The Consolation Prize

It was the day of the result and she had been shortlisted. She dared to hope. Could she be the winner of the Somerset Saki Society's Short Story prize, known as the "5s" or "Fives" in the literary world?

She'd written the best story of her life. Her most trusted friends and family had read it, and they were brutal with their criticism. They had all been impressed.

"It's great, Em," her best friend, Candace told her. "It's gripping and moving and funny and dark - all the things I like in a story. And that Tom is a rogue but you can't help but like him, can you?"

She trusted Candace's opinion, as a reader of Booker and Pulitzer Prize winners, not always agreeing with their choice.

And now, tonight was winners' night.

*

Em sat in the audience, hair coiffed and nervous. Candace persuaded her to think about a speech and even though she had felt uneasy about rehearsing lines, she found herself doing it anyway.

The award was being presented by Audrey Brown, a famous novelist, her husband Bernard, an applauded playwright and competition judge. She hoped that she would be meeting Audrey on stage tonight.

Please.

It was time. Audrey had finished a brief speech and was ready to announce:

"And the winner of the Fives this year is...Juniper Wilson for "Drivers in the Dark"!"

Em was devastated but clapped enthusiastically. But as soon as she could, she went to the bathroom and cried quietly in a cubicle.

Coming out, she was startled to see Audrey Brown there and Em was floored that her literary idol would see her so emotional and lacking composure.

Audrey eyed her, concernedly and said, "Are you okay?"

Em smiled weakly and said,"Yes, thanks," and Audrey went to enter one of the cubicles.

Then Audrey turned, using writers' intuition, and said, "It's not a loss tonight. Bernard said they argued profusely to pick the winner. The one that won - it wasn't his choice."

Audrey paused.

"Can I ask who are you?"

Em managed to squeak out "Emma Stubbs" and Audrey nodded knowingly and smiled.

"Rogueish Tom?"

Emma started and said, "Yes, but..."

Audrey smiled broadly and simply said:

"Bernard's favourite."

***

366 words

I dedicate this story to all the writers out there who hope and pray that their name will be announced as a winner of, or be placed in, one of Vocal's challenges. It is an accolade that I am yet to win, although I have been runner-up four times as well as a multiple recipient of Top Story. Am I disappointed about this? I would be lying if I said I wasn't. Everyone likes to win, don't they? To be picked?

Writing is a great way to reflect on your feelings and so, I created this story to assuage my disappointment but it was also inspired by something else Vocal-related.

Some of you may know that I am also a book reviewer which means that not only do I write but I also critique the work of others and regularly post in BookClub. This week, I published a review of A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas which I managed to read but can't say I enjoyed much. This is a very popular book for many but unfortunately, for me it was lacking. However, the comments' thread prompted some lively discussion which I think is great. Books should be discussed. And this got me thinking about subjectivity and how what one person perceives as good, another may well overlook.

Small solace to the runner-up, but there is truth in this, nonetheless; that we all read things differently and we all get different things from that reading.

And so, this story is for those writers who feel overlooked; for writers who haven't won anything; for writers who feel like they pour their all into a story but it makes no difference because that pure essence of self and creativity just doesn't sparkle for the judge that day; for writers who are good but have just not been recognised as such.

It's a subjective thing. It doesn't mean your writing is not good. It just means that the light has not come your way yet. Hang in there. Keep writing and it will happen.

Because, as my story shows, there's a Bernard who's read your story and liked it more than the winner.

*

As an alternative note, I can thoroughly recommend the stories of Saki, after whom my fictional prize was named:

I also rather cheekily cited Somerset which actually refers to the British county but could equally have referred to W. Somerset Maugham, another great short story writer, who also has a real-life literary prize named after him:

Two great British short story writers.

Thanks for stopping by! If you do read this, please do leave a comment as I love to interact with my readers.

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