Halloween 2014 Event Completed - Results

[Zach Caldwell]

Well folks the halloween competition has concluded. If you would like to still comment on the stories please feel free to do so in this thread. Thank you to everyone who submitted a story and to those who voted. Stayed tuned to learn the name of your favorite story and who the authors were.

[ken barber]

Final Vote count

1.        Story 1 (4 votes [12.12%])

2.        Story 2 (4 votes [12.12%])

3.        Story 3 (7 votes [21.21%])

4.        Story 4 (1 votes [3.03%])

5.        Story 5 (2 votes [6.06%])

6.        Story 6 (3 votes [9.09%])

7.        Story 7 (1 votes [3.03%])

8.        Story 8 (7 votes [21.21%])

9.        Story 9 (2 votes [6.06%])

10.     Story 10 (2 votes [6.06%])

[A.B]

Congrats to everyone who wrote a story! They were all nice!

[firemedic15]

Congrats to all.   So who wrote what??

[Zach Caldwell]

Congrats to all.   So who wrote what??

We will be listing the stories with title and author name shortly. Keep an eye out the next day or two.

[ken barber]

Firemedic,

When we announce the winner tomorrow night at midnight we will release all the story names and authors at that time.  No peeking....LOL

[D'Artagnon]

Discussion Time -

Story 1 - Loved the concept, great sense of compassion and giving back to the community.  If only more people would do things like this in real life, the poor kids who've already had to deal with some pretty tough lives would get a boost.  And we all can use a boost from time to time.  The writing style kind of put me off at first, but this story came from a place full of heart and fun, the best of intentions.  We should all aspire to such.

 

Story 2 - Was a little put off by the adult-child relationship.  The imagery and dialogue were charming and spooky at the same time.  I like how this story explores some history as well as the main character's sense of mortality.  Interesting concept.

 

Story 3 - This one felt very dark to me.  To be honest, I found myself getting lost in it, and not in the right way.  I feel I didn't give it enough of a chance and will likely read it again later, with more of an open mind.  A lot of people found it interesting and powerful, and I feel it deserves a second chance.  More importantly, a lot of the readers felt it was worthy of top honors.

 

Story 4 - Young teen turned to a vampire against his will.  Complete loss of everything in his life that mattered and then given a choice: an end to the horror his life had become or a chance to redeem his soul and fight against the things that had so wounded him.  I have to say, I thought this one would have been more popular.  It was in my final three. 

 

Story 5 - A pair of spirits choosing to protect a pair of young boys.  And Trick or Treating fun as well.  And the spirits deciding to not only protect the kids but to pair-bond each other as well. This was also a charming story, made me grin.  The light style of writing kept it bouncy and conversational.

 

Story 6 - At first I'd thought a friend of mine had written this one, until he told me he hadn't submitted one.  The idea of a paintball competition turning into a horror story in an abandoned house was brilliant setting work.  Then making it into a party, letting the Halloween horror turn into spooky fun, that was a nice twist.  For that reason, this one made my final three as well.

 

Story 7 - Premonitions of impending death, the house furnace about to blow.  This one was creepy, but in a good way.  Made me jump every time my A/C kicked on while reading it (what, it's hot in Florida, even in October).  Seriously, well written, ominous and spooky.  Got to me.

 

Story 8 - Peter's Ghost.  This one got my vote, and I never wavered from that decision.  The characters were well developed, the concept was interesting and that tie back to Peter's past relationship to one of the boy's fathers was touching.  There were spooky and dangerous moments, and again a sense of redemption.  Written with a lot of tiny touches that convey so much about our characters, and their friendship. 

 

Story 9 - Vampire love story.  I wasn't really impressed by this one, sadly.  It was well written and detailed, but it felt like this had been done before.  Like set in the pacific north west or something.  I liked the way the characters developed, and maybe would have been a better story if given more time.  I think, based on the word count limitations that maybe this one was a bit rushed.

