Admin Post: "Competition" Challenge Stories

[dawn_felagund]

More than a dozen fanworks were created for our Competition challenge. Check them out at the links below (which, as always, point to the table of contents so you can see if you want to proceed with a piece), and please consider letting the author know if you enjoy their work.

Both Alike in Dignity by Grundy. Great minds think alike in Second Age Eregion.

The earth in flame (part of the "Trinkets" collection) by Independence1776. Elrond and Celebrían supervise a fire-starting contest for their young twin sons. Triple drabble.

A Farcical Attempt by LadyBrooke. Having recently arrived in Valinor, the three greatest minstrels of Middle-earth are told they will participate in a contest against singers from Valinor. Daeron thinks Maglor is taking this competition far too seriously.

Going Through These Stages by Lyra. Elrond receives fateful news from Númenor, and has to come to terms with them.

Heroes i) Inside by hennethgalad. The first day in Tirion for Glorfindel. He learns a great deal. (Part 2 and Part 3.)

His Own Words by Tyelca. The private thoughts of Gríma, counselor to King Théoden of Rohan. The story of how a young man of great potential turned into a traitor to his country, told in his own words.

Hour of the Wolf by ElberethTheStarkindler. Finrod musters up the courage to die.

No Sign of Weakness by Oshun. Sparring Finwean cousins.

Only Teardrops by Raiyana. The Host of the Valar is almost ready to leave Aman... including someone unexpected.

Silver Fragments Falling by StarSpray. When Finrod had previously considered his death, he had thought it would come in battle, at the end of a sword or a mace or an arrow.

(Vote) Up Not Down by Himring. Life is too short for some kind of contests. Maybe it's possible to love one thing without knocking the alternative. (Especially if both of them happen to be fictional, in any case.) Free verse (pretty much extra free)

The Words You Left Me by eris_of_imladris. Ten words that influenced Fëanor and Fingolfin’s relationship and drove them down their paths to doom.

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As always, late entries are welcome (I will be turning one in myself!) but will not receive stamps. It's never too late to receive stamps for leaving comments, so feel free to fill your collection by commenting on past challenge entries. Speaking of stamps ... I hope to have those caught up by the announcement of the next challenge on June 15.

Comments

[heartofoshun]

I got one in by the skin of my teeth! I may be adding to it. But for now it meets the requirement even if I don't.

There are really a lot of good stories this month--not that there usually are not. There usually are. I am excited that you have an idea for one.

[dawn_felagund]

There's always a significant grace period too since I don't post the list till late afternoon/evening the day after stories are due. And if it's posted before I make the list, then I count it.

I not only have an idea but almost 8,000 words of one! :D I've been trying the "write at least 15 minutes a day" strategy (and forcing myself to write fiction--nonfiction doesn't count toward the 15 mintues!) for almost two weeks now, and this story has been the primary beneficiary of that effort. I'm actually really excited to work on it tonight.

[heartofoshun]

Oh, yay!! Well, don't let me interfere. I need to do some more Galadriel tonight, although I certainly put the hours in today already.

Actually, I had my story ready to go and then lost track of time and started trying to post around 11:40 and my computer/internet slowed down and it was after midnight before I got it to "take." You know me--I was freaking out! I had to reboot my computer and then restart my internet--I have no idea why!

[dawn_felagund]

I think it's pretty much a natural law at this point that if you need to do something time-sensitive on a computer, then it will be slow/require a restart/crash/otherwise not work.

A little over a week ago, we had multiple deadlines at work--including my 7th graders presenting the next day in front of the town's solid waste committee the next day--and cable Internet throughout most of the county went out. There was a house fire in a trailer that was built on an old tire landfill, and when the tires caught fire, they melted a key cable that ran across the property and there were doom-filled predictions that it wouldn't be restored for four days. It was stressful to the point that I barely slept that night, planning in my head how to reconfigure the slideshow my students had been building into an old-fashioned speech with just two hours to work on it the next morning ... and then the Internet was back the next day.

We didn't lose it at home because we are on satellite--possibly the only time I've felt superior because of that! :D

[hhimring]

Thank you very much, Dawn!
Looking forward to a story from you!

[dawn_felagund]

You're welcome! ^_^

It's getting close ... I'm hoping it's done by the end of the week!