Intense Competition
And the Second Challenge of the Gibberish Writing Competition
Welcome back to the Gibberish Writing Competition! We had such a tremendous crop of stories in this one, every single competitor should be very proud of themselves for what they’ve come up with. It’s only going to get more difficult from here—take the feedback, and keep going!
The First Challenge Results
of wrote “Home is Breaking”
This was a compelling story about a girl who disobeys her dad and sneaks into a simulation room. This definitely had tension and release, but the cottage sequence made it feel like release and THEN tension. My comments to Sara focused on finding ways to establish tension earlier and provide a little more background about the characters, to help build up that tension early and make the release hit a little harder. Sara’s Overall Score is 14/27.
This was a fun read about a kidnapped girl with a twist that you won’t believe. There was long, painful tension and then a real SNAP of a release. My comments to Vincent focused on finding ways to make that release land with a little more “oomph” by seeding hints about it earlier in the story. Vincent’s Overall Score is 14/27.
This was a great story about a slave-catcher and his last ride. The tension here was queued up right at the very beginning and it rises to a crescendo, where the tension breaks and we see a new narrative play out. My comments to Derek focused on managing his word-budget a little better and working on really reinforcing his story through pacing. Derek’s Overall Score is 19/27
Taking the prompt and using it as the basis for an allegory was a remarkably clever turn! It was missing some of the tension I was hoping for—my comments to Cork focused on alternative ways that he could have conveyed the same allegory, yet supplied a bit more of the intensity and drama that was suggested in the brief. Cork’s Overall Score is 11/27
This was a very clever piece, and the almost seamless transition from tension to release which mirrored the MC’s arc was well executed. My comments to Christina focused on giving her characters additional depth by supplying their names, and suggesting ways she could draw the reader more deeply into their world. Christina’s Overall Score is 18/27
This puts the standings as follows, after one challenge:
Derek Petty is in first place, with 19 points.
Christina Nicole is in second place, with 18 points.
Vincent Marshall and Sara Dietz are tied for third place, both with 14 points.
Cork Hutson is in fifth place, with 11 points.
This was an INCREDIBLE cohort of stories, and there are two challenges still to go, so it is still very much anyone’s game. Now our competitors are armed with my own feedback, which should lead to much more intense competition as the challenges get harder, the stories get longer, and everyone has had a chance to see how their competitors write as well.
How will everyone do in the next challenge? Let’s find out!
The Second Challenge
Competitors, you have tackled the introductory challenge of the Gibberish Writing Competition with aplomb, and I have recently learned what “aplomb” means. And this was only the beginning! The challenges—known only to me, your intrepid judge—will only get harder from here. Let’s learn about our second challenge:
In many stories, we like to explore grand settings, push our creativity to the limits, subject our characters to a trial that changes them and makes them stronger, as a furnace tempers steel! Yet, many and various settings are not exclusively what makes a good story great. Writers can craft amazing stories without exploring very much of their creative world at all. Movies (that I didn’t realize were books) like 12 Angry Men take place entirely in a deliberation room of a jury. Books like The Life of Pi by Yann Martel or Providence by Max Barry take place almost entirely on a single vessel. TV shows use this technique to create drama: They call it the Bottle Episode.
In order to craft a Bottle Episode of your own, you will have to pay attention to details. What is the setting our characters are confined to, and why are they confined? What things are in the setting that they can leverage for the development of their story? The characters will all be front and center—how do they relate to each other? What are their motivations? How can their voice be differentiated? Our competitors must consider these questions as they write their stories in order to demonstrate mastery over both character AND setting.
Your Challenge This Week: Write us a bottle episode. I am looking for no fewer than three characters to share the same space for the duration of the story. In any fiction genre, bottle those characters up in a singular setting and tell us their story.
Your Rules: You have no less than 2,000 words and no more than 2,500 words to tell this story. You must complete the story and publish it any time before 11:59pm American Eastern Time on Wednesday, July 19th. Publish it to your own Substack and tag
.My Judging: I will read and assess all five stories between the 19th and the 22nd I will be using my six criteria found here.
Grammar, Syntax, Spelling - Make your words correct, clear, and intentional.
Craftsmanship - There’s a structure to the story, even artfulness to how it is set up and delivered
Characterization - Make your characters believable, relatable people, with voices of their own!
Storytelling & Prose - Show more than you tell, unless it serves your story not to!
Pacing - Keep the story moving, and keep it moving on purpose!
Je ne sais quoi - If you pour love and attention into your writing, it will have that special something!
There are 5 points possible for each category except for JNSQ which is only 2 points. The maximum possible overall score is 27 points for each story. You will receive detailed feedback privately over email, including a breakdown of your scores. In the post announcing the next challenge, I will publish each competitors overall scores (up to 27 for each story).
Ladies and gentlemen…
Put on your authors hats! Because your time starts NOW!
Good luck!
I've read a few of the submissions for this second challenge, and they are all top notch stories. While I'm obviously not in the competition, it occurred to me that this story of mine would be considered a Bottle Episode.
https://joshtatter.substack.com/p/the-deadwyng-detective-agency