The winners have been announced and 3 stories are legible on-line.
So that the rest of us don't feel that we've been working in a vacuum, I suggest that we all share our stories with each other. Mine is entitled "Spaghetti Blues"and can be read here:
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/profile/emilie-van-damm/work/587800f8387140752b8b4569
I invite you all to post links to your own entries here.
I KNOW that I'm biased, because they're personal friends, but I honestly feel that Emilie's and Jimmy's stories knock 2 of the 3 winners into a cocked hat. They each treat a tragic situation (AND the prompting painting) with a touch of dark humour. (I can't help wondering if the organisers were offended by that.) I can't opine on the other 7 on the shortlist, because their stories are invisible to us... and, I suspect, will remain so.
I have to admit that I was surprised when I read the shortlist. Not a single name that I recognised from this web-site. No Lorraine Swoboda, no Helen Jones, no Jimmy Hollis i Dickson, no Emilie van Damm, no Clare Williams, no Victoria Fielding, no Paul Garside... well, NOBODY that I recognised.
The rules state that
"No purchase necessary, but entrants must be registered on www.writersandartists.co.uk"
Now, I realise that this might have been a tactic by W&As to attract new, quality membership. And it seems to have worked! Except for one little detail...
Let's look at that shortlist:
The Visit by Toni Allen
Last Man Standing by Jen Falkner
After The Dark by James Hatton
Stars by Liam Hogan
Homeland by Katherine Mezzacappa
A Mother Whale Lifts Her Head by Jeanne Panfley
A Good Thing by Megan Parker
Mountain Ash by Nicole Pearson
The Man With No Shadow by Stephanie Percival
The Seventh Sense by Dee Takemoto
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I have taken the trouble of carrying out a search on this site of those members. In order not to bore you, I will not name them one by one and recite their statistics. It's a LOT easier than that. Of those ten members, 8 share the following traits:
a) They are all Level 0.
b) None of them has uploaded an avatar.
c) None of them has bothered to give ANY information on their profiles.
d) None of them have "shared works" on this site.
e) I would guess - though I have no proof - that none of them has ever taken an active part on this web-site, aside from registering in order to submit to this competition.
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Furthermore, I have googled some of the names. Some searches have resulted in typical generic "find out about Bloofah Hambroughlingham on LinkIn". some are already published writers. One name is that of a character on a television series.
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Now to the 2 exceptions to the above list:
Jeanne Panfley (first runner-up) is not a member of this site.
Jen Falkner (tied for first prize) is not a member of this site.
Now, since you HAD to be registered on this site in order to submit to this competition, and since the winners were to be notified by e-mail, I can only conclude that J&J did sign up, but as soon as they'd won their prizes, they pissed off, leaving all bona fide, active members of this site empty-handed.
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I shall be posting a new Q&A with this information.
Only 3 stories (from the Firewords competition) have been "shared" so far, but those 3 have SUCH a variety of styles. It's very interesting to see how the same (pictorial) prompt can inspire 3 writers to write in 3 so different styles and genres.
Waiting impatiently to read what others have made of the prompt!