[Athelstone]

 Welcome and timetable

Welcome to Surprise. This is a writing opportunity with a challenge and just the merest hint of competition. At the end there will be winning entries, chosen by all of you who take part. Most of all, everybody who takes part will have worked to produce a short story and hopefully risen to the challenge. If you stick with it, you will also read every entry and go through the (enjoyable) struggle of picking those that you like best.

Theme

The theme this year is Surprise. I would like a short story which includes a major surprise for one or more protagonist. The surprise will be a core feature and shape it in a significant manner.

At this point I want to distinguish between a surprise and a twist. Generally, a twist is a type of surprise that happens towards the conclusion of a story. It may be intriguing because, for instance, it makes the reader reflect on all that has occurred so far. There may be humour, irony, tragedy and so on. That isn’t what I have in mind by a surprise. By all means make your story as twisty as you want, but there should be one major surprise somewhere in the story for which we see we actually see the consequences unfold: how it is dealt with for instance.

An example: our protagonist Sam has a cat called Furball that goes missing. She finds him but then when his chip is scanned during a routine vet appointment a year later, it turns out not to be Furball. How does she deal with this? What are the consequences? The cat is actually Fireball, but the real owner has neglected to notify a change of address*. The surprise is the mistaken identification. A twist might be discovering later that Fireball’s owner has been looking after Furball having made a similar mistake.

That’s it really.

Except that it lasts all the way through to the end of March next year. Some of you will undoubtedly find that this seems like a long time. For others the time will fly by, and you will struggle to complete a story or to make your choices in time.

I’m a little late getting started this year. My apologies.

 

Taking Part

 

What to do now: if you would like to take part, then 1) join this group. If you’re reading this, you’ve joined. 2) read the post CHOICES and when you’re ready, post your own choices as a reply. That’s it—done—you’re in.

 

Rules

There are a few rules and guidelines. See the topic RULES.

By and large, the aim is to enjoy the challenge of writing, reading and judging. This means that the rules are meant to guide you through the process and start everybody at the same point. Some of the rules may be subject to interpretation. If you find yourself wondering, put a post in the topic Q AND A so that everybody has the opportunity to consider the point. Where I am uncertain myself, particularly on one of those occasions when it seems a good idea to bend a rule, then I will suggest a way forward and consult all of you for advice. In the end if there is a decision to be made then it will be my decision.

There may be some more surprising rules and guidelines to wrap your heads around when the theme is revealed.

 

Choices

Choices are going to be a surprise. See the topic CHOICES.

Voting

When writing is over and all the stories are posted your job is to complete your reading of all the entries, pick your favourite three and send your choices to me in a PM. You will pick a first, second and third placed entry. See the topic VOTING.

 

Last things

The bit about the group being closed means that nobody except members of the group will be able to see the entries. There is no prize on offer beyond the respect of your peers. This is not a competition – it is a challenge to produce a short story. They are not published by being posted here and the privacy of this group should pretty-well satisfy that requirement.

 

Late entries to the group will be admitted providing all the same rules are observed. A late entrant will be required to make choices before admission is confirmed.

 

There’s a timetable. It goes like this:

The timetable:

Now 2026

Challenge Begins. You join this group and make some choices.

 

24 November 2026

Group goes Private at 22:00 UK time. If you’ve joined and chosen then you’re in. I’ll reveal a bit more so you can start writing.

 

28 February 2027

Writing stops by 22:00 UK time and (hopefully) you have posted an entry. At this point you have a limited time to finish any reading and get your votes to me.

 

27 March 2027

Done. Voting concludes by 22:00 UK time and my job is to sort the votes into places.

 

28 March 2027

I announce the results. If all votes are in before then I may announce the results early.

 

* it is an offence under English law not to have a cat chipped AND to keep the registered address up to date.  Rome free you cats in other parts of the British Isles.

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