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Writers Unleashed | Season 1
Topic Started: Nov 29 2015, 11:00 PM (24,070 Views)
SnazzyShadeEmily
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They said I wasn't good enough for television. How do you like me now, voices in my head?
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Welcome to The Horror Closet's first, exclusive writing competition: Writers Unleashed™. We’ve been planning this for a long time and we believe we are now finally at a place where we can host it properly!


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In this competition you will be up against both the experienced & beginner creative writers of this forum, week after week, as you complete the challenges and are scored and ranked by the judges (TheCheetahwings and GhettoSpiritMedium) and the final judge and host, (SnazzyShadeEmily).The last writer standing, is the winner. We hope you choose to sign up for Writers Unleashed™ today,and join us for this competition, and to grow as a writer. You don't need to have any experience at all to atleast try, so we hope anyone with atleast a smidge of interest gives it a shot. The challenges will be posted weekly. Round 1 comes this Friday Night, due Thursday, December 10th at 12/11C. Most rounds will be posted Saturday but since it's Round 1, you get an extra day. Use it wisely. Results come every Saturday night starting at 6/5C and running two hours. I'll post the next round shortly after. The round themes will not specify a genre, so feel free to do whichever you want as they will all be graded fairly using the same basic scale. When your entry is complete, PM it to Me/SnazzyShadeEmily, and I'll send it to the others once the deadline has been reached. I hope you all consider joining! Also, please make entries an original work unless stated within the challenge post.


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SnazzyShadeEmily (Host)
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GhettoSpiritMedium
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TheCheetahwings

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1. Matty
2. MasterXPosed
3. TyeSays
4. Cman710
5. Joshua
6. Frame700
7. 100PercentCotton
8. SaviorMouse
9. Sid The Super Bitch
10. Kevin R.
11. Ni-Gunner
12. Zayday Williams
13. TheFinalBoy

14. Belly
15. Shiley740
16. Shawn
SEASON ONE WINNER:
Cman710/Chris



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Round One
Round Two
Round Three
Round Four
Round Five
Round Six

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Round 1 Results
Round 2 Results
Round 3 Results
Round 4 Results
Round 5 Results
Round 6 Results
All Scores Ranked
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Replies:
shiley740
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"This isn't over...this isn't over by a long shot!"
Kevin R.
Jan 16 2016, 09:40 PM
Let's see, let's see!
:excited:
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SnazzyShadeEmily
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They said I wasn't good enough for television. How do you like me now, voices in my head?
Alec's Comments:
Quote:
 
Kevin's 'Blood Orange':
First of all, thank you so much for turning in an entry every week. That alone is something to be very proud of. Each week, your quality has varied quite a bit in my opinion. Some were great (Round 1 being the magnum opus), others not as much (Round 5), but overall, each entry has shown that above all else, you are a very capable writer that I think we'd all like to see more work from. This week the prompt was very vague and left it to your sheer talent to do the rest, and thankfully, I think you did well. When I gave these items I had an obvious plot in mind which I hoped neither would do (The whole "Small town girl Lucy Lindstrom moves to big town NYC and discovers that all you need to make it is love" plot practically wrote itself with the items) but you steered far clear of that. Using these items to write a script about a coven is the kind of originallity that set this entry apart from any of your prior ones, even if it wasn't as strong in other categories.


When this started, I figured it would be fairly normal, with Leona just going to a game, and maybe a small twist or two. But as the entry went on, it elevated itself far beyond 'normal' and went straight for the kind of twists American Horror Story could only dream of these days. Speaking of AHS, this entry harkens back to the Vampire Children plot line from Hotel in my opinion, but not in a plagiaristic kind of way, it's just a parallel I noticed. Thankfully, yours works even after the initial scene, because you didn't risk character or logic for plot. The events that occured felt natural and evolved at a nice pace, making for a pleasing entry all in all. As more layers were shown, I still wasn't quite sure which direction your entry was taking, until it fully committed and all hell broke loose. Once it did, this entry shone even more, and I think it's safe to say you write "chaos" very well.


Another aspect I really liked was your choice to give this entry some well needed meaning beyond "Witches being Witches". The poor angle was one that shows a lot more than what's on the surface. So many commercial things could be used to help poverty, yet so many aren't, and I'm really glad you chose to tackle that here, even if most people (me included) are partially responsible for that. Now, I do have to wonder what in the hell happened to Hans as I didn't seem to find an explanation behind his dissapearance, but that's my largest complaint. I do think this entry often felt a little dry, and could've used more energy to bring life to some of the more draggy parts. Also, the dialogue is still your weakest link, but I rather liked Hans' dialogue oddly enough, and Leona was somewhat fine too with it, it was mainly the One-Off's whos lines I felt needed the most work, which is a sign of improvement! Not a perfect entry by any means, but a very worthy one, and one I'm glad I got to read as part of the final round.




