# Anthrofiction Network's Short Story Contest for Winter 2010



## ScottyDM (Oct 9, 2010)

I thought of this theme about four months ago. Honest! It's only pure dumb luck that the winner of the fall contest also happens to be a perfect example of this quarter's theme too. Fortunately, one may not reenter stories once they've been entered in the contest. The rules.

*The theme this quarter is Fractured Fairy Tale*. Remember _The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show_? Yea! Just like that.


So what did WendyKitten do in her story? I asked and she sent me the link to the Russian fairy tale that was her inspiration, _Morozko_. Although I see _Father Frost_ is another variation of that story. Then she wrote her story _Pavla and the Greedy Fox_. All three stories share the same basic characters and plot, but Ms Kitten named her characters and gave them more personality, added the greedy fox (which pulled her story into anthrofiction), changed Father Frost a bit (he's disguised as an owl in part of her story), and she managed to do away the evil stepmother as well as her vain daughter at the end.


I've had plenty of time to do a sample story, but I've not even started it. I had an idea for a plot twist of _Beauty and the Beast_, but now I have a different idea.

As part of a larger project I need to retell a Native American fairy tale from the POV of the traditional villainess--showing that she's been unfairly judged. Sure she transformed into a grizzly bear and attacked her brothers, but they had murdered her husband! A girl can only take so much.

If I can get this tale in good shape before NaNo I'll upload it as an official example for this quarter.


And of course everyone knows that Disney "fractured" _The Little Mermaid_. Disney gave the characters names; changed the sea witch from the role of helpful but overpriced wizard into the #1 villainess (the #1 villain had been circumstances in the original); made the little mermaid's romantic rival the sea witch instead of some random human princess; and then at the end, rather than becoming a spirit of the air, the little mermaid becomes human and she gets her man.


So go thou and do likewise. And have fun, of course. :-D

S~


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## Murphy Z (Oct 10, 2010)

The rules say:



> Feel free to pick any fairy tale  from any culture anywhere in the world, but you must provide a link to the original so I and other readers can compare your version to the original. And the version of the story you link to online must be in English.


 
Can we have a translation into English if the original isn't? The one I have in mind is German.


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## Shouden (Oct 10, 2010)

I have a fractured version of Cinderella, that I might edit and use for this. I like fractured fairy tales...and ALL of Disney's fairy tales were fractured save the pre-Eisner ones. (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, etc) But, I won't get into Eisner's stupidity. And I won't use the Disney version of Cinderella, either. (Trust me, that's fractured as well. In the original story...Cinderella wasn't so stupid or nice...it was a much darker story than what Disney portrayed. Like when the step sisters were trying on the slipper, Cinderella convinces them to tie rope around their the ends of their feet so that part of their feet would fall off...)

Also, for ideas outside the box, most of Hiyao Miyazaki's movies are essentially fairytales and are often based off of books. The best example of this would be the cinderella-esque "The Cat Returns."


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## ScottyDM (Oct 11, 2010)

Murphy Z said:


> Can we have a translation into English if the original isn't? The one I have in mind is German.


I hope you can find the English translation somewhere on line so you don't have to provide your own.

All those Grimm fairy tales were originally in German. And I dare say one won't find century-old or older African or Asian fairy tales that were originally in English.

S~


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## Shouden (Oct 11, 2010)

But 90% of the fairytales we know of, weren't originally in English.


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## M. LeRenard (Oct 12, 2010)

ScottyDM said:


> And I dare say one won't find century-old or older African or Asian fairy tales that were originally in English.


No kidding.  I think most African fairy tales are from oral tradition, so you're most likely to find written down versions of oral fairy tales, translated into French, Dutch, or Portuguese, and then finally into English.


			
				Shouden said:
			
		

> But 90% of the fairytales we know of, weren't originally in English.


And the other 10% were originally in Middle English or Old English.

Anyway, on topic... I want to see someone do one of the Renart stories (or Reynard, or whatever you want to call him).  I would judge that story high even if it sucked, just because I love the source material so much.


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## Fere (Oct 20, 2010)

Pray, call me naive if you will; but what is going to classed as a "fairytale" in this quarter's competition?  

MLeRenard just got me thinking with the mulling of thoughts over Goethe's Reynard; these are fables aren't they? But would that be OK to enter?


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## ScottyDM (Oct 21, 2010)

Oh boy. What is a fairy tale?

