Fortnightly writing competition: 31th March - 13th April 2009

Started by Wyz, Tue 31/03/2009 16:29:34

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Wyz

For this Fortnightly writing competition I do a finish the story. I give a introduction to a story and you just have to finish it anyway you like. There is no word limit and you are free to use any genre. Horror, drama, fantasy, sci-fi, etc. be my guest.

Voting starts 14th of April and lasts two days.

The Forest

It was a rainy night when Jeff was driving on a forsaken forest road. The car radio was playing his favourite song and he was singing loudly along. He was not concentrating on the road too much, and notice a large fallen tree too late to stop. He pulled the steering wheel and set out a course through the forest, not much later loosing his consciousness.

When he opened his eyes slowly regaining his strength he tested his car, but it wouldn't start. He stepped out of the vehicle and looked around. The trees were dimly lit by the moon alone. He had no idea where he was.



The throphy  :D


Good luck!
Life is like an adventure without the pixel hunts.

uncle-mum

It was a rainy
night when Jeffrey was
driving on a forsaken

forest road. The car
radio was playing his
favorite song he

was singing loudly
along. He was not
concentrating on the road

too much, and notice
a large fallen tree too late
to stop. He pulled the

steering wheel and set out a
course through the forest,
not much later

loosing his consciousness.  When
he opened his eyes
slowly regaining

his strength he tested
his car, but it wouldn't start.
He stepped out of the

vehicle and looked
around. The trees were
dimly lit by the moon alone.

He had no idea where
he was. The roadway
had gone and he was

surrounded by a
pride of lions and
the whole cast of the O.C.

Scrabbling in the dirt
Jeff tried to find the picture
of his now long dead

mother in the hope that she
would make things alright
but she was lost for

words. Horrified young
Jeff let out a tiny gasp
and dove back into

his car smacking his head on
the oak dashboard: His
vision blurred, his throat

seized up, pills falling from his
mouth, blood running from
his ears.  The lions

turned their back on him
and Mischa Barton raised her
gun, placing it to

Jeff's temple and with a sigh
she finally found
her satisfaction.

N.B         I had no idea what to do with this, so I thought what'd be quick and fun to do?  Why not Dadaist haiku (???); the opening seemed to lend itself to the idea with its odd pace and phrasing.  And while this started out as fun and quick it soon turned into a right pain as I failed to make things fit.  I have to admit I cheated twice with the original text and I've found at least one place where the structure (the whole reason for doing the damn thing) kind of stutters.  But balls - its 1am, I have work in the morning and I'm done. (and I know I could come back to it but I know I wouldn't so best get it over with)

Wyz

Life is like an adventure without the pixel hunts.

Dualnames

It was a rainy night when Jeff was driving on a forsaken forest road. The car radio was playing his favourite song and he was singing loudly along. He was not concentrating on the road too much, and notice a large fallen tree too late to stop. He pulled the steering wheel and set out a course through the forest, not much later loosing his consciousness.

When he opened his eyes slowly regaining his strength he tested his car, but it wouldn't start. He stepped out of the vehicle and looked around. The trees were dimly lit by the moon alone. He had no idea where he was.


It wasn't enough that he had a bad day at work today, getting fired because he stood up, now he had to find a way back home. He took a direction and started taking steps towards it, hoping in the sametime he had take the right one. Orientation you see is a skill only granted or acquired by few people around the Galaxy. Suddenly he heard a woosh. At that point he gave no attention to it. The woosh seemed to be one of those sounds that want to be heard. He still gave no attention to it. The woosh however was persistent, and did what DJs do, when they're paid to play a song, it increased in volume. Still Jeff gave no attention to it, a spaceship with lights just materialised in front of him though. If it wasn't for that ship, the sound would have gotten its chance. The ship was a really good looking one, modern, cool, cold, the idea of anyone's spaceship to be exact. A ramp appeared and a form started descending slowly as a hum could be slightly heard. Jeff was speechless. The form stood near him, at the distance of handshake, and took a sort of a notepad out. He spoke in Jeff's language and that made Jeff really curious for a second. He said "You're Jeff?", and looked at his notepad again. Jeff surprised couldn't even think of what to say. The alien spoke again "You're Jeff Kevin Hudson?". Jeff shook his head. It was the only thing he could perform at the time. The alien looked at his notepad and spoke again "You're an asshole, a complete asshole, Hudson.". He ascended into the ramp and left.


Worked on Strangeland, Primordia, Hob's Barrow, The Cat Lady, Mage's Initiation, Until I Have You, Downfall, Hunie Pop, and every game in the Wadjet Eye Games catalogue (porting)

Trihan

-Space reserved for entry-

uncle-mum, just one observation.

not much later

is only four syllables.

uncle-mum

I know, I know - the whole thing was a just bit of a failure.

