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Jul-18-2007 14:03

I've been wanting to do some kind of contest for a while now, so here we go. By the way, a huge thanks to Lady Emerald - she knows why. :-)

The rules of 50 Words or Less: Using a given opening line, you must write a story that uses 50 words or less. The opening line does not count toward your word total.

The rules of the contest:

* I will give a total of 5 opening lines. You may choose whichever line(s) you wish to use.

* You may write an entry for as many of the opening lines as you like, but only 1 story for each line. So, your maximum number of entries is 5. If you only like 3 of the opening lines, then write 3 stories. It's up to you.

* If you write multiple stories, they are not required to have anything to do with each other. On the other hand, you may link them into one overall story.

* Your story or stories must make sense. It also should be mystery-related, or be mysterious with a really interesting twist.

* Spelling and grammar DO count. Please. Spellcheck is our friend. (I realise that english is not everyone's primary language. It is usually not difficult to tell the difference between the grammar of someone writing in a not-ingrained language, as opposed to the grammar of someone who is too lazy to learn how to write properly.)

*All entries must be posted no later than 11:59 PM server time on July 28, 2007.

Now, you can't have a contest without prizes, right? Make sure you get those imaginations going! The winner will receive a three-month subscription (compliments of me) and a unique book for their detective (compliments of Ben). Sweet!

Your opening lines:

1. If I'd known how it would all end, I would never have started it.

2. The evidence was there, had anyone bothered to look.

3. Jimmy Donuts was just an old bum.

4. How had things even gotten as far as they had?

5. Tallulah shook her head in denial while her eyes opened wide with horror.

Jul-31-2007 05:18

And the best part is......because of one of the prizes, we know we'll have these creative people in Sleuthville for at least another 3 months :)
Congratulations to all winners.

Jul-31-2007 12:44

Big congrats to all :-) Do another!!! Even with no prize lol! It was fun to write and fun to read.

Aug-2-2007 01:25

Congrats to all! That was a fantastic!

Aug-2-2007 16:59

Yes, congratulations to the winners, and thank you Anikka for organizing this cool contest.

All three winners have recieved a copy of Michael Bagen's as of yet unreleased book: "Wax House".

Speaking of which, thank you Michael for writing this very cool story!

Aug-2-2007 23:39

Hey the winners need an apartment with a bookcase... couldn't we then all beg for an invite and dash over and read it?

Aug-3-2007 17:12

Hi there!! Sorry I haven't been here the last couple of days. I've been a bit under the weather.

Congratulations to ALL of the participants. Everyone did a wonderful job. Cordelia and Brasco, you guys wrote phenomenal stories!! Enjoy your books and subscriptions, and I hope we see a lot more of your writing in the future!! ;-D

I'd like to thank the judges, Arabella, Rhiemma, and Anikka, for contributing their time and generosity. I'd also like to thank Ben and Michael Bagen for their generous prize donations. Lastly, I'd like to thank Anikka again for organizing, planning, and hosting this contest. She's put in a LOT of thought and hard work the contest, and she deserves a hearty acknowledgement from the community.

As for the apartment and the bookcase, Stooby, I'm workin' on that....;-)

The story I wrote was loosely based on two things. One is a story out of a book written by an English author named James Herriott, a veterinarian who lived in northern England during the early 20th century, and wrote a series of books about his life and vet practice. The second was a common custom used by farmers throughout Europe and North America in the late 19th century through the late 20th century. When a farmer came across an animal (lamb, cat, dog, piglet, etc.) that was either newly born, hypothermic or sickly, very often, they would take the animal and place it in a low-temperature oven (150-200 deg. F) to try to raise the animal's core body temperature as quickly as possible. Incubators were not available, for the most part, and the local vet would often be too far away to be able to be contacted at that moment. The farmhouse's oven often worked as a reliable substitute for an incubator.

Again, great job to all the writers!! We'll see you all next year!! ;-D

Aug-3-2007 23:26

Hey Breikat my scripted Mystery - Miss Village's Fate, comming soon to a PC near you (currenly awaiting admin) was inspired by James Herriet's adventures at the Darrowby summer fete.

I say inspired rather than based on as obviously Heirriets fantastic books are about the wonerful world of vetting and not Sleuthing... But I read that scene and a few weeks later started work on my SM.

Small world isn't it?

Aug-5-2007 22:05

(Disney songs playing in the background...)

That it is, Stooby, that it is!! Good luck with your Mystery! I look forward to seeing it soon!! ;-D

Aug-30-2007 01:08

Okay, as you all may or may not know, Stooby's got a website for his agency, Endeavour Investigations. Why should you care? Because he's got a Writer's Corner, that's why. And because he'd like to put up your entries, properly credited, of course. But he'd like your permission to do so.

So, please, if you would like to have your entry posted on Stooby's site, PM him and give him the okay.

Thanks!!

Aug-30-2007 07:33

Here's the link to that site : endeavour.investigations.googlepages.com/writer%27scorner