Celebrate! We Have Winners! Celebrate!
First Place!
vacuity
by
Feind Gottes
Prizes Won!
Vincent Price Award
$50 Gift Card
Publishing Contract for 2018 TT Horror Anthology
Cover & Title of 2018 Horror Anthology
A few comments from the judges about Vacuity!
Genuinely terrifying. Coldly visceral paragraphs stalk the reader relentlessly, just like the killer. A lovely bit of scary prose. Nothing's more unsettling than someone truly crazy off their meds. Would love to read more . . . even if it kept me up all night.--Nancy Gideon
Only one to meet the horror story expectation. Made me want to know what drove her to madness. Good to jump straight into action.--Mark Sandler
Quite compelling. I’m impressed with your stylistic restraint. You let the dramatic subject carry its own weight and resisted embellishment. I especially like the lightly implied sadism of the early part (swinging her arm back and forth) and the ending (…but that would be over too quickly). The chilling implications in both trump the actual event. Far and away, recognizing and under-telling are your strong suit, as in, “a mistake had been made...” My only suggestion is to not let that change. The chorus in your protagonist’s head could easily get out of hand stylistically if you lean too hard on the melodrama. E.g., “Give us blood, give us blood, give us blood!” One sees a herd of zombies staggering mindlessly out of the fog…-Thomas Sullivan
Genuinely terrifying. Coldly visceral paragraphs stalk the reader relentlessly, just like the killer. A lovely bit of scary prose. Nothing's more unsettling than someone truly crazy off their meds. Would love to read more . . . even if it kept me up all night.--Nancy Gideon
Only one to meet the horror story expectation. Made me want to know what drove her to madness. Good to jump straight into action.--Mark Sandler
Quite compelling. I’m impressed with your stylistic restraint. You let the dramatic subject carry its own weight and resisted embellishment. I especially like the lightly implied sadism of the early part (swinging her arm back and forth) and the ending (…but that would be over too quickly). The chilling implications in both trump the actual event. Far and away, recognizing and under-telling are your strong suit, as in, “a mistake had been made...” My only suggestion is to not let that change. The chorus in your protagonist’s head could easily get out of hand stylistically if you lean too hard on the melodrama. E.g., “Give us blood, give us blood, give us blood!” One sees a herd of zombies staggering mindlessly out of the fog…-Thomas Sullivan
Second Place!
Subject Seven
by
Jay Michael Wright, II
Prizes Won
$25 Gift Card
Publishing Contract for 2018 TT Horror Anthology
A Few Comments From the Judges About Subject Seven!
Nothing like the countdown of a ticking clock (or passing floors) to get the adrenaline pumping! High tension, palpable fear and visually satisfying with its off-screen (or page) threat seen through the eyes of a craven underling. Excellent set up. Only minor errors in the text and some mood-suppressing passive prose keeps this from being #1.
Very nice!-Nancy Gideon
Held up well and built an expectation of things to come. Science fiction is making a comeback so holds promise. Good hook.--Mark Sandler
You have a finely developed sense of drama, and a conversational style that makes it flow. It’s the kind of style that comes about from watching more than your share of visual dramas – film or TV or computer games. But none of those mediums convey the written word or the problems thereof in a script or a book. Now I’m sure you’ve read your share of books and stories too, but I think your instincts are much more visual. Not sure my point will be clear to you, but I think if you read each of your sentences for its stand-alone logic, you’ll pick up on some of the over-wroughtness and problems with literal clarity. For what it’s worth, you are probably a good script writer. All of this said,
you have a solid idea here.--Thomas Sullivan
Nothing like the countdown of a ticking clock (or passing floors) to get the adrenaline pumping! High tension, palpable fear and visually satisfying with its off-screen (or page) threat seen through the eyes of a craven underling. Excellent set up. Only minor errors in the text and some mood-suppressing passive prose keeps this from being #1.
Very nice!-Nancy Gideon
Held up well and built an expectation of things to come. Science fiction is making a comeback so holds promise. Good hook.--Mark Sandler
You have a finely developed sense of drama, and a conversational style that makes it flow. It’s the kind of style that comes about from watching more than your share of visual dramas – film or TV or computer games. But none of those mediums convey the written word or the problems thereof in a script or a book. Now I’m sure you’ve read your share of books and stories too, but I think your instincts are much more visual. Not sure my point will be clear to you, but I think if you read each of your sentences for its stand-alone logic, you’ll pick up on some of the over-wroughtness and problems with literal clarity. For what it’s worth, you are probably a good script writer. All of this said,
you have a solid idea here.--Thomas Sullivan
Third Place!
Belladonna
by
amanda Mabry
Prizes Won
$10 Gift Card
Possible Publishing Contract for 2018 TT Horror Anthology
A few comments from the judges about Belladonna:
Solid creep factor with the passive/aggressive Peter panting for his S&M dream come true (which one hopes will become his nightmare!). Taking the darkness a level deeper than the expected handcuffs and submission by adding a subtle shiver of anxiety/fear to Peter's perv euphoria would notch up the complexity and interest.--Nancy Gideon
Southern-style language and pedophilia brings Kevin Spacey to mind a little too much. It definitely had a draw to it, like you can't turn away even though you know you should.--Mark Sandler
Eat your heart out, 50 Shades of Grey. You use some sophisticated ways of getting the back story in here, and for my tastes, it generally works. However, whenever style emerges as strongly as content, you’ll find you lose some readers and gain others. It’s a quality of language issue, and what resonates poetically with one reader may seem cumbersome to another. That said, you do keep on track with putting information forward in a variety of ways. I like the pace with which you introduce the erotic tension, and then you tie it all up with a neat bow by quitting the scene and getting into the car.--Thomas Sullivan
Solid creep factor with the passive/aggressive Peter panting for his S&M dream come true (which one hopes will become his nightmare!). Taking the darkness a level deeper than the expected handcuffs and submission by adding a subtle shiver of anxiety/fear to Peter's perv euphoria would notch up the complexity and interest.--Nancy Gideon
Southern-style language and pedophilia brings Kevin Spacey to mind a little too much. It definitely had a draw to it, like you can't turn away even though you know you should.--Mark Sandler
Eat your heart out, 50 Shades of Grey. You use some sophisticated ways of getting the back story in here, and for my tastes, it generally works. However, whenever style emerges as strongly as content, you’ll find you lose some readers and gain others. It’s a quality of language issue, and what resonates poetically with one reader may seem cumbersome to another. That said, you do keep on track with putting information forward in a variety of ways. I like the pace with which you introduce the erotic tension, and then you tie it all up with a neat bow by quitting the scene and getting into the car.--Thomas Sullivan
To All Who Entered, A Special Thanks!
The editors here at TT appreciate your fine efforts and salute your ethusiasm and creative spirit! Please try again next year! Though we were not able to give extensive feedback on all entries as we narrowed down the finalists for the judges to evaluate, as there were so many this year, we did try to offer at least a few words of advice to help you in your future revision and continued writing adventures. Thank you all! There were no losers here!
Thank You, Judges!
We here at Tell-Tale LOVE our judges and appreciate all their hard work and dedication to writers and the writing community as a whole. It is especially wonderful to have them take time from their busy schedules and encourage and offer a few tips of advice to fellow writers. Contestants have always been most appreciative of the notes we are able to pass along to them from the judges, offering both praise and specific recommendations for areas of improvement that enable them to revise and ehance their works even further. Thank you again! Here's to our talented winners AND to our hard-working judges! Click the button to see what the judges are up to now, and for those who are readers, which always incudes authors--go buy some of their current books!