Choosing Between Two Stories

Oh my goodness!

I was sitting there, going back and forth over my choices. Which do I want to choose? I can make a case for both of them! I don't know which to go with but I need to choose just one. I was thinking, "Who could I ask for help, choosing between two stories?"

And then it hit me suddenly... didn't they make a Critique Community on Vocal for this sort of thing? Critiques and feedback on stories?

How fortunate for me! Okay, so I am asking you, Dear Vocal Readers, would you mind helping me out with something?

I'll give you the breakdown.

I recently had received incredible news, a competition that I had entered a story into had moved on to the Top 100! There are more rounds to come, but since I made it to the Top 100, my story can now be featured on this site where managers, agents, producers, publishers, etc. I also get to make a profile on the site and include more of my work to showcase.

Exciting stuff. They're so helpful too, the people who are running the Launch Pad Prose Competition. This is all under Coverfly, where my profile is. They gave me a whole bunch of tips for what to do, what to include. One set of helpful tips was about what to share.

If your story that is in the Top 100 of the competition is of a particular genre, it might be best to share other stories of that same genre... or of related genres. Or, if you have many stories that are of similar styles, regardless of genre, those could be best to share together. The tip is essentially, make sure your stories can be tied together in some way. You don't want to share 5 extremely different stories that have no similarities because then you could seem unfocused. As they mentioned, yes, you do want to show you have range... but especially in the beginning of a writing career... people often want to know that you can be a specialist in something. Makes sense to me.

They also said, you want to share work that is polished, good to go, some of your best stuff. They recommend sharing at least a few total stories, at the very least 2-3. They mentioned sharing up to 10 could be too much, perhaps also making you appear unfocused. Their recommendation was to land somewhere in the middle of that, if possible.

So, let me break down my specific scenario so you can understand this difficult choice I am trying to make. I didn't want to share too many, but I have several stories that I could share. I thought, perhaps in the 6-8 range would be good.

The story that I wrote that made the Top 100 for this competition is called "Darkness of the Ecuadorian Sunset." It's a Horror. Here is the logline: When two adventurous college students head to a jungle-adjacent Ecuadorian town for a home health care summer program, they begin to realize that the eccentric and mysterious woman they're looking after is not nearly as terrifying as her mansion which is filled with far too much activity considering it's supposed to be empty.

So, I do want some similar works. Last year, I entered this same contest with a different story and it made it to the Second Round. It shows on the site as having made it to the Second Round so I feel it's good to include this one so that people can see it's placement.

This story is called "Fuel Is Thicker Than Water." I labeled it as a Drama... it's also got some Thriller and Sci-Fi elements. Here is the logline: In a future where blood of executed prisoners is used to fuel vehicles, a widowed cop puts her career and life on the line, investigating the corrupt nature of this billion-dollar industry.

Funnily enough, I had entered script competitions under this same umbrella years ago, and a script of mine showed up under my works. It was one that had moved on as a Semi-Finalist. Again, I feel I should share my works that show these placements. Here's the funny part, quite literally. It was for a sitcom competition, in which you could write an episode of an existing sitcom.

What I wrote was an episode of Family Guy titled 'Griff Ryder's Anthem' and it is... a Comedy. Also, it was written before DMX passed away. Here is the logline: When Peter gets tricked into buying an old watch that supposedly has DMX living inside of it, he finds out that it isn't a lie and that is truly the case. DMX wants to be freed, but the unique watch is getting Peter in with a celebrity crowd and he doesn't want to give it up.

This one is obviously quite different from the first two... and some other stories I had planned to include. But I still want to include this one because it placed well. So, my thoughts are, can I tie a bunch of stories together with similarities? Yes. Even though an episode of Family Guy is far different from a Horror and a Futuristic Drama (both of which I don't necessarily shy away from bits of humor in) they all have the similar qualities of something outlandish existing in them. I often do that in my writing, I have outlandish, out of the ordinary themes. I try to incorporate thrilling aspects, strange aspects, fantastical aspects.

I have a story where a house is appearing to be haunted. I have a story where people use blood of executed prisoners to fuel cars, I have a script where a famous rapper got trapped in a watch.

It's all weird stuff. Just like I like. My one last thing is... I don't want there to be just one random comedic script. So, I wanted to try to find something else with some humor in it, even if it's not a full-on comedy. So, I had a few other stories I wanted to include, just to give you an idea of the theme of everything.

One story that I have on Vocal which I will include is titled "Carry On." This is a Crime Thriller. Here is the logline: A professional criminal is trying to escape a messy past, but he fears it may be entangled with his new situation, a new team run by someone who operates with far too much mystery and uncertainty.

One other story that I have on Vocal which I will include is titled "Synthetic Apparitions." This is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Here is the logline: Three low-level soldiers serve as guinea pigs operating in a project in which the U.S. government has figured out how to weaponize spirits. What's more, they're close to creating their own synthetic version of spirits, but they're getting greedy.

One other story that I wanted to include is titled, "Next-Door Neighbor From Hell." This is a Horror. Here is the logline: A young couple are having issues with their neighbor... supernatural issues... persistent and personal issues.

Now, I have one big project that I have been working on for over a year. If I can finish it, I will include it. I am working hard on it to try to have it ready in case I need it. This will be a novel-length, it is 12 short stories that are all interconnected and happening at the same time. It is a Fantasy/Thriller. Without that story I have 6 things included. With it I have 7. Either way, I feel I have room for 1 more story. I want it to be something that isn't comedy-forward... but with notes of humor lingering. Like when you taste a wine and someone says, "You can taste a touch of raspberries" and you smack your lips and go, "Oh yeah, there they are." Maybe more than a touch, but you get what I'm saying, I hope. I want something with some humor so it can link to the Family Guy script, but to also have connections to all the rest of my stories.

I have two candidates that I narrowed it down to. Two stories that I feel very good about. I feel they are polished (then again, do they need any edits?). They both have some humor in them. I want to choose one.

I'll give the breakdown of each. Let me know your thoughts. If you want to read them and let me know, please do, and thank you in advance! Also, any notes you have won't hurt. Depending on if I have time to make any, I may. Even the smallest of notes, I appreciate.

One candidate is "A Time Traveler's Headache." It is a Sci-Fi, it is darker, and there is some humor in it. Here is the logline: When a scientist comes up with the nuts-and-bolts plan for time travel and his colleague executes the idea, the colleague receives all the credit, leaving him sour and envious and with a strong desire to right this horrible wrong.

The other candidate is "Eccentricities of Rich People." I labeled this as a Horror. It has themes of Mystery, it's dark, but it has some humor as well. Here is the logline: A death in the family of famous actors has the spouse of one of the actors puzzled. The death itself, and the way in which the family handles it.

Feel free to let me know any of your thoughts in the comments! I think I usually take feedback pretty well. Also, neither of these stories are MY BABIES or anything like that... so, I like to think I'll handle the constructive feedback pretty well. But mostly I am curious which you all feel would be a better fit for me. I greatly appreciate all the help in advance! Thank you!