Best short story wins a steam copy of Torchlight 2.

[Optimus-Crime]

Where's the beef?

Remember that commercial, the old Wendy's one? Yeah, I don't either. dude, I'm not that old. But then why do I remember that commercial? :shock:

I think I've seen more episodes of Good Times than I've seen of Friends, and I've seen zero episodes of Good Times.

Who could've guessed Winnie Cooper would grow up to become such a hot looking chick? EVERYONE, THAT'S WHO. ugg... Winnie Cooper... so hot.

 

[danielrbischoff]

f*** you, how are you still here? I shot you, very close to the heart.

You missed my heart!

 

[BlackStar]

Ya ya ya look just tell silos that I deserve to win the gift certificate for applebee's.

 

[TheLe]

Title: My Short Story

As I surfed the internet I came across a link for a short story contest. I clicked the link in anticipation, and discovered that it required one-hundred to three-hundred-words upon submission, and the winner would receive Torchlight II for free.

I didn’t know what Torchlight II was, but my imagination ran wild as I dreamed of propelling down a dark cave with my Torchlight II in one hand and a pick axe in another. The sound of bats would be all around me as God sent rain to hinder my quest; in my imagination I’d simply reply with a smile and the words, “This is way more dependable than the Torchlight I that I purchased last yearâ€

 

[WickedLiquid]

Ya ya ya look just tell silos that I deserve to win the gift certificate for applebee's.

BAAAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHA

GIVE THAT MAN THE TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!

 

[Silios]

I figure I should probably write a story too. Don't worry, I can't win my own contest, that would be stupid. But I wanted to write a story, since my birthday is coming up, and this is relevant.

So here it is.

My 25th Birthday…


My 25th, an occasion that should be marked with strippers, cake, and ice cream, a crowded room with people cheering ‘for he’s a jolly good fellow’ and ‘happy birthday’. It should be happy, after all, that almost always follows the word ‘birthday’. But, it won’t be ‘happy’. It will be another day like any other. No cake, no ice cream, and definitely no strippers. As I inch my way closer to the grave I’ve come to realize that’s life. It’s lonely, hard, and tiresome. We’re the embodiment of apathy, the soul of corrosion, and god forbid we have the time to say 'happy birthday'.

So here’s to everyone who made it to a quarter of a century, to everyone who drudges through every day and puts on a faux smile to keep people happy, to every poor SOB who spent a birthday alone. Because it’s just another day on the calendar.

No, no, no… I’m the one who pushed everyone away, I’m the one who put on façade of being an asshole to everyone I knew, I’m the reason I have no friends, I’m the reason no one loves me… I… I guess that’s why I’m alone on my 25th birthday. Maybe this is a wakeup call. Maybe my 25th should be spent giving people things, not receiving them. Maybe I should make a difference. Maybe I need to stop being an apathetic bastard and WAKE THE FUCK UP.

Or maybe it will just be another day. So here’s to me, for I’m a jolly good fellow.

 

[Bretimus_v2]

Ticking Time Bomb

"Move," my partner yelled, cinching his backpack tight, "we gotta get back before 'it' blows."

I nodded and mounted my bike. Bikes let us get around quickly in the crowded city, but at a time like this I would’ve felt reassured in a car. Nevertheless, we were flying in an instant, dodging traffic, weaving between pedestrians. All these people oblivious to the urgency of our situation. They were worried about their day or something small. We had a much more serious problem. And that seriousness played out on the face of my partner. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, his jaw clenched hard, desperation filled his eyes. Each push of the pedals only made him appear more frantic.

Before we knew it, we arrived at the hill.

“Just make it to the top and then we’re home-free,â€

 

[WickedLiquid]

Some great stories here guys, luckily I'm not the judge.

 

[Optimus-Crime]

Some great stories here guys, luckily I'm not the judge.

Thank you.

 

[Bras]

Through her words

*This girl looks a bit too young.*
:Hello
-Hi!

*Good, she hasn't disconnected yet.*
:How are you?
-good, and u?

*So-so, I rather chat with an older-looking girl, but whatever...*
:Fine, tired of looking at guys penises though, I only like girls.
-well im bi! I come here when im bored, what are u doing?

*Who knows why I come here?*
:I was having some problems, so I came here.
-what problems?

*I don't know what I'm doing with my life, how about you?*
:i just had a fight with my girlfriend
-oh i see
:have you got a gf or bf?
-no
:i bet girlfriends are harder to find for you

*I imagine being straight would be less problematic than bi or homosexual in this world...*
-more or less, I don't care that much though

*This girl has got to be underage, perhaps I shoudn't be asking those things, I need to know her age, but I don't want her to think I'm a pedophile or that I fancy her, she calling me that would be the icing on today's cake.*
:how old are you?

*There it goes, I won't blame you if you quit the chat now, I know I do it when people ask me that, the whole asl thing is ...*
-14, u?

*I knew it...now I'm a pedophile.*
:23
-ok, i hope ur not horny

*Hell no.*
:I'm not, I promise I won't take my clothes off or something!
-ok, i am used to it though

*Huh?*
:used to what?
-seeing people naked, when i was littler my brother used to show me some videos when i went to his room and we were alone
orn??
-yes
:how old is your brother now?
-22

*Oh no...*


Word count: 300 words approx. not counting the title.

 

[Silios]

Ten more days to go ladies and gentlemen.

Sometime between the 29-31 I'll PM the winners with my steam name. After they've claimed their prize I will announce them in them in this topic.