Dualnames - that's some damn good work, you really manage to keep the unique style of the opening going though out.

Wyz

Life is like an adventure without the pixel hunts.

Dualnames

Quote from: uncle-mum on Wed 08/04/2009 11:25:41
I know, I know - the whole thing was a just bit of a failure.

Dualnames - that's some damn good work, you really manage to keep the unique style of the opening going though out.

It was really hard trying to shape the story as Douglas Adams did on his books, but after deleting some false attempts, I think it really ended up quite the best I could. Thanks for the comments :D :D

Also Wyz. I'm curious to see what Trihan will come up with..
Worked on Strangeland, Primordia, Hob's Barrow, The Cat Lady, Mage's Initiation, Until I Have You, Downfall, Hunie Pop, and every game in the Wadjet Eye Games catalogue (porting)

Trihan

It was a rainy night when Jeff was driving on a forsaken forest road. The car radio was playing his favourite song and he was singing loudly along. He was not concentrating on the road too much, and noticed a large fallen tree too late to stop. He pulled the steering wheel and set out a course through the forest, not much later losing his consciousness.

When he opened his eyes slowly regaining his strength he tested his car, but it wouldn't start. He stepped out of the vehicle and looked around. The trees were dimly lit by the moon alone. He had no idea where he was.


He heard a howl in the distance which made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end. Pulling his jacket tightly around him to keep out the cold that was seeping into his bones, he set off into the gloom, hoping to find some clue as to where he was. It wasn't long before he heard another howl - from a different direction, apparently in answer to the first - and then a few more sounded out, echoing ominously through the trees. His pace quickened.

Another howl, closer now. Maybe it was his imagination, but Jeff thought it sounded hungry. It was unlike any wolf cry he had ever heard, and he knew he had to hurry. He began to run, careful not to trip on any loose roots and end the hunt prematurely. For that's what it was, he realised: a hunt. And he was the intended prey.

He emerged into a clearing, strangely peaceful and silent but with a palpable aura of impending death in the air. He could almost smell the decay coming from this desolate place. Several pairs of red eyes were visible through the thin sheen of mist that obscured his sight. It was almost over now...he sighed deeply. The eyes were getting bigger, closing in.

Twisted, grotesque shapes started to become visible. They might have been wolves once, certainly, but now? Whatever demonic power had taken hold here, it had done an admirable job of transforming these creatures into a terrible caricature of themselves, with bones jutting out at awkward angles.

Jeff had heard of these creatures before, but had paid the tales little attention. They were known as Worgen, he recalled. At the time he had paid little attention to that, too. He had continued to dismiss it as an old wive's tale until the day one killed his sister, and its horrifying visage had been burned into his mind forever.

As the moon shone fully overhead and Jeff felt the first jolt of his transformation, he smiled to himself and licked a rapidly-growing fang.

Tonight, the hunters would become the hunted.

Aljoho

Heh heh. Its not top notch writing wise but the idea made me chuckle, and so i just had to do it. I present to you:

Cultens 1997. a story of awakening

It was a rainy night when Jeff was driving on a forsaken forest road. The car radio was playing his favourite song and he was singing loudly along. He was not concentrating on the road too much, and notice a large fallen tree too late to stop. He pulled the steering wheel and set out a course through the forest, not much later loosing his consciousness.

When he opened his eyes slowly regaining his strength he tested his car, but it wouldn't start. He stepped out of the vehicle and looked around. The trees were dimly lit by the moon alone. He had no idea where he was.


         Aching, black and blue, he stumbled from the shattered wreckage of his car. He looked around, At thick darkness that all but surrounded him â€" a moon swallowed in the abyss of night, car headlights dead after the windscreen smashed under the absolute force of iron-like trees and an engine failed with a guttering snore.

        "Surely the road has to be somewhere near" he thought with a frantic sense of urgency.

        His eyes letting him down â€" he turned to his other senses. It was eerily still, save for a soft wind that echoed like a soft wind chime through the trees. On a whim he felt inside his shattered car, feeling along the door, into the glove compartment. His hand clasped around an icy metallic cylinder, and he scrambled for the button. A luminescent glow, almost like some lightsaber beam in the absolute darkness, tore ahead of him. He spun, watching as the light carved a path into his surroundings.

   Using his car as a guide â€" he walked in the direction of the rear of the car â€" hoping that would lead him back to the road and to safety. He began to walk, legs aching, eyes begging to slide shut into oblivion. Feeding of what little strength remained he resisted his bodies caressing calls for sleep, and pushed on.

        After five minutes he turned back â€" he can’t have come this far, no matter how fast his car had been going. He must have spun around during the crash. He spun on the balls of his aching feet and turned back. Another five minutes, and he was truly lost. His torch carving a beam into a nothingness of identical pine trees and leafy ground.
Desperate now, frantic with a dull eerie chill, he was aware of only his feet â€" left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. A dull repetitive plod through the woods.

