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[Contest] You Wanna Write About It? A weekly writing competition!


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Everything I come up with is way too long.  :C  Traditionally I go way overboard; the word limit hurtsssssssss.

 

I'll have something done by tomorrow.

This is always my problem too. I pretty much cut off the last part of my story. I think we write pretty similar so my tip is to surpress the urge to describe everything with detail. Pick some key objects that would give a clear enough image of the scenario. Hope that helps.

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Everything I come up with is way too long.  :C  Traditionally I go way overboard; the word limit hurtsssssssss.

 

I'll have something done by tomorrow.

 

 

This is my fault I am sorry guys I will shut up until her submission is ready

 

[7/15/2014 2:33:41 PM] Fera: flattery overload
[7/15/2014 2:33:44 PM] Fera: shutting down
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Hmm...in future weeks, I may have to adjust the word limit if it is holding some of you back. I chose 500 because I didn't want to make people feel like they had to type big, long stories in order to submit something. In hindsight, though, this may be too stringent of a limit.

 

I will say this: No entry will be disqualified based on going over the word limit. I just ask that no one abuses this too much (for example submitting a 3,000 word story with the current 500, or even future limits in place).

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Hmm...in future weeks, I may have to adjust the word limit if it is holding some of you back. I chose 500 because I didn't want to make people feel like they had to type big, long stories in order to submit something. In hindsight, though, this may be too stringent of a limit.

 

I will say this: No entry will be disqualified based on going over the word limit. I just ask that no one abuses this too much (for example submitting a 3,000 word story with the current 500, or even future limits in place).

I don't think having a word limit is bad, and I would definitely count off 1 or 2 points if someone exceeds the given word limit. Having a word limit is challenging for writers that like to write extensively (like myself), it brings something new to the table IMO. Writing a very well written short story is also an art. So my suggestion would be to sometimes have low word limits and sometimes allow a higher word limit. As some people are good at writing powerful and strong texts and some are good at writing long stories. Thus you have a challenge for both.

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Hey hey. Here's my entry for Week 1.

 

[spoiler]

I haven't left my room in days. My sleep schedule is ruined. It's 9pm and I just woke up. Had a lemonade for dinner, it's all I could afford. I just sit here in my room, all day every day, watching some ads on TV, waiting for something interesting.

There's this one ad that goes "WTT shiny {M:42304869}". It pops up all the time. I can't get the music for it out of my head.

In fact, there's little enough content that this ad just played twice consecutively. Trade channel is a wasteland.

 

There's only so much left to do around here. I'm bored out of my skull and on the edge of starvation. All I have is this brilliant shiny spearow that I caught when I first moved here. I'm in love with its golden plumes. But, I'm running out of options... I sent my own ad to the trade channel and just saw it display on the TV. Nobody wants it. It's priceless to me, but others just don't see its value. Even if I sold it, it'd hardly help pay the egg hatching bills. I despise that scientist. He probably makes more money than the top shiny scammers. I wish I had a genius idea like him. Yet, I still feed him all my resources.

 

I'm glancing back at the TV, wondering what it'd be like if something happened. Anything. Just, something new and eventful. I can understand why everyone left the region to go to Kalos. I remember the good times when people were speculating about swarm times and jotting down encounterable species and trying to figure out patterns. And that one fateful day when people thought there were was nothing new left to find, and suddenly a wild Makuhita was spotted. The hype that followed. Sadly, it didn't last long. That was it. One species. Anything new like that would probably help.

Anyways, I can't lose faith. It might happen.

 

I look back at the TV, watching for my humble ad concerning the spearow. It should be up any minute now- when suddenly, "BREAKING NEWS!"

 

I'm stunned. There's a swarm. Not only have we not had anything new, but, we just haven't had a flat-out swarm in so long because nobody pays attention to it anymore. Have the gods of RNG heard my prayer?

"We have just heard from PATRICK that wild JYNX have been-"

I shut the TV off. I'm losing faith.

I despise my rival PATRICK for always reporting such inconsequential things. Almost had me excited.

It's about time he spotted something new. How about a changelog? Ha, right. As if that'll ever happen.

I finished my modest meal of a lemonade. I still don't feel like going outside. None of my teammates seem to be available for chat. I guess it's time to go back to sleep.

I've lost faith for today, but I'll try prying again tomorrow, like I've been doing blindly for the past six months for some reason. [/spoiler]

 

Word count: 500. Woop.

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Hey hey. Here's my entry for Week 1.