I also wrote reviews along with a rating system for just about every serious story added to this topic. The only exception are those who went over or under the word count. I'll also be releasing that. The reviews are only around one sentence long though and are mostly my personal musing.

With that being said, I was talking with Daniel about possibly doing this annually. Maybe different awards The thing is, steam is very easy to give away things to strangers. If you know of anything, like the ability to email Amazon gift cards, please feel free to PM on the subject.

Please note, I still haven't picked any winners yet and the contest still stands. If you have a good story you want to share, you still have plenty of time. I try to check this topic daily when I can, so I'm still looking forward to any new work.

 

[Kijan]

Haha, made a huge mistake. I'll have to revise the story and reenter.

 

[Mod-Chip]

The title doesn't count as a part of the word count, right?

Bedford and N7th


“Stop it.â€

 

[Silios]

Welp, that's all she wrote folks.

Plenty of great stories, only two winners.

C_nate - The Meeting 4.4 out of 5.

Managed to stay within the limits. excelent flow and compisition. Uses the three part structure. User knows how to write. Storywise, interesting, I know writing with a word limit is something difficult, but in college this was the way we learned to write concise short stories with meaning.

Wicked liquid - Late Supper - 4.5 out of 5

I really like this, this reminds me of the first story I wrote for creative writing. It was around the same length. Except it was about my terrible "family member" named Toby. He had horrendous table manners, would lick people in the face to greet them, and has been known to defecate in my front yard.

sliverstorm - The Short End to a Long Line - 5 out of 5.

This is how you write a short story with a 300 word limit. The user was impecable in his sentence construction, understand and using the act of suspense at the end of each paragraph. I am truly impressed, so much so I searched for any remote chance of it being plagerized. This is five star material. Congratulations, you won a copy of Torchlight 2.

TheLe - My Short Story 4.2 out of 5

"As I surfed the internet I came across a link for a short story contest." This is the reason I linked to it in the Torchlight topic on LL. I was hoping to bring in more of you guys, but alas. This was more your own personal musing, much like the Birthday story I added later in the topic. Nothing wrong with that. It was clever, in a very ETI self loathing sort of way.

Bretimus_v2 - Ticking Time Bomb 4.5

I chuckled. Again someone did a good job much like Silverstorm. By that I mean your writing style, I'm not talking about grammar or spelling, I mean how you construct your sentences and paragraphs, with the reveal being at the very end. That is the proper way to tell a written story. Choosing a runner up will be hard. Because both you and Wicked Liquid have great short stories. This may literally come down to a coin toss.

Bras - Through her words 4.1 out of 5

Creeper... But seriously, I like the idea of telling a story through a chatlog, the ending was kind of funny. But you have a lot of potential with this. There's so many possibilities.

Mod-Chip - Bedford and N7th 4.4 out of 5

I'm imagining a hipster couple living in NYC. I liked this story, it's premises was a lot like my birthday story I added. It really didn't have a twist, it didn't have a huge meaning, but it was quant and cute. There's nothing wrong with that in a story, in fact some of the best and most remembered authors wrote slice of life.

I'm still waiting for Silverstorm to get in contact with me.

Next year will be Amazon Gift cards.

EDIT: Wicked Liquid actually one second place, but he doesn't have steam and had to turn it down. Hats off to you for contributing to this topic WL. Bretimus_v2 was my next choice.

 

[Bretimus_v2]

Woo hoo, good reads all around. Thanks Silios.

 

[Optimus-Crime]

dang.

 

[WickedLiquid]

Congrats Bret!

Better luck next year OC.

 

[sliverstorm]

Thanks for running this contest, Silios--I loved reading everyone's stories. I sent you a PM, but I figured I might as well post here to publicly pass on the prize--I'm not even close to done with D3, so unfortunately Torchlight 2 would sit unloved on my hard drive. Thanks very much regardless!

 

[Silios]

Thanks for running this contest, Silios--I loved reading everyone's stories. I sent you a PM, but I figured I might as well post here to publicly pass on the prize--I'm not even close to done with D3, so unfortunately Torchlight 2 would sit unloved on my hard drive. Thanks very much regardless!

You guys have been really awesome, this is the third or fourth time someone declined the gift and only entered the contest just to write. That to me just proves how great of a community GR is. I said back in 06 that GR was like a tiny island out in the vast ocean, the inhabitants are some of the friendliest and interesting natives you'll find around. I still think that stands to this day.

With good news, comes bad news. As some of you are aware I'm in the process of writing a novel. 60K word length novel. I started in July working on the manuscript and my deadline is the end of this year. So that's going to keep me really busy. I've reached 20K the beginning of August and have basically been resting this whole month (i.e. lots of writers block). I'm back on track now and I'm entering in the OWFI annual contest next May 5th. So you guys probably won't see or hear much of me for awhile.

As soon as I get ModChip squared away, I'm off to slave away in Microsoft Word.

I wish all of you guys the best of luck at anything you pursue, whatever it is, see it through. You don't want to regret doing something you don't enjoy for the rest of your life. You'll never be the best at it, but you have to give it your damnedest to find out if you're any good.

Best Wishes,
Trei F.

 

[C_nate]

Congrats to the winners and thanks to Silios for holding this contest. Lot of great stories. I love writing myself but it's something I really never have enough time to do to get better at it and raise myself to that next level. I've dreamed since I was a kid about writing a novel some day but I still have a long way to go before I'd ever be able to produce something that I was really satisfied with so best of luck with yours Silios.