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Some really good stories were written for the contest this time around, but there were even more good stories that were NOT written.

These are the ones that were chosen and squandered:

1) A story involving a dangerous hunting competition.
3) A story involving dinosaurs.
4) A story about an underwater adventure. 
6) A story where the protagonist has a dangerous addiction or obsession.
8) A story written in the epistolary style (Told through journal entries or letters). 
10) A story that starts with receiving a letter or call from someone you thought was dead. 
12) A story involving trying to survive some sort of disaster while also protecting/saving at least one loved one. 
13) A story about a pacifist protagonist. 
14) A story involving a major festival within the fairy world. 
15) A story involving playing as a bigoted superhero. 
19) A story about a siege. This can be from the attackers or defenders (or both) point of view. 
22) A story involving a literally retarded protagonistm
23) A story where you’re the last of your kind (Doesn’t need to be human). 
24) A story about being a cartographer hired to map out an unexplored area. 
26) A story about being the leader of a post apocalyptic gang.
29) A story about a homemaker protagonist while their significant other leaves for battle for extended periods of time (Soldier, raider, merc, etc). 
30) A story about founding a new religion. 
31) A story involving a war between two galactic super powers fighting over planet Earth (Humans are the “primitives” caught in the middle) 
32) A story involving a retired villain (Not looking for redemption, just trying to enjoy retirement or at least semi-retirement) 
33) A story about being a traveling merchant. 
34) A story about an abominable horror has come to a small town and that horror is YOU. 
35) A story about rebuilding after a war. PerforatedPenguin (500 point bet) 
36) A story about a race to acquire a valuable resource. 
37) A story involving an established myth/legend (Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Arthurian, etc) and do whatever you want with it. 
38) A story involving tales from the Bible and do whatever you want with it. (Do not simply use the Book of Mormon for this fanfic) 
40) A story set during a nuclear winter on Earth. 
41) A story about joining a cult. 
43) A story set during a holiday (Any of them)
44) A story set in a strange isolated motel. 
45) A story with a based centaur protagonist. 
48) A story involving sports of some kind. (Real or fictional and in any capacity: Player, coach, ref, mascot, cheerleader, etc) 
49) A story involving an uncharted planet (Colonizing it, exploring it, crashing into it, etc) 
50) A story about having cancer and trying to check off a bucket list before you die. Also make this into a game with a scoring system. (It’s cancer, just have fun with it!) 


Some of these have really made the rounds through multiple contests, never yet finding the author who would adopt them to their forever home. But I can see potential in most in them and I'm just curious which you see as the best or worst and why. In fact pick the three that you'd most like to see written about.

My top three picks would be:

13) A story about a pacifist protagonist.
Honestly Sherb's story kinda fits what I would want from this, though.

24) A story about being a cartographer hired to map out an unexplored area.
I would absolutely love to write an open-world futuristic sci-fi story about someone hired to map out an "unexplored" area that's the ruins of a modern day city. Y'know, if I could convince myself to write outside of a contest and didn't already have more ideas than time.

49) A story involving an uncharted planet (Colonizing it, exploring it, crashing into it, etc)
I think it'd be fun to create an entire planet, though it'd also be incredibly complicated if you really got into it. Still, a well-written story for this prompt would be a really fun read.

Hey, I got a pacifist protagonist ;)

The Backup protag turned out to be a pacifist, pretty much.

Spoilers! I'll get to yours.

I think out of all of these, the ones I'd personally be most likely to select for myself would be 44, 29, and 6.

The ones I'd most want to read about, though, would be 22, 10, and 29 (I like 29).

1.) Dangerous addiction/obsession
2.) Founding a religion
3.) Epistolary style

1) A story involving a dangerous hunting competition brings things to mind like The Hunger Games or The Most Dangerous Game. A fan fiction of either stories isn't really desirable, but using those as inspiration and running with it would be fine. Alternatively, going a Predator-esque route and making the protagonist an alien hunter that is competing to see who can slaughter the most dangerous beast could be entertaining as well.

 

29) A story about a homemaker protagonist while their significant other leaves for battle for extended periods of time (Soldier, raider, merc, etc). I feel like this holds so much potential for a quieter, introspective story that really can delve into a realistic scenario that plays out every day. Personally, if I felt comfortable writing in the historical fiction genre this would be a huge allure. Reminds me a bit of the Little Women plot. So the American Civil War or WWII might be stand out time periods to set this--though any war would do. 

 

50) A story about having cancer and trying to check off a bucket list before you die. Also make this into a game with a scoring system. (It’s cancer, just have fun with it!)  This can go so many directions-- make it a dark comedy that's blissfully apathetic, a drama that delves into the range of emotions that such a diagnosis may come with, or a tragedy with failure at every turn. Definitely depends on the writer. Truly limitless potential with this one, though I actually think the scoring system may be its biggest detriment for being chosen in a time-sensitive competetion. (Yes, I know the deadlines are absurdly long but look at the low turn out despite that). This also reminds me of a Johnny Depp movie--I just don't recall the name.

 

Truthfully, though, all of these have potential in the right hands. Just a matter of getting the attention of the right writer at the right time. If they finish it, that is.

Love this question. Like you said, a lot of these prompts are genuinely interesting, and they’re broad enough that you can take them in a thousand directions. For me, I’m always drawn to stories that have emotional depth or philosophical meaning. If a story can create growth for the character and make the reader reflect a little too, that’s usually the stuff that sticks with me.

