January Write Off Shortlist

Feb 9, 20137 min read

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Published: Feb 9, 2013

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January's Write Off was a big success, with eleven entries and a host of new friends joining the group.

Our admin team has sifted through those entries to produce a shortlist of FOUR worthy winners. They've voted for pieces based on their use of the prompt word, technical ability, creativity and general entertainment value. Here's what they've decided:

Outrageous BazookaThe sun set to the east over the cliffside, but Bazooka had to get these people to safety. A madman stalked them, hunted them like some sick freak. Bazooka smoked his cigar while holding onto the jagged rocks with one bare, bulging arm that defined everything it meant to be a man. It was a good day.
Of course there was Katherine. She was mysterious, a total babe, and just independent enough to be attractive. She didn't question Bazooka but damn, when she grilled him it was sexy. More than anything he wanted to save her from this asshole, who happened to be her coworker. Bazooka forgot what all these people did or why they were out in the middle of nowhere. He just heard the siren call of people in need of a masculine rescue and jumped into his chopper to help.
"Are you sure we should be doing this? I mean, there is a trail over there somewhere. It'll be easier on us than a long climb of a practically sheer rockface," Katherina said. Well, to be fair she was panting, and it was s Survival, No Matter the Expense“Fine morning, isn’t it dear?”
Oliver sipped his tea carefully to make sure it didn’t touch his beard. Not for the sake of the tea, but because the last time the filter drink had touched his hair it turned it white for a week.
His companion had no reply, but then she never did, because she was a plant. Her name was Isabella (although she preferred Mara after a character from the penny dreadfuls she would never admit to reading in the night) and her petals shined an even more vibrant pink this morning than most. A single bead of condensation dripped down her domed glass container. Unlike Oliver she did not need any complicated apparatus to eat or breathe in their cramped seafloor home; she had been designed to live forever on only her own beauty.
“Wish those damned trout would keep it down at night, however.” Oliver automatically reached for his bible to have something to read. It took him a few minutes to realise that he had done so, and he quietly f 'Vacant' by DezmarGreg walked around the small two room living unit. It had little going for it. No wall coverings, a metal floor, one window, and many, many pipes visible in the ceiling. He swiped his ID tag at the door and selected viewing for rent/buy.
The door slide open with a soft hum sound and he step in. From the inside it was clear that the room had all the necessary hook ups for living appliances and even a few others he didn’t recognize. He peaked his head into the Bathroom/Med bay. It was obvious that before being renovated this was meant to be a small emergency Med Lab.
He walked outside and swiped the ID tag again as the door closed and locked. Vacant. He knew that this sorry excuse of a living unit would last long in this neighborhood. It wasn’t priced high enough for it to be ignored, but it wasn’t low enough to make people nervous about it.
He knew he’d buy it eventually but for now he’d need a place to stay. He swiped his ID for a third time and watched th The Nutcase SuiteBarry danced and twirled, the tutu fluttering unenthusiastically above his hairy man legs. Prance, prance, pirouette, he danced across the stage. He wasn’t on top form—even he’d admit it—but this was just a rehearsal. The real performance would come tomorrow night.
Barry was proud to think that he’d worked his way up from the bottom. He’d built the stage. He’d swept it. Soon, he would perform. “Soon,” he said aloud, “I will be a star!”
“Not if you flap your arms around like that, you won’t,” came a voice from the audience.
“Shut up, Craig!” shouted Barry. “You don’t know nothing about nobody! I’m gonna be a superstar ballerina! You’ll see!”
“Fair enough, your footwork’s getting better,” said Craig, more diplomatically, “but you definitely should watch your arms. Move them nicely, gracefully.”
“Like this?”
Craig grimaced.

January 2013’s Shortlist!

All that remains is for you, our dear members, to read these pieces over the next week and vote for your favourite in this poll. Don't feel you have to use our judging criteria or anything - just tell us which you enjoyed the most. Remember that each piece was written in just twenty minutes (although the authors have since had a change to fix minor errors). You have a week to vote, so take your time!

The winner will receive a Premium Subscription from the group. Our admins have fronted most of the cost - but if we receive just 20 more points from the community, we'll give out a three month subscription! All points donated to the writeoffentries account are given out as prizes in Write Off contests. So if you've got a few spare

and want to support this game, then send writeoffentries a little love!

Finally, we want to thank everyone once again for joining the fun. We're hoping to stage another event in the last weekend of February - stay tuned to the writeoffentries Journal (we recommend you Watch the account for updates) and the Weekly Round-ups for more details about that.

We'll be back in a week's time with the winner!