Short Story Challenges: October: So Spooky

sabreene · March 2016

Carewren123 wrote: »

sabreene wrote: »

@Carewren123 I have a last minute entry! I think it's still before midnight for you (it's just after 9pm here)

Theft, Lies and Pastries

Nearly an entire hour to spare!

Woot, woot! I couldn't remember what time zone you were in! Just made it!! And sorry for always rushing in at the last minute... i'm an epic procrastinator, and thought I wasn't going to do a story this month. Then at four this afternoon, I thought... might as well try! lol!

Carewren123 · March 2016

sabreene wrote: »

Carewren123 wrote: »

sabreene wrote: »

@Carewren123 I have a last minute entry! I think it's still before midnight for you (it's just after 9pm here)

Theft, Lies and Pastries

Nearly an entire hour to spare!

Woot, woot! I couldn't remember what time zone you were in! Just made it!! And sorry for always rushing in at the last minute... i'm an epic procrastinator, and thought I wasn't going to do a story this month. Then at four this afternoon, I thought... might as well try! lol!

I happen to be a master procrastinator myself, so I totally understand.

Carewren123 · March 2016

I wanted to get this posted before heading to bed. Hopefully everything is clear. I'll answer any questions after a good night's sleep.

March's Theme: "I knew I had to find it before..."

This month is simple. Each story must begin with that as the first line (You may change "I" to "he/she/they".). Where it goes from there is completely up to you.

Special Rules: No special rules this month. The usual 1500 word limit and 12 screenshot limit are in place.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Screenshot Challenge: Special extra challenge this month!!!

Submit 5-10 original screenshots that could tell a story. Be creative. Be random. Be weird. Be crazy even.
No words!!! This is all about the pictures.
This challenge is optional you don't have to participate to enter this month's writing challenge. And you don't have to enter the writing challenge to submit your screenshots.
To enter your screenshots send me a private message. DO NOT POST THEM IN THIS THREAD.
Winning screenshots will be used in the future for a short story challenge. (Long story short, sometime we will do a challenge where everyone must write a story using the same pictures. But first we need the pictures, so give me your screenshots!)

CathyTea · March 2016

sabreene wrote: »

Carewren123 wrote: »

sabreene wrote: »

@Carewren123 I have a last minute entry! I think it's still before midnight for you (it's just after 9pm here)

Theft, Lies and Pastries

Nearly an entire hour to spare!

Woot, woot! I couldn't remember what time zone you were in! Just made it!! And sorry for always rushing in at the last minute... i'm an epic procrastinator, and thought I wasn't going to do a story this month. Then at four this afternoon, I thought... might as well try! lol!

Woot! I'm so excited! YAY!

WinteryGarnet · March 2016

I still have to catch up and read about half of the stories! :O

Also, as soon as I saw March's theme I immediately got an idea that I'm quite excited about. I need a piece of CC though that I can't find anywhere. I'll probably be up all night messing around and actually try to build it myself. Wish me luck XD
EDIT: I can't make CC on a Mac. I didn't think I'd be any good at it anyway.

Spottydog714 · March 2016

*Jumps up an down* I can do a sequel of 'Sofia and The Mystery Of The Misplaced Melacoo!' So. Excited. @Carewren123 or @anyone-else-who-knows Can I change the first line so it's in third person?

sabreene · March 2016

Such an interesting theme for March! I love the ones that start with a sentence!

And now that February's time is up, I get to read everyone's stories!! So many awesome entries this month!!

Carewren123 · March 2016

Spottydog714 wrote: »

*Jumps up an down* I can do a sequel of 'Sofia and The Mystery Of The Misplaced Melacoo!' So. Excited. @Carewren123 or @anyone-else-who-knows Can I change the first line so it's in third person?

YES! I'm so glad you asked that question. I knew I had forgotten something. That's the way we did it the first time we had a starting line theme. Everyone can change the pronoun if you'd prefer not to write in first person.

Carewren123 · March 2016

Febuary's Submissions:

February's Theme: A Different Kind of Love
The idea behind this theme of course comes from the fact that Valentine's Day is this month. Knowing that many of you would love to write a love story this time of year I definitely wanted to include that in the theme. I think this theme also is the perfect one for those writers who enjoy twisting (in the most awesome ways) the themes in a darker direction. So this month, your stories must be about some kind of love. Put a twist on a romance. Make it a platonic love. Make about any kind of non-romantic love. Make it a love for something instead of someone. Make the theme whatever you wish. I guarantee if you love your idea, lots of others will too.

Special Rules: I thought about making this month a super-short story month, since February is this shortest month - but I'm going to do the opposite and give you all the option to use more than the usual words and pictures. For this month you can use up to 2000 words and up to 15 pictures.

by @ValoisFulcanelli
by @CeltyGirly
by @CathyTea
by @CitizenErased14 (2nd Place)
by @Pegasus143
by @SilentWolf101
Beary Love by @chealsycat
by @whitewaveldc
by @InfraGreen
by @ra3rei
by @VIRTUALEE
by @TheSingingSimmer
by @Spottydog714
by @Twiggy
by @lovesstorms (3rd Place)
by @mastressalita (1st Place)
by @sabreene

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"For Fun" Entries: (Any stories listed here are inspired by the monthly theme, but don't follow all the rules of the challenge and aren't in the monthly poll. Sometimes writers can't put limits on their creativity, and that's all good. Enjoy!)

by @SilverDaybreak

______________________________________________________________________________________________
Superlatives: Each month we try to discuss all the entries by giving each unique "awards" Please know that these aren't official in any way, it is just a fun thing for us to do to wrap up each month. We basically love all the stories not just the ones that win, so we found a way to share some positive feedback. Also everyone is welcome to share their own superlatives each month after voting is finished. If you want to read what people had to say about this month's entries click on the links below.