 

[spoiler]

I haven't left my room in days. My sleep schedule is ruined. It's 9pm and I just woke up. Had a lemonade for dinner, it's all I could afford. I just sit here in my room, all day every day, watching some ads on TV, waiting for something interesting.

There's this one ad that goes "WTT shiny {M:42304869}". It pops up all the time. I can't get the music for it out of my head.

In fact, there's little enough content that this ad just played twice consecutively. Trade channel is a wasteland.

 

There's only so much left to do around here. I'm bored out of my skull and on the edge of starvation. All I have is this brilliant shiny spearow that I caught when I first moved here. I'm in love with its golden plumes. But, I'm running out of options... I sent my own ad to the trade channel and just saw it display on the TV. Nobody wants it. It's priceless to me, but others just don't see its value. Even if I sold it, it'd hardly help pay the egg hatching bills. I despise that scientist. He probably makes more money than the top shiny scammers. I wish I had a genius idea like him. Yet, I still feed him all my resources.

 

I'm glancing back at the TV, wondering what it'd be like if something happened. Anything. Just, something new and eventful. I can understand why everyone left the region to go to Kalos. I remember the good times when people were speculating about swarm times and jotting down encounterable species and trying to figure out patterns. And that one fateful day when people thought there were was nothing new left to find, and suddenly a wild Makuhita was spotted. The hype that followed. Sadly, it didn't last long. That was it. One species. Anything new like that would probably help.

Anyways, I can't lose faith. It might happen.

 

I look back at the TV, watching for my humble ad concerning the spearow. It should be up any minute now- when suddenly, "BREAKING NEWS!"

 

I'm stunned. There's a swarm. Not only have we not had anything new, but, we just haven't had a flat-out swarm in so long because nobody pays attention to it anymore. Have the gods of RNG heard my prayer?

"We have just heard from PATRICK that wild JYNX have been-"

I shut the TV off. I'm losing faith.

I despise my rival PATRICK for always reporting such inconsequential things. Almost had me excited.

It's about time he spotted something new. How about a changelog? Ha, right. As if that'll ever happen.

I finished my modest meal of a lemonade. I still don't feel like going outside. None of my teammates seem to be available for chat. I guess it's time to go back to sleep.

I've lost faith for today, but I'll try prying again tomorrow, like I've been doing blindly for the past six months for some reason. [/spoiler]

 

Word count: 500. Woop.

 

I'm out of likes nooooo

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Is this the End?

 

[spoiler] “Pastelo, get up. The Lottery will be starting soon.” my sister Velma tells me as she shakes me to get up. I groan and sit up on my thin sleeping bag. I rub my eyes and blink a few times to clear my vision, even though it’s the same as always. I see our small house, which is just one room for the 2 of us. There are cobwebs everywhere and cracks in the walls, but it keeps us safe.

I look to my side and see my sister on her knees next to me, crossing her arms. I finally respond to her question: “Ok, fine, give me 5 minutes.”

She gets up from beside me. “I’m just gonna head over there, but find me, OK?” Velma tells me and I nod while she takes off.

I strip down and then wash outside in the pond by our house. I get dressed back inside in some smelly clothes.

I walk over to a corner of the house and I nudge my Spinda a little which was sleeping on some old papers. She gets up and happily climbs up on my shoulder. Anyone with a Pokemon is lucky to have one since most Pokemon are now hostile and Pokeballs are scarce. We got even more lucky, as Spinda came from an Egg we found and was innocent.

I head outside with Spinda and walk over to the Head House which used to be a Gym before everything went bad.

All towns in the Kanto region look terrible with few shelters and most people living on the street. Velma and I are lucky no one has tried to take our shelter yet since assaults are common, and there are few rules of protection.

I finally make it to the Head House and see Velma waiting for me in the crowd for the Lottery. The Lottery is basically a raffle that happens every week; everyone enters, and the winner gets a ticket to leave this region. The Head of Fuchsia calls out the winner.

“The winner is…NoadHunter!” he announces. Velma and I sigh. The woman who wins gasps and then begins crying hysterically as she makes her way to the front of the crowd to get her ticket.

We all applaud depressed and then head back to where we live. We are not lucky enough to leave here today.

The Lottery is the only highlight of each day and the only thing to live for as the rest of the day is just plain awful. There is no time for games, only for food and survival, which is how we spend the rest of the day. Our population is small and shrinking as most people just choose to kill themselves.