Chris' 'The Trials of Laura':
This is the sixth entry you've turned in, week-by-week, always early, so thank you so much Chris. It doesn't take talent to meet a deadline, but it does show your high amount of care and respect for the game and your entries. Have you always delivered top notch writing? No, you haven't. You had a dud or two (Round 3), but with those you were met by a hit (Round 2). No one's perfect, and no one is going to slay every round even more than the last, but it takes a lot to be as determined as you were every week to give it your best shot. All that said, this was your best shot. After five entries, it's easy to tell you have a certain writing style, and it was very prevalent here, but this was one that focused on what you do right far more than what you don't. Immediately, I was captivated by this plot, and it drew me in more with each page. Going the game show route was an absolute delight to read (and I imagine it was quite fun to write as well).


You had already proven yourself through years of writing, even if some of it wasn't really as great as it could've been, but through this competition you grew a lot, in my opinion. It's safe to say that you have many capabilities to write original work, which will be very helpful in the chance you decide to take your career down that path. Being stuck within the world of fan fiction has many restraints, and in this sea of six originals you've delivered, it's great to see them finally off. I'm really glad you took these items and made them the basis of a game show, as that sadisticness mixed with the sheer entertainment value made for a very great entry I had a wonderful time reading. I felt for Laura through it all, even though I was hoping she'd lose a bit, and I think you gave her character enough to feel like a real person with human struggles, even in the wildly zany setting you threw her in. Also, the disembodied voice was really funny to read and had a strange charm to him even though he was a psycho. He could be the next Ted Bundy if he played his cards right. There was a lot of suspense to the madness, and I was on the edge of my seat watching Laura pick which items (even if the tangerine being an actual struggle to decide on seemed a little odd, just a little.) But you never veered off this great premise you set, and I was fully enamored in it the whole way through.


This whole thing had a slight 'Horrorland' hint to it, or even Twilight Zone. Come to think of it, this is SUCH a good Twilight Zone idea oh my God! Seeing Laura die a brutal death in the end was strangely pleasing, even if it was sad too, but the very end revealing it as a legitimate TV show raised some curiosity in me to whether this was set in a future time or not. I'm glad it was left unsaid, because the subtlety helped it feel a lot more uneasy overall. My biggest problem is how this show gets contestants at all, because there are so many better ways to get money, and I could've really used a better reasoning on that besides "she knew what she signed up for". All in all, a pretty great entry that you should be really proud of.
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GhettoSpiritMedium
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“I’m getting seriously tired of saving your life.”
OMG THOSE LONG REVIEWS END MY GHETTO REVIEWING ASS :hellyeah:
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There's nothing a shadowhunter can't do in heels.
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SnazzyShadeEmily
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They said I wasn't good enough for television. How do you like me now, voices in my head?
I thought id go deep since theres only 2!
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TheCheetahwings
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I'm A Dead Bitch Baby!
help the length :imfine:
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I wasn’t prepared for you.
For wanting something.


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When you walk into the room. You pull me close and we start to move
And we're spinning with the stars above. And you lift me up in a wave of love
Ooh, baby, do you know what that's worth? Ooh heaven is a place on earth
They say in heaven love comes first. We'll make heaven a place on earth

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shiley740
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"This isn't over...this isn't over by a long shot!"
DESTROY EVERY1 W/ THOSE ESSAYS ALEC :hellyeah:
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SnazzyShadeEmily
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They said I wasn't good enough for television. How do you like me now, voices in my head?
The suspense of them reading them is killing me!
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Cman710
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T'CHALLA OF WAKANDA
Wow Alec thank you so much for all your commnents and I'm so happy you enjoyed it so much. I definitely understand your issues with it as well.
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GUARDIAN OF WAKANDA

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WRITERS UNLEASHED: SEASON 1 WINNER
MEMBER OF THE YEAR & NICEST MEMBER OF THE YEAR
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Kevin R.
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Yes. Now for Alec and Taylor.
Regarding the dialogue, I kept it to a minimum deliberately, outside of Hans and Leona's speech during the ritual. I knew it wasn't my strong suit, so I figured I'd play to my strengths.

With Hans' disappearance, I was trying to imply that he wasn't quite human -- that he was some kind of messenger of the witches' god(s), or a spirit of some kind. One thing I could've done better would've been to have Hans not producing an empty wallet and scraps of food like the rest of the coven, to show that he was "different", somehow.

And yeah, it seems that mass pandemonium is kind of my thing. I ought to write a disaster movie.
Edited by Kevin R., Jan 16 2016, 09:53 PM.
KEEP AMERICA GREAT

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Writers Unleashed Season 1: Runner-Up

My blog: Kevin's Review Catalogue
All reviews, A-Z
Latest review: Assassin's Creed (2016)
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Matty
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If you're really doing this, I want to help.
Those essays ate my butt and stuff

I noted to chris that it gave me a horrorland/the devils carnival tea
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I’ve been recruiting for the Rebellion for a long time.
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