants from yet another valued perspective. Writers helping writers can only improve our profession.
My sole regret is that I found this site too late to participate in all of the contests. One late entry for week 5 and two essays for week 6 and then the challenge was gone in a “flash.” The continuation of these challenges will attract an increasing number of participants in the future!
Thank you, Writer Unboxed!
John
Wow, I really enjoyed this contest! So many fantastic writers out there who rose to the challenge of 250 words. How about a Fall Flash Fiction Contest?!
Thank you, Writer Unboxed, for hosting a fun flash fiction contest. Besides the competition, I have found your site full of valuable information, which I visit frequently. I’ve enjoyed reading all the stories by very talented writers, whose perspectives are as diverse as their styles of writing.
I look forward to reading more from my favorite writers’, some of whom include John Buss, Trudy, Andrea, Bernadette, CB Soulsby, David Olimpio and Anthony Lanni. Their writing is both inspirational and enlightening – a real joy to read.
Congrats to all and I hope to participate again in the future.
Michael,
Thanks so much… and the same goes to you! I really really enjoyed your story, especially the perfect twist at the end. Gotta watch out for those bushy tails…
Andrea
Thanks Michael! Congrats to you as well!
Wow, Michael! That is quite a compliment and a huge boost to my self-confidence as a writer. I also look forward to reading more from you in the (near) future, those that you’ve mentioned above, and all of the others who participated in the challenge. We’re all writers. Now we all just need to get our books published. Simple, right?
Congrats to the winners!
Although I didn’t manage to get an entry into every competition, I really enjoyed this. I read and voted every week! I hope WU runs more of these.
I would love to see the contest come back. I enjoyed participating. My only suggestion would be to email the winners by email and also to email the finalists of the final vote. I look forward to seeing this again next year! :)
I didn’t enter, but I loved this contest. (And was simultaneously intimated by the breadth of talent out there. I’m trying to entertain these people??)
Congrats to all the winners!
Michael, I loved the twist ending. Didn’t see it coming at all.
Andrea, sigh. My heart aches for this kid. Sadly realistic.
David, I have to say your story captivated me. Such a great voice, such rich detail. Though the accent might be different where I live, I know these kids.
Thanks for the compliment!
Thanks for the kind words, Jan. And thank you VERY MUCH for your creative and motivating posts on this site! I’ve needed the advice you’ve offered more than a few times.
Congratulations to all the winners!
I was thrilled to be a finalist for one story and receive an honorable mention for another I enjoyed this contest – the challenge of the word count, using the prompt, the short time limit/deadline etc. It all jump-started my creativity! Thanks! :)
Wow! Sorry I’m late responding. I was on vacation and was unplugged most of yesterday and today. I’m very excited! Congratulations to the other winners. And thanks, Writer Unboxed, for hosting the contest. This was a real inspiration for me. Part of it, I think, was Debbie’s work, which really resonated for me, and put me in touch with a new voice. But it was also inspiring seeing all the other writers’ great work and just being a part of the site. I’m so glad I found this writer community. Even though I’m sometimes shy in engaging in the comments, I always enjoy reading the posts here and find them very thought-provoking and motivating.
Congrats to the winners! Great stories. I had so much fun with this contest and even though I didn’t actually win, one of my stories won honorable mention and the other was a finalist so I still feel like a winner. I’d love to do this again and thanks so much to Writer Unboxed! I love this blog.
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I enjoyed participating in the contest. I managed to get a couple of “honorable mentions,” even, which was encouraging. However, I mainly wrote my entries to see what I could do with 250 words. I reckoned that if I received even 3-4 votes, that was good. After all, most weeks at least 50 stories were submitted.
I was most impressed by the judging. Every week – and again in the final voting round – I almost always concurred with the outcome. The judges put in a lot of work, reading hundreds of stories.
My most useful take-away from this is the realization that I can treat problematic parts of scenes as a flash fiction challenge. When the words aren’t coming, I can pose it as a problem: “X needs to do Y… in 250-300 words.” You often don’t realize what all you can do with such a small ration of words until that’s all you have. Sometimes, writing within a constraint forces you to focus on what’s at stake in a scene, and that makes all the difference.
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