 

Story 10 - I really shouldn't comment on this one, but I will.  There are holes all over this story.  The note passed in class was never explained, the "ghost story" was far too short, and the chase scene really needed more chasing and more scene description.  The characters were well enough done, but there seemed to be missing points.  Could have been longer, probably should have been.  This could be the start to something, since the story had an open ending.  Not bad for writing, but sloppy.  Seems sort of written at the last minute.

 

Okay, discussion time.  What do all of you think?

[ken barber]

Story 1- I found this a unique concept. Interesting and different Writing style.
Story 2- I too was a little put off by the adult child relationship, but must commend the author in the way he handled it. 

Story 3- Dark is an understatement, This has Horror scream flick in its future. Nice style and definitely hit the theme head on.

Story 4- This was one of my Favorites I think the writer really conveyed the characters and their challenges perfectly.

Story 5- This one was a charm to read very enjoyable

Story 6- Being an Avid paint baller this one caught my attention. Really unique concept

Story 7- Ok this one Creep me the F*** out. I live in a house that was built in 1825 the amount of creaks and pops and cracks i hear every night are astounding now each one scares the piss out of me. Classic ghost story. Another of my favorites

Story 8- This story had a classic ghost story charm. I really enjoyed it.

Story 9-  Classic Vampire. Good concept and could become a very good story

Story 10- Contrary to D'artagnon's harsh criticism of this one it was also one of my Favorites. Well written and well told story.

[Melodies]

Great reads, thanks to all the authors. In the end I had to go with story #8. Can't wait to see who wrote them!

[Hunter]

I think all the stories were very well done and fun to read.  Some were more developed than others, but everyone should pat themselves on the back for a job well done.  We all have our preferences in style and content of Halloween stories and the voting reflects this as well so in my book this is a big success alone since it had a little of everything for everyone.

 

I loved story number three but to me the ending just didn't do it for me.  It came across as going one step too far and I felt it was set up more to have additional chapters following it in the future versus having it come to a conclussion in the 15,000 or less word count criteria.  So in the end I didn't go with this story even though I truly enjoyed it.  I voted for story number eight and loved it from start to finish feeling it filled the criteria in all categories from the word count, a chilling halloween feel to it, and having a sense of closure with it coming full circle.  Like I said I was very torn between number 8 and number 3, but in the end I felt number 8 overall fullfilled all the requirements of the competition.

 

Having said this it would be interesting to see where story number three now leads; although, I do have to admit it sort of has gotten into a realm I'm not too keen on, but again, I suppose it is a style preference than anything else because the story was very well done and written with a lot of forethought going into it.

 

So in the end all I can say is congratulations to both Kyle and Douglass because your two stories were on the top of my list, but alas we only have one vote, lol.

[ken barber]

Castle Roland's Halloween Hysteria

Short Story Contest
One Two It's Coming for You

Three Four You Better Lock the Door

Five Six Grab Your Crucifix

Seven Eight Better Stay Up Late

Nine Ten Never Sleep Again

Our Halloween Special is here

With a flare of Charm and Fear

Halloween Short Story Contest and the Nominees are....

 

Story 1: "Orphans For Orphans" By Roland 

Story 2: "Death Holds No Fear for Me Now." By Andrew Foote

Story 3: "Hollow-ween" By Kyle Aarons

Story 4: "This is My Life" By Eric Aune

Story 5: "Trick or Treat" By Multimapper

Story 6: "Trick/Treat" By Kyle Aarons

Story 7: "Halloween 1965" By Allen Norris

Story 8: "Naked Ghost" By Douglass DD

Story 9: "From Trick to Treat" By Jeikor

Story 10: "Right Before My Eyes" By D'Artagnon

And the Winner is.......

The Envelope Please

 

Oh My Gosh its a tie...Ladies and Gentlemen, I can't believe this we have a tie....

