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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.

These aren't necessarily the three I like the best (I failed the assignment), but they are the three I was thinking about while reading these comments:

*6 (dangerous addiction or obsession) has so much potential for deviancy. It would also work for a vampire story. Or, if the author is brave enough, a deviant vampire story (although perhaps the phrase is redundant).

*As for 38 (Bible), I've always wondered about a story set from Judas' perspective. There are lots of ways you could go. Maybe with twist that he wasn't just greedy, or controlled by demons, but rather was asked with doing the very necessary, but revolting task of betraying his friend and mentor. What if he never wanted to betray Jesus, but he had no choice (for without his betrayal, how could humanity be saved)? I don't know, maybe there's a story in there somewhere. There would be problem with trying to figure out how to navigate the fact that Jesus knew the betrayal was coming, so why would Judas feel guilty about it? But who said Judas had to know that Jesus knew? And maybe Judas doesn't necessarily believe the source that informed him he had to betray Jesus? (Yes, I know this would rustle the jimmies of fundamentalists who don't want to consider Judas Iscariot in any light except a greedy traitor who is burning in Hell, but I mean, does his motive really matter, at the end of the day? Sure, he got paid, but what if he took the money just to make sure the people conspiring with him didn't doubt him? It doesn't really matter, theologically speaking, IMHO).

Of course, you could go in another direction too. Maybe Judas starts as a believer in Jesus and is slowly influenced away from him (maybe Satan, maybe pagans, who knows). Or maybe he was a spy all along.

But regardless, it would be interesting to see all of these events from Judas' perspective.


*15 has some potential (bigoted superhero). Not only can you start a story with the N-word from the mouth of the protagonist (which I am confident has never been done here), but you could also potentially have the protagonist begin the process of changing by the end. This would work with a western. Maybe the superhero's power is related to cowboy stuff, like shooting, or poker or whatever. Maybe by circumstances he's forced to spend time with an escaped slave or something, and over the course of the story he changes. Yeah, it's been done. But not with a racist who can, say, control space and time enough to make his bullets fire around corners or whatever (at least I don't think)

Well Judas did kill himself afterward, if you're looking at the canon story

Right, but he could still have overwhelming guilt even if he felt it had to be done. Or perhaps he has doubts about whether or not it should have been. For example, say Judas starts off thinking Jesus is a fraud, so he worms his way in and betrays him, but then after the betrayal he starts wondering if Jesus could have helped the Jews throw off the yoke of the Romans, and it by bit he realizes he may have truly killed the messiah, and the one hope for freedom they had (from their perspective; obviously Christians view the messiah as something different, saving us from sin, as opposed to more literal tyranny that the Jews at the time often believed). So, he's a doubter for a long time, but after the deed is done, comes to realize the truth. So, he kills himself feeling he betrayed his own people, because he thought Jesus was a fraud who was bringing too much attention from the Romans. You know, he thinks he's protecting his people, but after the deed, realizes he may have actually helped kill the real messiah, and now his people are doomed.

I don't know, but there is a lot that could be explored by a clever writer.

If it's gonna be a CYOA, then I'd expect there to be paths were Judas doesn't betray Jesus. Considering how important the betrayal and consequent sacrifice of Jesus is to christianity, I'm not entirely sure there'd be a way to pull this off.

Yeah that would be tough. But perhaps with enough choices earlier in the story, you can get to the betrayal part with entirely different motives. One could be for the greater good, and one not. For example, maybe the "greater good" version is where he thinks Jesus is a fraud, and then realizes a couple days later he might not have been -> suicide for destroying hope of freedom. While on the other hand, perhaps the "evil" version involves him coming under the influence of Lucifer/demons, and then once the possession ends (since the demons got what they wanted out of him), then post-betrayal clarity comes and then suicide. No happy endings, of course lol.

Either way that would be a tough one for sure.

EDIT: wait, maybe there is a way for a happy ending—an absurd version. Perhaps the reader makes it so Judas never joins Jesus in the first place, but... and run with me on this one... but someone STEALS HIS IDENTITY, and for whatever reason ends up as a disciple. Then you watch from afar as Judas betrays Jesus XD.



One other way to do this with a happy ending is to actually give you the option to play as a different character. You can choose Judas, or perhaps Simon of Cyrene, and again you watch Jesus' rise from afar, and end up there at the end. However, I don't think you could do, for example, Saint Peter, or someone more prominent. Because you can't choose NOT to, for example, walk out of the boat when Jesus calls. Well, I suppose you could, but I feel like that would ruin the story (unless you're really good, I guess).

I'd probably write it so that if you as Judas attempt to stay loyal and refuse the money, the Pharisees would resort to blackmailing or extorting Judas somehow. Maybe Jesus dies as a martyr one way or another, but your choices decide how badly it goes or something.

I'm gonna need you to step out of the car, stand on one foot and touch you nose here, buddy.

I swear to drunk I'm not God.

Oh this would be so much fun to write from Jesus' perspective.

You could also start from the crucifixion as an opening scene and then branch from there while dealing with consequences of the betrayal and perhaps build on the reasons for it retroactively. That way you can keep the Bible canon mostly intact while making a CYOA with some actual options.

That's true, and it would also introduce opportunities for flashbacks if you wanted, so you could get Judas' perspective for important events, like feeding the five thousand (perhaps after a choice is made, further defining who Judas will be in that branch; maybe a memory after each choice). There are lots of ways to go with it. I hope someone writes it here.

Then make it a movie adaptation. Bring in Martin Scorsese and Willem Dafoe to reprise his role. The Last Temptation of Judas. lol.

Imagine it's a box office success and they have come up with a way to make a sequel.

And the sequel's plot would be Judas assembling a crew to escape hell, complete with an ending that leaves room for a new Biblical Cinematic Universe.

LOL please god let this happen.

Really the bigoted superhero thing has been done a few times. The Boys (comic and TV show) has like several of them. Or I suppose if you want a less edgelord example, The Watchmen also has several of them.

I was going to replace that one, but I guess I might keep it for next year.

I would love to see stories written about #1 the dangerous hunting contest, #40, a story set during a nuclear winter on earth, and #10 a story that starts with you receiving a letter or call from someone you thought dead.

As for stories I would write, probably the sports one since that was mine this time around, and I defaulted on it.