The End Is The Beginning
The Third and Final Challenge of GWC '24
Once More Into The Breach
Our Competitors have been tried by fire twice.
, , , , and know what adjustments they need to make. They know their preferences, their skills, and their common mishaps. There’s only one challenge left to go, one last opportunity to impress. The scores got even closer! EB Howard may have held narrowly onto the lead, but the field tightened to a five point spread. Five points means that if anyone can land 5/5 in each of these categories, if anyone can snag those coveted JNSQ points, they are sure to rise in the standings, and possibly take the first prize! Once again, this speaks to the incredible talent and skill we have in this group of five writers.There’s not much “ado” remaining— let’s unveil the Third Challenge.
Reminder of the Rules
Let’s refresh our memories about the rules, Some of which are different for the second challenge, so make sure you read through these again thoroughly! Please pay close attention to these rules to ensure you get full marks for your story.
This second challenge must be 2,000 words +/- 50 words. That is: your story must be between 1950 words and 2,050 words. No more and no less!
Please include the wordcount at the end of your story. e.g. (1,930 words)
Your story can not include characters featured in a previous story of the competition. That is to say, no characters from Challenge 1 or Challenge 2. This distinction will make sense when you read the challenge.
You must schedule the story to be published at 8:00am April 30th American Eastern Time.1 If you are not in this time zone, please take care to ensure that it is scheduled to post at that time. I think this is an international competition for the first time, so this is very important. The time zone I am using is UTC-5, if that helps you search for it.
This is a new feature of GWC ‘24. Last year, competitors could post at any time in the window. This created some pressure to post first, and added perhaps an intimidation factor for the last to post, who could potentially see everyone’s stories before they’ve finished theirs. This way—everyone’s stories post at the same time, regardless of when you’re finished writing.
Please use the whole time to draft, edit, and polish.
In the post, please tag both judges: myself
(@gibberish) and Sara (@saradietz) so we are notified that your story is published.
The Third Challenge
Competitors, in the first challenge you were given free range, in the second challenge I gave you tight restrictions. Your feedback from the first challenge was a data point, and you adjusted—your feedback from the second challenge forms a line. This third challenge is an opportunity to establish a trend. This is your last opportunity to impress the judges and write your absolute best. Please, take extra care with this challenge.
In a way, you have supplied the prompt for this final challenge. While previous challenges have been more open ended, this final challenge will ask you to take something existing and unpack it, expand it, and flesh out your ideas. I will ask you to revisit a specter from your past…and use it as your crowning achievement.
Your Challenge This Week: Take your 250 word application story, and expand it to the 2,000(+/-) word threshold! Your 250 word applications were asked to showcase an argument. Now—put that argument in context. Expand the world, give us what comes before, or what comes next. Please, before the story, include the entire text of your 250 word application story as a block-quote. This does not count towards your word count. You may choose to rewrite the scene; you may choose to include it, unchanged, in its entirety; you may choose to cut it into parts. It must be the same characters grappling with the same conflict, and as with any complete story this conflict must be brought to some kind of resolution.
You have the feedback of two challenges here to guide you, and now you can revisit a piece of your old writing and breathe new life into it2. How can you take the confined and simple 250 word story and keep it compelling at a longer length? How can you keep the emotional power of the argument? What background is necessary? What context helps you show what comes next? And what elements must you add to bring this story to a conclusion, leaving this story feeling complete? This challenge will push you to use all the lessons you have learned, and end where you began.
The Judging
To reiterate: Sara and I will read all five stories between the April 30th and May 4th, and the results will be published on May 4th, the grand finale where one of you will be crowned winner (but none of you can really be said to have lost).
Here’s a reminder of the categories by which each story will be assessed:
Craftsmanship: How well does your story flow? Does it have a beginning, middle, and end? Is there tension and release? A conflict and resolution? Is the story complete? Does it stand on its own? Have you taken care of both the structure and the style of the story, to make it uniquely yours? I will be judging this category out of 5 points.
Character: What do we learn about the characters? Do they have distinct personalities and voices? Are they motivated and invested? Do they have to make choices? Do they feel alive? Do we understand and relate to them? I will be judging this category out of 5 points.
Setting: Does the setting matter to the story? Does it enhance and compliment the characters and structure? Is the setting described, do the characters interact with it? How does the setting contribute to the overall story? I will be judging this category out of 5 points.
Grammar/Syntax/Structure: Do your word choices make sense? Do you pay attention to spelling, punctuation, structure? If you deviate from these—does it serve the story? Do you leverage your sentences and paragraphs and the full suite of tools offered by the English Language to enhance and serve the story? Sara Dietz will be judging this category out of 5 points.
Pacing: Do you adjust pacing to the story? Do you speed the readers up and slow them down? Does the pacing make sense for what is happening in the story? Can you make the reader sit on the edge of their seat in intense moments, or relax in calm ones? I will be judging this category out of 5 points.
Je ne sais quoi (JNSQ): Sara and I will each be able to offer one point for stories with that “I don’t know what”, that undefinable trait that makes us excited to keep reading. These will be offered sparingly, and to not receive a JNSQ point does not mean a story was bad, and it should be assumed that stories will NOT receive JNSQ points unless there is something truly and unexplainably remarkable about them. Sara and I will each judge this category out of one point, for a total of 2 points possible.
The maximum score for an entry in this competition is 27 out of 27 points.
Ladies and Gentlemen…
Put on your author hats! YOUR TIME STARTS NOW!
Good luck!
This is different! Normally I would have you submit your stories at 11pm on the 29th, but giving you extra hours to make it five complete days (120 hours) rather than five incomplete days (111 hours) helps balance the time available to everyone. The stories are due at the same time the challenge is announced, so whatever time of day it happens, it’s the same time of day when it ends.
This is a slightly more elaborate prompt, so if there is any confusion whatsoever please email or DM or comment on this post with your question!
Oh my god. I feel sick 😂 wow this is going to be... Wow. OK. See you on the 30th. Aaarrrggghhhh.
Diabolical, brilliant. Nothing like forcing a writer to look back over old work for absolute suffering. Can't wait to see the results.