First Place Goes to
Story 3 "Hallow-ween" by Kyle Aarons

and 

Story 8 "Naked Ghost" By Douglass DD

WOW what an unexpected turn of events. Congratulations to both.  

Speech......Speech......Speech......Speech......Speech......!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Thank you to all the authors for the submission and for the forum members for participating. And thank you to The Castle Roland Community Forum for hosting this little contest.

[A.B]

congrats everyone and winners!!!

[Wolfhighlander]

Story 1:  I liked the giving back to the community idea.

 

Story 2: I know this may put some off because of the adult youth encounter, but it was handled well and not made a focus of the story.  The focus was the lifting of the curse.  At least to me that was what it was.  I liked it.

 

Story 3:  This is the one I picked barely by narrowest margin over Story 8.  I liked the transforming from a group of friends who became family and when needed they stepped up to fight back and help others.  There was a heroic theme to it.  I could see this leading to a longer story.  What happens in the other place where they must fight with their new found powers and abilities.

 

Story 4:  I liked the characters and the deeper story of good people doing what was necessary to fight against the darkness that could envelop the world without such people putting themselves on the line to protect others.  One of my favorites.

 

Story 5:  The trick or treating spirits choosing to link themselves to help these boys who are doing what they can to have as normal life as they can.  I liked it.

 

Story 6:  I liked where this story led you to the apparently real life haunted house and then the twist at the end that turns it into a set up leading to completly different ending than where it appeared to be heading.  I liked it.

 

Story 7: I liked the ghost story element, that led to a premonition that saved the family. 

 

Story 8: I really liked this one.  The connections between generations and how things came full circle to save others.  This was another favorite, and 3 edged this one out by the narrowest margin.

 

Story 9:  I too think this could have had more to it.  It seemed to sort of rush to the conclusion.  I think there could have been more a little more to it.  But I still liked it.

 

Story 10:  I liked the story, but not one of my top 3.  I think more could have been added to fill some scenes out a little more.  Even saying that, in the end I liked it.

[Emperor Roland]

I have to say, i was greatly impressed with all the stories, and having people in here explaining what they liked and didn't like in all of them is great.  i would encourage everyone to do that.  Remember, we have people that submitted that are not normal authors, and they need feedback.  for those that have never published anything before, i think they did a wonderful job!  and i see a good future for them. 

 

I will be posting my thoughts on all of them in a few days, after i have had a chance to re-read them all. 

 

one last thing, i would like to thank everyone that posted a story, and everyone who voted.  this was an experiment that we did not know if it would work.  you guys blew us away with the results.  we have figured out a few things that we will have to do differently form now on, since we did not expect what we got.  Also know that not all of our forum only events will be competitions, we have a few different things we want to try out.  any feedback, good and bad is greatly appreciated. 

 

For now though.  once again.. great job to everyone involved!

[Kyle Aarons]

As an author of two of the stories, I will not really comment in individual stories, but I can tell you I loved story #8 it is one where I was impressed enough to read it two times back to back which is very, very rare for me. I can say this much, when I first heard of this competition I instantly came up with two stories. This, the Halloween theme, put me in a place I really enjoy to write from; and, as anyone who reads my stuff knows, I am not afraid to go dark and I feel went there with a vengeance this time. The comments above seem to give this some credence, so thank you.

 

Thank you all for reading and voting.

[ken barber]

The Stories will be offline for two hours tonight October 30, 2014 starting at 10:00pm Eastern Time, while we update them with titles and authors names

[Hunter]

I've already made a comment but it was hidden for now because I let slip who had won, lol; although, I'm sure those who were watching the count already know.  Anyway, I left comments on my two favorites and why they were my favorites and why I chose the one I did.  It was a difficult choice because the two stories were both wonderful.  I do want to comment though on all the other ones as well because I felt overall they were all well done.  For me I believe this was such a success because the stories were very diverse and covered a wide them written in various styles providing entertainment for all tastes.  The fact that our voting was so diverse attests to this fact.  For me it was a very pleasant read and a lot of fun, so to one and all, thank you so very much.  Again, my two favorites and my thoughts on them will be reposted after the results are revealed.

