Why I'll never win a challenge
Confession of a serial noncomformist
Alright, I'll admit I may have exaggerated a little in the title, just to get your attention. Did it work?
In truth, always and never are far too big words for so little a confession I have to make. You see, I have a vice. Call it a downside, an indulgence, or a weakness if you prefer.
But before I confess, I'd like to express my gratitude to Vocal for a bit. I'm new to the platform, I posted my first story some two months ago, but already I'm glad I subscribed (and they don't even pay me to say this, I swear!). The first reason is that it allows me to publish and share my stories with the world, in just a few clicks. Isn't this something? The second reason is the vocal challenges. They pop up all the time, and they encourage me to expand the limits of my imagination, practice my craft, and above all, they push me to write. Just write, write, write. And at the end of the day, that's all that matters, whether or not people read my stories (please do though, some of them aren't half bad), and whether or not I get a prize for the challenge (though that would be nice, wink wink).
Now that this is out of the way, here comes the confession. Whenever a new challenge shows up on Vocal, my first instinct is to look for a loophole. How can I write a story that, technically speaking, is within the bounds of the prompt, but in truth, doesn't comply to the expectations of the challenge?
The Christopher Paolini challenge was a great vector for my vice to flourish.
A grown dragon finds a lost - or abandoned - toddler in the forest. Write a fiction story about what happens next.
I wrote three stories for that challenge, none of them about dragons, although I will deny it if you accuse me of cheating.
After all, aren't Komodo monitors called dragons? I could argue my story is the only one with an actual dragon in it! What about the Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl? Isn't he the Mesoamerican version of the mythical creature? And of course, there's the pterosaur, a bit of a stretch that one, but hum... His Latin name is Quetzalcoatlus after all.
So, three submissions, none with the classical version of a dragon. I'm pretty sure that was not the assignment the author of Eragon had in mind... Each submission left me with a satisfied feeling, you know the one, when you've prepared the ultimate prank for a buddy and they have no idea?
And I swear, as soon as I sat down to brainstorm theses stories for the challenge, here is the first thing I did: I wrote the word dragon, and listed all the possible candidates of... Non-dragons! Fire breathers are overrated anyways, but don't tell them I said that, in case their throat gets scratchy. Seems like by instinct, my brain finds creativity when looking the opposite direction.
I had barely recovered from this intense noncomformity (this is hard work, yes yes), that along came the mystery box challenge. Lo and behold, out of my twisted brains came Dark Bee the Soul of Envy. For those of you who've missed it, here is the challenge prompt:
A drone anonymously delivers a mysterious package to your doorstep.
Write a fictional story between 600 to 3,000 words uncovering who sent it and why.
Luckily (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at this), I am a biologist. And guess what? Male bees are called drones! Don't believe me? Ask the internet. So I ended up writing about a package delivered by a bee. And to go the extra mile, I took the 'you' in the prompt to the letter, and wrote in the second person. Quite the experiment and frankly, an education for me.
So there you have it: I am a serial non-comformist, and I systematically write through the loophole. So really, I don't expect these stories to gain me the approval of the Vocal Jury. Not to say that I would win if I were to play by the rules, though one can dream... Let's see how my other, by-the-rules mystery box story will fare.
In spite of all this, part of me does get excited when the results of the Vocal Challenges come out. I'm guessing if you've submitted to challenges yourself, this is also your case, dear reader?
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About the Creator
Claire Guérin
I write speculative fiction and poems. I dream of becoming a published, full-time author. If you like my short stories and poems on Vocal, share them, follow me on Instagram and subscribe to my newsletter! More about me here.
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More stories from Claire Guérin and writers in Confessions and other communities.
Death, interrupted
Kirn's death is rudely interrupted by a droning sound outside the house. Screwing her eyes shut tighter, she draws a labored breath. It doesn't matter, she reminds herself, there's nothing out there: as the last human on Earth, she's certain of this much. This sound must be an illusion, some auditory hallucination from dehydration. It means she's nearly there, finally one foot in the grave! Appeased, she pushes her hand over the bed sheets to squeeze Ashami's cold arm. She only manages a caress, but that's enough to draw them closer together: they were linked in life, and soon they shall be in death too.
