Writing Contest! (ANNOUNCED WINNERS)

Writing Contest! (CLOSED)
Winners Announced here

This is a visual prompt contest!

Top 3 winners will receive a 500$ Amazon Card each (or something of equal value if you're not able to redeem it).

Top 3 runner ups will receive Custom Art from me as if it was a commission (rules for the commission on bottom). This comes with a plea for patience, as I work full time on Wolvden and Lioden - possibly 2-3 months to complete.

Whole top 20 (including Top 3 winners and runner ups) will receive smaller Amazon Gift Cards (50$) or other online gifts they'd like which we can discuss.

If you choose so, the gift card prizes can be converted into GC by me buying it legitimately from Wolvden and trading with you.

Everyone’s entries will be linked and shared for exposure as well - here in main post after winners are announced, and on my art blog. I could separate them into sections :D

The story you write will belong to you and will not be used anywhere by me. This contest is for fun only.

PROMPT:

RULES:

MAIN RULE: The entry has to describe the scene involving the visual prompt in your own interpretion.
1. One entry per person.
2. Minimum 500 words. 1500 words max.
3. The story doesn't have to have a scary twist or have a horror theme. It is up to your interpretation. All within Wolvden's rules - no explicit descriptions allowed.
4. You can describe any time before, during or after the prompt (or all of them).
5. You can describe more characters than the prompt involves, however that particular scene depicts only two wolf characters in that specific moment.
6. The story has to be posted in this thread by the author only (we cannot accept posting for somebody outside of Wolvden). You can post whole story here in a post. You also CAN post it via link to another writing website (like Ao3, tumblr, fanficion net, wattpad etc).
7. The story has to be posted by 11:59 pm on 25th December. The post stamp has to be at any time after this thread goes live and before the ending time.
8. You can write from 1st person perspective, or 3rd, or whatever you wish.
9. You are allowed to resign from any or specific reward if you wish to not win anything or win something specific only. Include that note in your post.
10. Winners will be announced in January or February depending on the amount of entries and time needed to read them all. They will be contacted via Wolvden PM system.
11. You can absolutely post your entry everywhere on social media, blogs etc. I don't mind if you ever publish it yourself for profit, non-profit, etc. I gain nothing from this other than fun <3 It would be very kind of you to mention this contest here was the reason for writing it though! :D If you ever want to include my prompt art on your social media etc, please PM me for permission as it depends on the website!
12. The story belongs to you entirely and is your intellectual copyright.
13. Players who joined Wolvden after November 30th, and aren't active in the game other than the contest participation, will be disqualified.
14. You can edit your entry any time but remember it will be public! Any edits after the end time will mean your entry will be disqualified.

WINNING CRITERIA:
1. Unique and captivating story. Do not copy other people's works. You can be inspired by something, but it'd be awesome if you wrote what was your inspiration so that everyone can research and enjoy it as well, understand some references, etc.
2. Your writing skill has to be easy to read by this non-native speaker from Poland - No leet speak, jumbled grammar, proper punctuation. It has to be coherent like a short story would. I don't mind any dialogue format, like " or - for speech.
3. Your ability to paint a rich visual in reader's head. I will share my favourite stories with my friends and discuss, be the story/book writer you always talk about with your own friends :D
4. Whole story - introduction, middle and end. Tell us about something from your heart rather than a cold documentary.
5. Preferably characters with distinguishable personalities, unless the essence of your story is revolving around something else, this can be skipped.
6? This doesn't have to be Tolkien skill level of writing, also minor typos and grammar issues probably won't be even noticed.

I already feel terrible not everyone can win but hopefully everyone will have fun ;0; and that includes reading each others stories.