Every night, Velma and I pray to the gods of our religion: “Staff” as we call them. We hope for an “update” and the change it brings to come some day and save us from this hell. [/spoiler]

 
Word Count: 494 
IGN: Pastelo
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And I finally finished my submission. Prepare for the lameness that I have prepped up

 

[spoiler]

Seven months had gone by and I was still here. Why? Everyday people made a run for it, but I couldn't force myself to leave. This place was my home. However, I was running low on money and starvation was staring me right in the face. I needed something that would get me money to buy a ticket out of this place. As I sat down by the water watching the swimmers venture out into the depths of the route up ahead, I thought, Maybe my answer is out somewhere lurking in the ocean.
 
Quickly, I climbed to my feet and kicked off my shoes while tossing my cap into the sand before pulling my shirt up over my head. My fingers ran across the pokeballs along the belt and I grabbed the last one and tossed it into the air. "Let's do this Quagsire!" Without hesitation, I pulled the belt off and hid it under my cap and turned back to the water. Quagsire was already splashing around when I joined him.
 
"I hope you realize once you go out there, you won't return. Articuno is said to live out on an island in these waters," a swimmer said to me.
 
I chuckled and rolled my eyes. "We'll see about that" I remarked. That was it- I needed to catch the legendary bird and then I could become rich and leave.
 
"Go right on ahead, another loss wouldn't bother us," he replied.
 
A scowl crossed my face and I grabbed a hold of my Quagsire before he dove underwater. We disappeared into the depths of the ocean, having no fear in the world for what laid out ahead. When we resurfaced, we had arrived at Seafoam Island. The state of the island was even worse than my hometown, but then again nobody ever dared to venture out to this place anymore. Every last resource had been sucked from these mountains.
 
Quietly, I walked across the barren, sandy shores and toward the mouth of the cave that would lead me to Articuno. A cold breeze hit my wet skin and chilled me right to the bone. The icy interior of the cave wasn't going to stop me from getting what I came here for. I slid across the ice with Quagsire close behind me. The silence in the cave only made it feel colder as we continued deeper and deeper. Once we made it to the bottom floor, Quagsire dove into the water, allowing me to surf on his back until I could see the large, blue bird up ahead. As we moved closer, I noticed how still the bird was and I knew this bird was fake and staff set it up to fool us all. "Are you kidding me?!" was all I could manage to say.
 
Another day and another failed mission to try to earn money. I was going to be doomed if an update didn't come soon.[/spoiler]
 
Word count: 491
 
I truly had to suppress myself to keep within the limit. Spent like 45 minutes editing this
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Okay, here's my week 1 entry.  Took me days longer than it should have.

 

[spoiler]

I try not to look at the gash in my forearm.  The pain isn’t that bad.  It’s mostly just a stinging, numb feeling, but it’s spreading.  Purple lines crawl slowly up my arm, almost to my elbow.
 
My Espeon, Phii, nuzzles my shoulder until I stroke her velvet fur.  My heart sinks as my hand passes over her tiny form, emaciated after too long with too little to eat.  Her large ears fold back.
 
She knows as well as I do that we’re out of Antidotes.
 
How could I let this happen?  We were supposed to weather the storm together.  After the leaders of Kanto went silent and the economy crashed, Phii and I decided to ride it out rather than flee.  Fuchsia City is our home, so we holed up with enough supplies to keep us comfortable, waiting for the change we were so sure would come soon.
 
What feels like years later, we’re starving, living in a one-room house, and I’m dying from a Nidorino’s Poison Point.  But we’re still here.
 
There’s a twinge of pain in my arm, and Phii is at my side before I can even wince.  Her violet eyes watch carefully.
 
“Come on, Phii,” I sigh, pushing my chair away from our rundown table.  I can’t give up yet.
 
Despite the dark clouds overhead, the air is pleasantly warm.  Thunder growls low to the north, and a twitch of Phii’s tail tells me it’s less than an hour away.  We’ll have to get to the PokéMart fast.  There have to be Antidotes left inside.
 
But the trip that should take no more than a minute is now unbelievably dangerous.  Once the ponds were dry and the grasses dead, the Pokémon confined to the Safari Zone made their way out, vicious with hunger.  Many of the weaker native species have been driven away or eaten.  Now only the strongest survive.  
 
As soon as we get outside, we’re targets.  The herds of Tauros are murderously territorial.  Fortunately there’s just a single Pidgeotto lurking around today.
 
After making sure we’re alone, we slip through the overgrown hedges and into the zoo.
 