        Suddenly his world seemed to come into focus. Ahead he saw a dim light, flickering like a flame through the undergrowth. He moved on, focused only on the flame. It grew, and before long he was within hearing distance. A gentle hum, like voices â€" singing? Met his ears.

        He plodded on, and the sound got louder, and louder until he couldn’t focus on anything else. Words? He couldn’t distinguish them amid the crackling of a fire. Closer and closer now, his body still aching, his mind still struggling to focus.

        Then he heard them. The wood opened out, and in the clearing were a dozen or so figures â€" gathered around a fire. He stopped and stared as the chanting continued.

        “#include <iostream> using namespace std; int main() { cout<<”Sentence”<< endl; int number = 0; cin >> number; return 0;}”

        All of them were chanting. Huddled round the scorching flamesIt was the chanting of everyone â€" all gathered around the fire.

        And then he saw something else. Sitting in the middle of the fire â€" like something out of a horror movie â€" was a figure he had never seen before. Yet somehow, in some deep corner of his mind, he knew its name.

        And suddenly he knew everyones names, conceived in a moment of magical tension amid the crackling flames. There was M0ds, and Progzmax and AGA, C.Leksutin and Gilbet V700a. A myriad of names of people he didn’t know, yet knew so well.

       And in the centre of the fire â€" sat Chris Jones.

       The chanting went on. Lines of strange words, one after the other. He sat there for at least an hour, transfixed by these people as they sat stock still, mouths flittering in a blur of constant motion.

       And then it happened. Above Chris Jones, hovering above the crackling flames, their shined a flashing light, and like a sword forged in a blacksmiths oven, their appeared a cup â€" shiny blue in its wondrous glory.

       Chris’ eyes flashed open, and one by one the others did the same. All turned, and stared at him, at Jeff.

       Suddenly he was awake. He felt naked under all those piercing stares. Chris stood, reaching up, cradling the shining blue tea mug. And with it in his arms, he uttered in a booming voice “cJeff.Setasplayer();”

       A strange feeling washed over Jeff. He felt like he was sitting In a roller coaster as it spun round and round, loops and flips, corkscrews and 50 foot drops. He felt himself lose control.

      “cJeff.ChangeView(1);” Chris' voice seemed even more booming then before. A crashing cacophony of rumbling bass

       Jeff felt his body change. His clothes changed first. What had been a dirty black shirt, stained with mud and twigs and sweat slowly changed to become a white jumper â€" its arms a pinky red. Then he felt himself change, becoming an almost lego like figure â€" made of big squares. He tried to scream.

       He only heard Chris Jones utter 4 more words, and then he heard no more. “I name thee Ego”


So that’s how it happened eh? I always figured AGS was created in Chris Jones’ basement.

Ha - foiled at last!

edit: also i'm not sure how accurate my history is - i probably got some AGS oldies wrong, or some dates, but you get the idea :P

edit two: crap. i forgot that the moon was mentioned, and then i said there was no moon. just imagine the clouds came in and swallowed it up..... yeh thats the one.... ;)
A Tribute to my success -  A wonky ASCII Trophy
                              .__.
                              (|  |)
                               (  )
                              _)(_

uncle-mum

So I guess I'll kick off the voting buy placing my pebble in Dualname's urn

Aljoho

I'm not quite sure whether there is some actual meaning behind the name jeff Hudson i'm ignorant of (maybe he's some celebrity or lucasarts employee :P) - its probably just a random name, but i will also hand throw my ballot in Dualnames box because of its cool twist
A Tribute to my success -  A wonky ASCII Trophy
                              .__.
                              (|  |)
                               (  )
                              _)(_

Wyz

Ok, I'll just recap before giving my vote.

uncle-mum
Unique way of finishing the story, I was very surprised by that :)

Dualnames
Nicely written, funny twist, enjoyable entry.

Trihan
Great entry, you kept teh style going, it had also a satisfying ending. ;)

Aljoho
Very exciting story, also very funny. :D

I think my vote goes to Trihan.

happy voting
Life is like an adventure without the pixel hunts.

Trihan


Dualnames

I'd go for Trihan just because of the final line, but heck, I go for Aljoho.
Worked on Strangeland, Primordia, Hob's Barrow, The Cat Lady, Mage's Initiation, Until I Have You, Downfall, Hunie Pop, and every game in the Wadjet Eye Games catalogue (porting)

Wyz

OK, looks like the trophy and the honor of thinking up the next competition goes to Dualnames:


Congrats, and the rest thanks for entering!
Life is like an adventure without the pixel hunts.

Dualnames

Worked on Strangeland, Primordia, Hob's Barrow, The Cat Lady, Mage's Initiation, Until I Have You, Downfall, Hunie Pop, and every game in the Wadjet Eye Games catalogue (porting)

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