I have been debating on this for a long time - first I wanted to celebrate PS5 release, but they sold out and it all got weird. It would be also difficult to organize PS5 deliveries across the world with the current situation. I figured I will settle on something simple and universal which will not violate personal data in any way - gift cards. In my head it is still a celebration of gaming and I would love if you spent rewards on yourselves, like buying a PS5 or something - but you can do whatever you want with the rewards in the end. I just think you could spoil and relax yourselves in this stressful time. <3

I think it's hard to give writers exposure, unlike visual art which you can appreciate with a glance or two and continue scrolling, writing takes time and investment by the reader to dive in. I will happily link your writing portfolios in the full list of participants if you include that in your entry as well!

IMPORTANT INFO: This contest is a personal contest held by me and it is not associated with Wolvden itself. (I can post it here with permission from Abbey and Kitty to spread the love in Wolvden community <3). I am not sponsored by any company or person other than myself. All rewards are purchased by me (or a helper from another country if things are complicated where you live) and/or will be drawn by me.

Custom Art prize information:
1. Contact from me via PM for details. If no response after a month, you will forfeit the prize.
2. Estimated completion time (starting from agreement on the content of the art) is 2-3 months.
3. Size no bigger than 2k
4. No backgrounds. I can do something subtle though like texturing, shapes, patterns etc.
5. No NSFW etc. Anything that you would be able to post on Wolvden, basically.
6. The content can be a character or multiple characters, but more than 5 at once is probably not doable due to time limits.
7. I can try multiple of art styles, we can agree on something together.
8. It can be sketch, lineart, colour, shading, your choice.
9. It can be a character sheet, portrait, full body, specific pose, dynamic shot, your choice.
10. I would like to avoid architecture or some other potential subjects that are time consuming, for example, Bumblebee from transformers with full detail ;'D although depends on art style you choose.
11. If you will be unhappy with art/wips/progress I can offer a compensation of a 100$ gift card and links to other talented artists that I consider of similar art education or better. I will not be able to offer buying a commission from another artist, though, sorry.
12. If your commission will make me uncomfortable due to subject / personal matter, I will inform you and perhaps we can come to some other agreement.
13. Obviously commission means we have to discuss all content together and both be happy with the idea, wips and progress.

I ended up writing a lot more than I thought I would, I have written anything in quite a few years, but I had fun with this :D 
"The Beast"
By Sebathiel #24855

Amongst the vast plains, there was a large pack of wolves. They roamed the landscape freely and needn’t worry about food nor predators. They had lived in those lands for many, many moon rotations, just as their ancestors before them.

As time went on however, they started seeing less and less prey and they began to hear whispers from nearby packs of a great beast living within a land of death, bringing about suffering to those whom it comes across. They said that this great beast would travel to lands surrounding in order to consume the prey that lived there, as there was no living thing amongst the dark land it claimed as it’s own.

As more prey started to vanish, the pack grew restless, worried what this would mean for them. They hadn’t had to worry about a decline in prey in many years, fights started to break out within the pack as they grew hungry. As the neighboring packs disappeared one by one, so to did the members of the pack. Every sunrise they would find another wolf gone without a trace.

Eventually the once large pack was down to just two wolves. The first was a large wolf whom spent much of his time tracking and taking down large creatures to sustain the pack. He boasted of strength so great that he swore he would find and take on the great beast whom had caused the lands of his ancestors to become nothing more than a shadow of it’s former self. The second, a much smaller wolf, thought the larger wolf was foolish and wished to leave the plains in order to find new lands that they could live in without fear of this great beast.

The large wolf was not pleased that the smaller wolf would sooner give up their homeland than go and find the beast. He tried to convince the wolf that finding the beast would be better, that they could avenge their missing packmates and restore the plains back to how it once was. The small wolf would not listen however, he knew that this beast was not something they could face. The larger wolf quickly grew angry with him and resorted to using violence to get his way, still trying to get the other wolf to travel with him to fight the beast.

The smaller wolf knew the other would not give up anytime soon, so he agreed to accompany him on his journey to find the beast. As they set out to find the lands of darkness and death that the previous packs had spoken about, they both turned back to face their home one last time before leaving to find the beast.

They traveled for many days, leaving the plains and watching as there became more and more trees, becoming more forested the farther away from the plains they got. They were traveling at a quick pace through the forest, nothing was said between them, the smaller wolf was still quite apprehensive about the larger wolf’s plan.