By Claire Guérinabout a year ago in Fiction
Embracing Life As It Is
Since I was young, I've always been envious of others' ability to be openly themselves. When I observed how wonderful they were at communicating with others, my insecurity would always press on me, hoping that soon I would be able to do the same.
By James E. Anduyana day ago in Confessions
Comments (44)
Love it! I think those that follow make for an uninteresting world. People that bend, break or find the loophole make the world wined.
This is an outstanding article. I, too, like to color outside the lines, so the idea of the drone story using bees is exceptionally entertaining to me! While I haven't won a Vocal contest, I did get an honorable mention for one story, which got me a year of Vocal free, so there's that! Next stop, unlimited fame and fortune! Please keep looking for loopholes. I'm going to go check out some of your other stuff now!
I howled, Thanks!
Lol to answer your question in the beginning, yes it worked… if you had to win a challenge for most attractive title you’d definitely win if I were judging 🏆
I know how it feels :-)
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This is a sweat story indeed. Incredible
Honestly, I relate so much to this. I always try to have a twist or something interesting. I’ve been discouraged by the competitions because I don’t know if it’s that the competition is so steep, or that I’m not writing what they’re looking for. 😂 But I keep trying! As a side note, in the debate on what type of writing wins the contests, the only competition I got recognized in was the campfire horror story. And I definitely did not go outside the box on that one. But I’ve seen plenty outside of the box writers win, so who knows! 🤷🏼♀️
Incredibly creative way to approach prompts! Look forward to seeing more of your loop-hole stories!
Great post
I wish I could write stories like this!
I like your thinking, this was an interesting read, and yes, your clever title reeled me in after I kept seeing it and seeing it ha
When you find the loophole, kindly share it. Or sell it. Lol. Just kidding. I hope you win. I, too, entered several. Don't give up though.
I suspect Vocal's contests are less about quality writing and more about which stories drive traffic to their website. It's a popularity contest not a writing contest. If it helps, I wrote a story that actually did feature 'traditional' European dragon and followed the prompt. The story is called "Embers of Defiance" and it's on my profile if you're interested in giving it a read. It features a dragon struggling with a moral quandry and honestly I was quite proud of it. Sadly it only got a total of three reads and never gained any steam. Same as all the other stories I've posted here. I, too, don't seem to be winning any contests anytime soon but I will keep writing and hoping.
The day will come ❤️
I, too, often push the limits of the prompts. Maybe not to the point of using bee drones and I love dragons too much to stray too far from traditional views. But my weekend getaway became a horror story. I, too, have yet to win a Vocal contest. Your stories sound interesting. I will definitely be giving them a read.
Indeed, it is also my goal as an entrant to the challenges to attempt to think outside the box. For the previous dragon-based challenge, I wrote my entry from the point of view of a dragon, complete with very limited abstract thinking. That posed its own challenges, to write convincingly as such a character and still give the reader an interesting story.
This is an awesome take, one that I completely relate to. Most times after writing something for a challenge, I end up looking at the story with a wince thinking, "Well, not exactly in the box." But those are the best sorts of stories! They help us grow as writers and ultimately give us our own voice :)
I feel this a lot. Out of the box thinking, but will it reap the out of box reward? I love your ideas to boot too!
One day the risk will pay off!
For the recent “Weekend Getaway Challenge”, the first sentence had to include “we”. But I like writing single person stories. So “we” was a woman and her dead fathers ashes. Not exactly a “we” and not exactly a “getaway”. 😂 so we’ll see
I do this too. I try and think of the weirdest story I can write while still technically using the prompt. And then I have to stop and ask myself “do you really want to try and win though?” 😂 Writing is the most important thing. And even if you never win a challenge, my friend, I hope your writing takes you somewhere
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Very interesting read. I need to read it again; I'm not so into fiction. But you had something existential going on in your writing in the first half that reeled me in. You have splendid writing technique! Also great control, rhythm, and word choice. And yes, I get the anxious blood rush when the victors for Vocal challenges are about to be announced. Great read once again. I'll be on the lookout for another. :)
I was also considering some kind of awful, biopunk take where huge grubs were delivering packages. Alas, deadlines!