Most of the zoo Pokémon escaped.  The enormous blue Lapras—deathly pale and decaying—was one of the unlucky ones.  A flock of Fearow peel away what flesh still clings to his corpse.  We hurry past, almost to our destination.
 
A sudden pain in my chest almost knocks me to the ground.  Phii is at my side immediately.
 
“I’m fine,” I tell her breathlessly; my arm is numb to the shoulder, and I can’t catch my breath.
 
Phii smashes the PokeMart’s barricaded door.
 
The store is untouched by the chaos outside—the shelves are depleted, but we find an Antidote easily.  As soon as it’s in my hands, I’m spraying the medicine into my wound.  The relief is instant.
I slump against the wall as the feeling creeps back into my arm.
 
“It won’t be long now,” I whisper, as it starts to rain.  “We’ll survive.”

[/spoiler]

 

Word count: 500

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Okay, here's my week 1 entry.  Took me days longer than it should have.

 

[spoiler]

I try not to look at the gash in my forearm.  The pain isn’t that bad.  It’s mostly just a stinging, numb feeling, but it’s spreading.  Purple lines crawl slowly up my arm, almost to my elbow.
 
My Espeon, Phii, nuzzles my shoulder until I stroke her velvet fur.  My heart sinks as my hand passes over her tiny form, emaciated after too long with too little to eat.  Her large ears fold back.
 
She knows as well as I do that we’re out of Antidotes.
 
How could I let this happen?  We were supposed to weather the storm together.  After the leaders of Kanto went silent and the economy crashed, Phii and I decided to ride it out rather than flee.  Fuchsia City is our home, so we holed up with enough supplies to keep us comfortable, waiting for the change we were so sure would come soon.
 
What feels like years later, we’re starving, living in a one-room house, and I’m dying from a Nidorino’s Poison Point.  But we’re still here.
 
There’s a twinge of pain in my arm, and Phii is at my side before I can even wince.  Her violet eyes watch carefully.
 
“Come on, Phii,” I sigh, pushing my chair away from our rundown table.  I can’t give up yet.
 
Despite the dark clouds overhead, the air is pleasantly warm.  Thunder growls low to the north, and a twitch of Phii’s tail tells me it’s less than an hour away.  We’ll have to get to the PokéMart fast.  There have to be Antidotes left inside.
 
But the trip that should take no more than a minute is now unbelievably dangerous.  Once the ponds were dry and the grasses dead, the Pokémon confined to the Safari Zone made their way out, vicious with hunger.  Many of the weaker native species have been driven away or eaten.  Now only the strongest survive.  
 
As soon as we get outside, we’re targets.  The herds of Tauros are murderously territorial.  Fortunately there’s just a single Pidgeotto lurking around today.
 
After making sure we’re alone, we slip through the overgrown hedges and into the zoo.
 
Most of the zoo Pokémon escaped.  The enormous blue Lapras—deathly pale and decaying—was one of the unlucky ones.  A flock of Fearow peel away what flesh still clings to his corpse.  We hurry past, almost to our destination.
 
A sudden pain in my chest almost knocks me to the ground.  Phii is at my side immediately.
 
“I’m fine,” I tell her breathlessly; my arm is numb to the shoulder, and I can’t catch my breath.
 
Phii smashes the PokeMart’s barricaded door.
 
The store is untouched by the chaos outside—the shelves are depleted, but we find an Antidote easily.  As soon as it’s in my hands, I’m spraying the medicine into the wound.  The relief is instant.
I slump against the wall as the feeling creeps back into my arm.
 
“It won’t be long now,” I whisper, as it starts to rain.  “We’ll survive.”

[/spoiler]

 

Word count: 500

gg

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Okay, here's my week 1 entry.  Took me days longer than it should have.

 

[spoiler]

I try not to look at the gash in my forearm.  The pain isn’t that bad.  It’s mostly just a stinging, numb feeling, but it’s spreading.  Purple lines crawl slowly up my arm, almost to my elbow.
 
My Espeon, Phii, nuzzles my shoulder until I stroke her velvet fur.  My heart sinks as my hand passes over her tiny form, emaciated after too long with too little to eat.  Her large ears fold back.
 
She knows as well as I do that we’re out of Antidotes.
 
How could I let this happen?  We were supposed to weather the storm together.  After the leaders of Kanto went silent and the economy crashed, Phii and I decided to ride it out rather than flee.  Fuchsia City is our home, so we holed up with enough supplies to keep us comfortable, waiting for the change we were so sure would come soon.
 