As they continued on, the landscape started to shift once more, becoming barren and filled with more and more dead trees. The larger wolf was filled with determination as he thought they were getting closer.

As if a line had been drawn in the land, the forest suddenly stopped and the two wolves were faced with an open clearing. Across the clearing they could see a vast lake of dead trees with a large being towering over them. The larger wolf glowers at the being before charging forward, ignoring the call of the smaller wolf. The being turned towards them, hearing the smaller wolf trying to stop the larger one and glares down at the large wolf. The large wolf froze up as he approached the beast, unable to believe what he was seeing. The smaller wolf slowly walked forward, far more cautious than his packmate. The beast slowly leaned down to height of the wolves, breaking trees as it went.

“What do you seek to accomplish by coming here, small wolves? I shall give you three chances to ask what you wish, but do not ask a fourth, this is your only warning.” The beast growled, the trees shaking at it’s powerful voice.

The large wolf nodded his head once, not paying attention to the smaller wolf shaking his head at him. He steps forward, trying to appear as bold as he would as if he was about to simply take down a rabbit. “Oh great beast.” He begins, thinking of questions he could ask. “Why did you eat all the animals in our land?” He asks, curious as to why it couldn’t find a different place to feed.
“I was hungry.” The great beast rumbles. “Would you not find food if you needed to eat?” He finishes, looking at the wolf expectantly.
“You could have found any other land to get your food from!” The large wolf claims in anger. The beast looked at him blankly, not responding to the wolf’s outburst.

“Fine.” The wolf grumbles under his breath. “Now that there are no animals in our land, where do you expect us to eat? We can’t just give up our home!” He shouts up to the creature. The beast tilts it’s head at the wolf “What makes you think I will let you just leave now that you have entered my lands?” It asks, bringing it’s head closer to the wolf as it does so. “What?! Why?!” Shouts the larger wolf, realizing a second too late that he had asked four questions by mistake. The beast grinned at him before swallowing him whole.

The beast then turned to the smaller wolf whom had watched what had just happened. “Well?” The beast said with a grin. “Are you going to question me like your friend did?” it asked while leaning towards the small wolf. “No.” The small wolf said while shaking his head. “I would simply like to leave this place alive and find a new place to live.”.

“Very well, I will allow you to leave on the condition that when you join a pack, you tell them about what you witnessed, let the other wolves know of my power.” The beast growls, standing back to it’s full height. The small wolf simply turned around and ran off, not sparing a look back at the beast whom had eaten his pack.

It is said that this wolf still wanders the lands, never joining any pack or staying in one place for too long, not wanting to spread word of the great beast. If he is asked about why he didn’t ask questions like his packmate had, the only thing he says is “Best not to act foolishly in the defense of a land already lost to a great power, it is better to think wisely and find a solution to let you live without chains and false promises of freedom.”

1,407 words later I think I got carried away with this XD I was not expecting to write this much and I haven't wrote anything in months so I hope its ok 

''Wraith'' 

Also I hope that link works and I hope its in view only mode lol

Well this was fun!! I ended up writing around 2000 words so I had to shorten it a bit :pensive:

"To Protect The Weak and Those Who May Be Alone in The Untamed Forest"

Formatting may be wonky, but this was fun!!

notes: names are warrior-cat like and seasons mentioned are

no-leaf : winter

falling-leaf: autumn/fall

and fun fact: not including the title and my name the entire thing is 1489 words long

EDIT: My inspiration simply came from the image. Many beasts may look scary but may not have such a scary presence, like the Long Horse created by Trevor Henderson

thank you for the opportunity! here's the link to my entry. i'm quite rusty when it comes to writing, heh. hope you like it.

also, nice icon, xy :3c

Wow already some entries!! Can't wait to read, thank you so much for participating!

Reserving a spot! This is going to be very fun :)

Saving me a spot... this seems so cool!

ooo! this sounds interesting :0c

Reserving ;D