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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about an author famous for their fairy tale retellings.

Posted in General on Apr 16, 2021

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✍️ 78 stories

“No More Happy Endings” by Shannon Ethel

Once upon a time… …there was only war. She leapt up in triumph, blood dripped from her sword as she swung it down on the beast’s neck, hacking in a frenzy. She laughed. The taste of blood and sweet revenge urged her on in her manic slaying of the creature that had… No, no that wasn’t right. Once there was a girl who… …who had a monster in her, clawing at the sur...

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“What's wrong with Happily Ever After? ” by Moon Lion

For the seventh time, Max ran his hand through his hair. He couldn't stop feeling weird, unnatural, different. The makeup crew had definitely over-gelled his hair, and there was some ridiculous powder on his face that perpetually flecked onto his vest. He reminded himself that this was the final interview before they let the books sell themselves. "Coffee, sir?" Shannon, the weirdly attractive woman who h...

33 comments 33
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“The Visitor in the City -Script-” by Nainika Gupta

Act 1 Scene 1 - The Interview The interviewer is sitting on the left of Shane Carroll, holding the notes for this interview. She is dressed impeccably and doesn’t seem to have a hair out of place. Contrasting with her, Shane has messy hair and has the look of someone always rushing to another thing. Shane is fixing his microphone, which is giving him some trouble.  Interviewer...

82 comments 82
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“Feathered Fables” by Claire Lewis

There once lived a quill-maker who carved fables into feathers. She dwelt alone in a wooden cabin, at the edge of a mountain range that jutted up sharply into the sky like teeth. She sometimes thought she lived in the bones of a great dragon which roamed the earth long ago, large enough to kiss the stars with fire.Each morning, she rose with the sun and went out into the woods to collect feathers. The birds knew her and flocked to her eagerly, for she fed them seeds and stories in the dim morning light. In return, they g...

44 comments 44
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“WatchOut” by Radhika Diksha

I have been watching a lot of diss tracks lately, tik tok is so hype. SO taught to kinda give everybody a friendly diss, please don’t take it personally, it's just for fun and some change.Hey, hey you downvoterRunning behinds others points, shows how shallow you are from the mindYou think taking karma makes me a loserBut you are wrong you pathetic chooser, instead of downvoting meYou should have chosen yourself, because your writing needs a band-aid, just like your mental healthDevaki y...

70 comments 70
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“Signed, Sealed, Delivered ” by Rhondalise Mitza

Blood pearled in small, bright beads at the base of her lips, dotting the edges of her mouth and staining her teeth the light color of strawberry jam. There was caution tape wrapped around her wrists. The bold black words against the Big Bird yellow background made her dizzy, but it didn’t matter. She was already sitting down. The chair underneath her was made of brittle peanut butter candy, the kind that you would find at any old grandma’s cabinet store. But this was no quaint shop in the woods. This was not the place you’d bring your ch...

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“The Spinner of Golden Tales” by Heather Mcquaid

Aedna sputters to the surface, blindly thrashing her legs and arms. The Pinkietoads leap from their lily pads, diving underwater, watching in wide-eyed wonder at the strange creature flailing in their pond.At last, Aedna opens her eyes. The pond is ringed by trees, but not the kind of trees she knows. The silvery bark sparkles in the sunshine, and the purple leaves whistle in the breeze as she swims awkwardly toward shore, finally standing when her feet find the muddy bottom.Two grey-ish green trolls, o...

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“AUTHOR OF THE IMAGINARY” by Paulo Blanco

Writing about an author famous for his fairy tales was a pleasantly received challenge, not that I knew them very well, and was thus endowed with a special advantage. The certainty of inspiration was really a competitive advantage, and I was not surprised; it had taken me many times before, making me write admirable articulations, which, morbidly, I had not yet dared to present to any of my beta-readers. Wh...

3 comments 3
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“Haiku-dja Help Me?” by Michael Boquet

Once upon a timeThere was a teller of talesWho lived all aloneHis home a towerBrightly lit and well-furnishedAnd chock full of booksThough given no nameHe thinks of himself as “Scribe”This name makes him smileThe Scribe is the sourceOf stories across the landBoth past and futureAll writers know himThough they may be unawareOf his influence

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“Taking All the Credit ” by Svara Narasiah

"So, we're doing you today," Talulla said, biting on the end of her pencil. "I know," Goldilocks replied a little sadly. "Does it have to be my turn? Why can't Ariel go?" Talulla leaned across the desk, her curly brown hair brushing the surface. "Because Ariel is basically a fish, and I would have to buy scuba gear before interviewing her." Goldilocks frowned. "But the s...

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“In Defence of Happy Endings” by Deborah Mercer

Up until recently, Lesley Brownlow had been content to merely collect her salary, which wasn’t marvellous, but was enough, and to not over-think things. But it was a chance remark from one of her fellow students –or former fellow students, for it was now, disconcertingly, five years ago – on the Creative Writing MA that made her start to have these awkward moments of self-questioning and introspection. She was s...

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“Medium Red Riding Hood” by Nina Chyll

  CW: recurrent thoughts of self-harm and assault, mental illness, violence against women   He was just leaving the empty off-license store, clutching a bag with a bottle of ouzo and three packets of cigarettes, when he spotted the woman. There was something peculiar about her. He squinted in the dark, trying to zero on in the silhouette on the other side of the road, but the neon sign tirelessly flickering behind the owner had filled his vision with floaters. How did those lights not make him go insane?

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“Definitely Now” by Melanie Varner

Sally Baxter stood outside the bookstore in the rain, hood up on her drab gray sweatshirt, her sneakers wet and her soul bleak. She was tired; tired of working so hard and having nothing, of going it alone all the time. There, inside, signing her latest best-seller, was her mortal enemy, Cassandra Lilly.  Oh, that wasn’t her real name, and the woman in question used to be her best fiend....

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“The Truth About Tales” by Katelynn Laird

        Many great storytellers have come and gone, each reimagining the classics and influencing entire generations’ perspectives on the “truth” of a tale, how a story should be spun. Each of these remarkable wordsmiths has managed to harness a subtle magic, introducing age-old epics to their latest audience. Walt Disney. Rick Riordan. Gregory McGuire. Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. These will live on as masters of th...

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“Beast on the Brink” by Kate Le roux

He stands in front of the bathroom mirror, adjusting his tie, thinking it would be so easy if he could simply adjust the droop of his eyelids, the mismatched colours of his scars, his uneven hairline. Is it too much, to put on a collar and tie for this? He has already decided that there is no point getting smart from the waist down for a Zoom interview and is still in his sweatpants, his feet bare as he pads around his penthouse. Ten years, twelve books – he leans closer towards the mirror, turning slightly to the left, pointlessly...

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Ended on 23:59 - Apr 09, 2021 EST

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Title: No More Happy Endings

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