 

34) A story about an abominable horror has come to a small town and that horror is YOU

This one stood out to me the most. I love the idea of a protagonist who’s seen as a monster, not because they are one, but because of how they look or because of stories and lies that spread about them. You could go full tragic figure with it. Something like Grendel or Hunchback of Notre Dame. The kind of character who was already broken before the story even started, and now it’s up to the reader to choose whether to burn the world down or try to be something more. It’s the kind of setup where the player’s choices could change everything for the town and the character alike. I’d love something like that. So much potential, so much symbolic weight, so much joy. 

30) A story about founding a new religion

This has a lot of room for creativity and meaning. You could go spiritual, philosophical, or dark depending on how you write it. It’s a great excuse to weave in moral questions and societal critique. Or even just watch how a person’s ego can get out of control when people start calling them a prophet. Could also be hilarious if done right. Whether the character is sincere, insane, or completely drunk on power, there’s so much potential here.

 

6) A story where the protagonist has a dangerous addiction or obsession

I love this prompt because you could use it to show something serious in a creative and entertaining way. Addiction stories can be really powerful when done right. You could explore food addiction, alcoholism, or something more out there, like the need for control or perfection. If written right, it could change how someone sees others with addictions or even how they see and process their own, something to give a more nuanced understanding of addictions and ones abilities to cope with it. You could go deep on this one. 

 

Honourable Mentions

15) A story involving playing as a bigoted superhero

This has potential to be hilarious, dark, and uncomfortable all at once. Most writers couldn't pull this off but if someone can walk that line, it could expose all kinds of hypocrisy and delusion in a way that hits home. Think of someone worse than Homelander, but without self-awareness, and let the reader live in their head.

49) A story involving an uncharted planet

You could do some really cool interstellar/Arrival style stuff with this prompt. Although i think it'd be hard to execute.

40) A story set during a nuclear winter on Earth. 

This is so broad (and everyone thinks these types of plots are cool lets be honest) you could do almost anything with this. Tension and themes of survival are constants though which make it seem so alluring to me. 

6) A story where the protagonist has a dangerous addiction or obsession.
This one sounds like it would be very fun.

8) A story written in the epistolary style (Told through journal entries or letters).
This one doesn't sound like it could make for a very lengthy story, but could be fun in a shorter one.

15) A story involving playing as a bigoted superhero.
Hello based department? This was made for me.

22) A story involving a literally retarded protagonist
Lmao, this one sounds hilarious.

34) A story about an abominable horror has come to a small town and that horror is YOU.
Fucking amazing prompt right here.

50) A story about having cancer and trying to check off a bucket list before you die. Also make this into a game with a scoring system. (It’s cancer, just have fun with it!)
> it's cancer, just have fun with it

Yeah this is more than 3 but I like all of these. If I gotta pick 3 it's 15, 34, 22 in that order.

A story set during a holiday (43) is actually incredibly versatile. There are plenty of holidays to pick from. Or you could just make a fantasy world that has a holiday that's all about whatever you want it to be lol. It's practically a free pass to write whatever you want.

I also love the cancer prompt (50), it's right up my alley of dramatic/wholesome. There's potential for a lot of emotion with that one. Or breaking bad fanfic... whatever you prefer. XD

Ones I'd find most interesting to read and maybe write about:

• 22) A story involving a literally retarded protagonist - It'd be a really fun exercise in narration and dialogue to try and make it feel like said protagonist's own thoughts.
• 32) A story involving a retired villain - I'm mostly curious whether people opted into making that villain the protagonist, antagonist or a side character since the prompt doesn't specify and all are viable. I've got ideas for both the protagonist and antagonist options already.
• 50) A story about having cancer and trying to check off a bucket list before you die. Also make this into a game with a scoring system. (It’s cancer, just have fun with it!) - There's so many possibilities there and I think I'm gonna try for it during the next contest since I have a general idea how I would structure that game, but it'd be a longer project.

Also wasn't 46 your prompt? Technically you did finish the game even if it had half a cooking contest in it. Still I could see myself making a Shokugeki no Souma style short game to actually write something not serious and grim for once.

Oh, missed that one when I was trimming the list, must have been subconscious.

Once could argue that since the actual contest scene in your game consisted of like 2 pages and wasn't even finished properly the prompt shouldn't be counted (I'm assuming the first half isn't supposed to be the contest), but those are technicalities.

I guess I really didn't use 37 to the fullest. I was more drawn to use it more for background/flashback elements and to bring characters to unfamiliar locations. Seemed more interesting than just to do a straightforward representation of the legends, though there is definitely a place for that.

I'm immediately drawn to 23, 30, and 34, and I was going to justify each of these choices individually when I realised how well all three of them would work together as one story. An terrifying, incomprehensible creature from a near-extinct species happens upon a town of people who interpret it as an angry god? Sounds like it could work.

I think an issue with the prompt contests is that sometimes people try to stick too closely to their prompt or can't think of any way to elaborate substantially on the concept, so I wonder if it might be an interesting experiment to do a 'Two-Prompt Contest' where people have to pick two different prompts to create one story with. Y'know, just to finally use up some of these old prompts in a fresh way.

Anyway, 37 is cool too because it would finally let me use my damn degree for something worthwhile.