[Jeikor]

   Thanks to the ones who made comments about my story. It was indeed a bit rushed. I was late getting started, don't have much spare time and was out of town for a few days with a week left before the deadline. There was more I had wanted to include but ran out of time.

 

 I am sorry you did not care for it D'Artagnon; I was somewhat influenced by the one set in the Pacific Northwest but tried to give some separation from it. Unfortunately, some of that was what got left out in order to make the deadline. I think you are too hard on your own story. I enjoyed it and think you ought to continue it; I would love to see where Marc and Phil's relationship goes. After I finish with Educating Max.

 

 Thanks to Hunter also who dragged me to this site from the one he was on. Not only do I get to read his stories but found a few of my other favorites from the other site on here too. I agree with Hunter that Kyle Aaron's winning story seemed like the start of a new series (Oh, how I hope so!). However, I do enjoy this realm! May try a few of Kyle's stories in the future.

 

  I am thinking of writing more about Zane and Zander and was trying to decide whether to rewrite what would be the first chapter or just continue on. From the comments I think I ought to rewrite to improve the story before continuing.

[ken barber]

Once again thank you to all the authors that submitted, the forum members that read and voted and all the People behind the scenes that put this together, Zach, Forum Chief Moderator, The Castle Roland Public Relations Team; Hunter and Robby. The Castle Roland Administrators Roland, Mary, and Allen. With out their input and time we would not have had such a successful event. Thanks to all.

 

Now a couple of questions?

 

Should we make this an annual event?

Would you like to see more of this type of event through out the year?

Do you have any suggestions to improve this event if we make it annual?

Do you have any suggestion for more of this type of Event?

[D'Artagnon]

Now a couple of questions?

 

Should we make this an annual event?

Would you like to see more of this type of event through out the year?

Do you have any suggestions to improve this event if we make it annual?

Do you have any suggestion for more of this type of Event?

 

1.& 3.  Yes, Definitely an annual event, and maybe start calling for submissions around the week after Labor Day.  I think we all felt the press of time a bit this time around and maybe with a longer lead in, authors will have a bit of a cushion to get things edited or do re-writes.

 

2. & 4.   Again, yes.  The competition part was fun, the general positive attitude among those that commented was good too.  Writers only become better writers when they write, sometimes when challenged to write.  I thought this was not only a much larger turn out than expected, but the quality was outstanding.  Maybe some kind of late winter event, a spring event, a summer event.  I'd also like to see a theme sort of thing, perhaps between seasonals.  Like, oh, say, maybe a sports theme, or something less general like turning tragedy into something positive, stories based on a song, a first date story, maybe... just throwing ideas out there.

 

Maybe we should schedule some kind of writers workshops as well.  Things like trying a 15 minute writing exercise or writing a page with a bunch of preset words that must be worked in.  Maybe paragraph swapping.  What do you guys think?

[D'Artagnon]

 

 

 

Jeikor Says - I am sorry you did not care for it D'Artagnon; I was somewhat influenced by the one set in the Pacific Northwest but tried to give some separation from it. Unfortunately, some of that was what got left out in order to make the deadline. I think you are too hard on your own story. I enjoyed it and think you ought to continue it; I would love to see where Marc and Phil's relationship goes. After I finish with Educating Max.

 

Woofy Says - No worries dude.  I think a lot of us got caught up in things kinda last minute.  I know in my case that there were all sorts of things going on around me, including my mother going into the hospital that weekend before.  Sometimes there's not enough month at the end of the sanity... or is that supposed to be money?  Oh well, it's all freakin insane!  Oddly enough, you're the third person who's suggested re-writing Right Before My Eyes and continuing.  I shall give it more thought, and see what I can do.