What feels like years later, we’re starving, living in a one-room house, and I’m dying from a Nidorino’s Poison Point.  But we’re still here.
 
There’s a twinge of pain in my arm, and Phii is at my side before I can even wince.  Her violet eyes watch carefully.
 
“Come on, Phii,” I sigh, pushing my chair away from our rundown table.  I can’t give up yet.
 
Despite the dark clouds overhead, the air is pleasantly warm.  Thunder growls low to the north, and a twitch of Phii’s tail tells me it’s less than an hour away.  We’ll have to get to the PokéMart fast.  There have to be Antidotes left inside.
 
But the trip that should take no more than a minute is now unbelievably dangerous.  Once the ponds were dry and the grasses dead, the Pokémon confined to the Safari Zone made their way out, vicious with hunger.  Many of the weaker native species have been driven away or eaten.  Now only the strongest survive.  
 
As soon as we get outside, we’re targets.  The herds of Tauros are murderously territorial.  Fortunately there’s just a single Pidgeotto lurking around today.
 
After making sure we’re alone, we slip through the overgrown hedges and into the zoo.
 
Most of the zoo Pokémon escaped.  The enormous blue Lapras—deathly pale and decaying—was one of the unlucky ones.  A flock of Fearow peel away what flesh still clings to his corpse.  We hurry past, almost to our destination.
 
A sudden pain in my chest almost knocks me to the ground.  Phii is at my side immediately.
 
“I’m fine,” I tell her breathlessly; my arm is numb to the shoulder, and I can’t catch my breath.
 
Phii smashes the PokeMart’s barricaded door.
 
The store is untouched by the chaos outside—the shelves are depleted, but we find an Antidote easily.  As soon as it’s in my hands, I’m spraying the medicine into the wound.  The relief is instant.
I slump against the wall as the feeling creeps back into my arm.
 
“It won’t be long now,” I whisper, as it starts to rain.  “We’ll survive.”

[/spoiler]

 

Word count: 500

 

Spectacular.

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My writing is horrible, but ThinkNice insisted I humiliate myself, so, oh well.

497 words.

Just a Little Longer

[spoiler] My eyes fluttered from a dreamless sleep. I stepped out of the old house and realized my afternoon nap had extended to the evening. I decided to take a leisurely stroll across the barren city, passing by my surroundings without granting even a glance -- nothing but empty, abandoned structures and vague, splintered signboards in the once developed area; even the luxury of nature in the city had diminished, the Safari Zone empty of diversity and filled with nothing but murky waters and dry grass. Fuschia City wasn't itself anymore -- catastrophe struck, and I was perhaps the only one left, others either left or dead, it was simply me alone with no one but my own Pokemon to talk to.

I halted my footsteps at the southern beaches -- seemingly unscathed despite the destruction -- and surveyed the abudance of the sea, hued by the orange rays of the evening sun setting below the horizon. I wondered, staring across the distance that perhaps extended beyond an infinity -- how far a good place would be from this, how long would it be to live in a suitable place again.

Fingers of a cold, soft-clawed hand caressed against my own, as I stared into my Banette's golden eyes and the gleeful smile that stood on it's zip-like mouth. He held a can of seemingly heated soup in his hand, as I pondered with little amusement on how he managed to accomplish that -- perhaps from his own Will-O-Wisps. I ended up withdrawing my Pidgeot from it's Pokeball and shared the soup evenly among the two, knowing that their well-being, protection, and company were more important that satsifying the sour intensity that panged in my stomach.

I continued peering at the sun, now nearing the brink of sinking completely across the horizon with it's final traces of orange. Perhaps it's time I left, I spoke in my mind, my lips involuntarily quivering.

Another cold touch, and I peered into their eyes -- eyes that talked for them, eyes that were filled with a glint of hope. Just a little longer, they told me. Just a little longer.

What is there to wait for? I thought. What is there that makes it worth lasting in this place? I wrapped my eyes around theirs for endless moments -- I grasped their optimism, percieving perhaps the feeling beyond description that made them sure something good would was to come.

But perhaps they're right -- I felt the feeling rise to my sense, shattering my doubts.

Just a little longer, then. I stole a glance at Banette and Pidgeot, both with meek expressions on their faces, as I turned away from the sky and sea, now diminishing into shades of purple and dark blue, devoid of the beautiful orange and gold a while ago, and allowed a small smile to curve up my lip. Wondering if my whispers or my response had reassured them of my answer, I returned to the damaged house and set out the night. [/spoiler]

EDIT: Minor edits.

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