Given by @chealsycat
Given by @ra3rei

Carewren123 · March 2016

Here's my usual blurb about voting. For newcomers or anyone who needs a refresher, you get one vote and you should pick a different story for each place. Votes that do not follow those rules are not counted when I add up the points at the end of the polling period.

Voting Is OPEN

Voting for February's winners is open at this time. (Poll closes at midnight (Central US time) on the night of March 6.)

Just click on the link below to choose your picks for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places! You can only vote once, so make it count. (A vote for 1st will give that story 3 points. A vote for 2nd is worth 2 points. And a vote for 3rd gives 1 point. At the end of the voting period I'll tally all the points and announce the winners!)

Please be sure to vote for a different story for each place.

Carewren123 · March 2016

And with that I think all of my housekeeping for the thread is done for now. I added links to the superlatives and the "For Fun" entries that we know of.

I still need to get January's winners their banners. I'll try to send those links out later today. Sorry for that delay.

Let me know if anyone has any questions about this month's theme or the screenshot challenge.

ra3rei · March 2016

Omg yay! I missed the last sentence prompt month because of vacation. I can't wait to see how this type of challenge goes...thinks....a lot.

BBQPenguinWings · March 2016

Ooooh the screenshot challenge sounds soo fun!!

But I need some clarification, do they need to tell a concurrent story all on their own or can there be gaps, that way it is more like if we were to look at any entry now, without words, and need the story to see how they got to that point.

I hope this makes sense. It would be fun, since these will be used for a later challenge, to have a somewhat of a curve ball like "Well, how the plum do I get them to THAT point?"

lovesstorms · March 2016

Screenshot challenge! *drools* Sounds like so much fun!!!

Carewren123 · March 2016

BBQPenguinWings wrote: »

Ooooh the screenshot challenge sounds soo fun!!

But I need some clarification, do they need to tell a concurrent story all on their own or can there be gaps, that way it is more like if we were to look at any entry now, without words, and need the story to see how they got to that point.

I hope this makes sense. It would be fun, since these will be used for a later challenge, to have a somewhat of a curve ball like "Well, how the plum to I get them to THAT point?"

Great question. There can definitely be gaps. A little room for creative interpretation would not be a bad thing since they will be used for a writing challenge.

CitizenErased14 · March 2016

*flails wildly*

I am ALL OVER that screenshot challenge! *dies*

SilentWolf101 · March 2016

OHHHHH! I got so many ideas for March's theme... One of which is still including February's theme a bit... XD And I'm really enjoying that particular one... So excited for the screenshot challenge, too!

Quick question: Say if I submit 5-10 photos, and I win the photo challenge, then those photos are later used as a challenge... Could I still enter that challenge? Or would that be considered unfair since they were my photos?

Also, just finished voting. I had such a hard time choosing number one, because they were all so good!!!!! It was between two of them... But the endings were what really made the decision for me.

CitizenErased14 wrote: »

*flails wildly*

I am ALL OVER that screenshot challenge! *dies*

Of course you'd be into that... XD You and your interludes...

Carewren123 · March 2016

@SilentWolf101 Winning the screenshot challenge will not disqualify anyone from participating in the future writing challenge featuring those photos. I haven't decided for sure yet , but I was thinking of having two sets of photos to choose from. And having the screenshot winners use the set that was not theirs. On the other hand I'm not sure that's even necessary.

whitewaveldc · March 2016

Just finished voting...it was a hard decision because everyone did such a great job!

I am really excited about the screenshot challenge (((bouncing in seat))) I love to take photos!

lovesstorms · March 2016

whitewaveldc wrote: »

Just finished voting...it was a hard decision because everyone did such a great job!

I am really excited about the screenshot challenge (((bouncing in seat))) I love to take photos!

I have not voted yet, but I am very excited about the screenshot challenge, too! You always had awesome sims and pictures when I read your story. I'm excited to see what everyone brings to the table.

chealsycat · March 2016

Voted.
Awesome stories, everyone!

Twiggy · March 2016

I really enjoyed my binge read of this month's lovestories. Thank you all for sharing!

My vote is in

Hugs

BBQPenguinWings · March 2016

@Carewren123
In the future prompt, will we be able to use the screenshots in any order? I ask because I want to make sure some of the shots are generic enough for some creative room and can be used multiple ways.

Carewren123 · March 2016

BBQPenguinWings wrote: »

@Carewren123
In the future prompt, will we be able to use the screenshots in any order? I ask because I want to make sure some of the shots are generic enough for some creative room and can be used multiple ways.

That's what I was thinking too, so yes.

VIRTUALEE · March 2016

Hello All!! I know I am extremely early with this submission for March, but I have a very busy few weeks ahead annnnd also I couldn't wait to share.

I am formally submitting our March Themed Short Story:

Hope you enjoy

The Sims Forums

Short Story Challenges: October: So Spooky

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