 

 Jeikor Says - I am thinking of writing more about Zane and Zander and was trying to decide whether to rewrite what would be the first chapter or just continue on. From the comments I think I ought to rewrite to improve the story before continuing.

 

Woofy Says - Honestly, I didn't hate your entrant to the competition.  I felt that, like mine, it was rushed.  There's whole avenues to expand that story.  The reader in me was wondering where the guts of the relationship were.  I did like that there was more going on than apparently the characters themselves knew.  The characters have strong basics.  If you want to take another whack at it, I'm sure the rest of us would absolutely love to see what you do with this concept.  Give it a go!

 

 

What do we think?  Are there stories from the Halloween competition that should continue?  Should some open up into shared universe status?  Would other authors like to play around with another writer's characters?  If we get story continuations, should we set up some kind of special page so these stories can be accessed?

[Jeikor]

Definitely make this an annual event and do more of these. There are other holidays like Christmas or a summer or vacation story.

[A.B]

Yes defo annual event and maybe think it for more themed holidays like Christmas, easter, summer etc, some of those may not be big events in USA but they are in other places around the world and it may give "colour" and variety to the site and the stories if people from around the globe start writing quality stories depicting such events in their culture/country. Yes they can do that anyways but themed competitions give motive and make it fun for everyone.

I think that submissions should be declared about one to two months prior to the event, so for Halloween I'd start advertising from mid august and open submissions from early September. Give authors and/or readers that want to write something to have time to think and write the story/ies.

Or maybe sudden undeclared competitions? like "Surprise event! Write a story with superheroes/DC/Marvel/Star Trek/etc theme/subject! Submissions for a week, voting for a weekend, winners by monday" could be associated with customized -by CR stuff-  profile icons and/or achievements/badges. I know it is a lot of work and maybe I can help there in the creation of said badges but I think it will add "goals" for readers and/or authors and motivate people not to just log in read and leave.

This could be further extended for other site functions like "achievement for 100-1000 etc posts" "Moderator badge" etc basic achievements/badges for "reader" "author" "prolific author (published more than 10 stories in the site)"  etc.

 

[Rilbur]

Maybe we should schedule some kind of writers workshops as well.  Things like trying a 15 minute writing exercise or writing a page with a bunch of preset words that must be worked in.  Maybe paragraph swapping.  What do you guys think?

 

I tried to get a writers workshop going a while back, but the interest was extremely limited.  (It wound up a near-disaster)  I've actually been thinking of trying that again sometime in the near future.  That said, while writing exercises are helpful, a workshop is a totally different beast.

 

A workshop involved a group of writers coming together, each with a short story.  Everyone reads everyone else's stories, and then as a group critiques them.  And that bit right there is the hard part:

 

Most authors don't critique very well.  It's a critical skill, but much like revisions drastically under utilized and practiced.  And of course, nobody likes sitting still and just listening as others pick their piece apart.  (Well, almost nobody; a few of us get the idea and would LOVE to have people go after our work with a red pen).

[A.B]

 

What do we think?  Are there stories from the Halloween competition that should continue?  Should some open up into shared universe status?  Would other authors like to play around with another writer's characters?  If we get story continuations, should we set up some kind of special page so these stories can be accessed?

I like the idea of other authors continuing the stories of other authors, if of course original author of the story agrees with it and maybe after author #2 completes writing the story he/she sends it to original author so that he/she can make corrections to character behaviours/timeline/events/etc if he believes they deviate a lot from what/how he thought/wrote his/her characters. Like a creative director overseeing the final draft of the story/movie.

So if someone for example wanted/wants to write Brave Lake Manor 2/sequel he/she can write it send it to me if it contains some of the characters/locations in the original story so that I can make sure they stay true to my vision of them, send it back and get it published if CR staff like it.

It could spur greater interest by both readers and authors and create interconnecting stories/universes and interest.