Let's see... fairy tales should have some or all of the following characteristics:

The fairy tale often contains some sort of lesson. Say, the reward of a life of greed is unpleasant, or young girls should be wary of strange men who speak sweet words.
The fairy tale often contains fantastic elements. Such as talking animals, witches, magical creatures, trolls, or dogs with eyes the size of millstones. And actual magic often abounds.
Some fairy tales attempt to explain some half-understood phenomenon. For example odd sights or sounds connected with a place, such as the rocks at a bend in the river, or why some mushrooms grow in rings.
Fairy tales sometimes try to explain nature, in particular human nature. Such as a story about people who blindly follow what everyone says rather than using common sense. Many fairy tales explore a range of human foibles by using animal stand-ins for human characters.
To kinda get back to the original point, fairy tales can teach the hearer to think. We see some character get into trouble because he does something foolish, therefore we should avoid doing similarly foolish things.
Fairy tales are often larger than life, with characters and situations that are extreme.
And finally there is a certain hard-to-identify something about them--a rhythm perhaps. The cadence and feel of the thing that's too easily lost when Disney or Ron Howard try to capture a fairy tale and turn it into a modern movie.
I'm probably missing something. Or naming attributes that are too restrictive or too broad. For example parables and Just So Stories fall under this definition.

FYI the story I've been thinking about explains how the Big Dipper got into the sky. It contains bestiality, shape shifting, murder, revenge, and attempted fratricide. Good stuff! The sort of story little Blackfeet kids hear around the evening cook fire just before they drift off to sleep.

S~


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## Shouden (Oct 24, 2010)

Just checked my fractured Cinderella story and it's 4476 words. So...I have close to 1500 words to eliminate. But that's okay, 'cause it needs some refinement...and a rating change. Right now, it's at an R, but it shouldn't take much to make it PG-13.

EDIT: At the end of the first day of editing, I'm down to 3642 words. Almost there. Then I still need to do some polishing. If I have time I will enter a second one. I have an idea for a fractured "Red Riding Hood" tale.


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## ScottyDM (Oct 25, 2010)

Shouden said:


> If I have time I will enter a second one. I have an idea for a fractured "Red Riding Hood" tale.


I'm doing a fractured Red Ridinghood novel for NaNo. 

S~


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## Shouden (Oct 26, 2010)

There, first pass through of editing done, down to 3454 words. Which is nice 'cause it means I have 46 words to play with in editing. For now, it's submitted so that at least it's entered if I don't get back to it.

I'll do a couple more rounds before I start on the second story. And if I don't finish it in time, oh well. It'll still be a fun one to write.


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## Fere (Nov 3, 2010)

Struggling with this one. Too used to creating my own worlds and my own characters. 

I am gonna attempt it; not sure if it's gonna be any good or even true to the theme (not even sure if anyone from outside fair Albion will understand the connection). I'm going for a literal take on the theme, and we'll see what transpires.


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## ScottyDM (Nov 17, 2010)

I am deep in the thrall of NaNoWriMo and haven't give much thought to the contest (good thing entry deadline is December 7th), but as I mentioned above, for NaNo I'm doing a fractured version of _Little Red Riding Hood_.

I was procrastinating yesterday and ended up finally reading the Wiki entry for _Little Red Riding Hood_, and in the course of doing that I discovered a _wonderful_ website by the name of *SurLaLune Fairytales*. SurLaLune is the labor of love for a woman by the name of Heidi, and Heidi loves fairy tales. In fact she loves them so much she's posted the full text of thousands of fairy tales for which the copyrights have expired. And, she's annotated several dozen of those tales, posted multiple versions of each, etc.

Heidi also talks about what is a fairy tale. But the greatest value of her website are the tales themselves. She has two launch points into the tales:

*Annotated Fairy Tales*: If you plunge into this section note the links in the upper-left corner of the page. For example, her annotated version of _Little Red Riding Hood_ starts with the English translation of Charles Perrault's story. In the second paragraph is a link to the later Grimm version of the tale, _Little Red Cap_. But what's really interesting are the links in the upper-left. One is to an offsite version of the story that predates Perrault, with an essay about the earlier story: The Path of Needles or Pins: _Little Red Riding Hood_. But note too the link for Heidi's page, Similar Tales Across Cultures.

*Heidi's eBook section* contains the greatest number of stories, and they truly are from all around the world. And I didn't see any that weren't in English. I did happen to find too Blackfeet fairy tales in the Canadian section: _Star-Boy and the Sun Dance_ and _The Blackfoot and the Bear_.

You don't have to use this site. There are many other online collections of fairy tales. But when working with fracturing an existing fairy tale there is a huge possible gotcha: Some fairy tales have many versions, so try to do your best and become familiar with several. It would be a shame if you used an obscure version you knew well, and fractured it so it was almost like a popular version--that could kill your originality score.

Remember, I need a link to the original tale... or tales. I'll diddle the story text to include the links (so they don't count against your word limit). We readers would like to compare your story to the original(s). There are so many of these things out there it's more than possible you'll choose a fairy tale many Anthrofiction Network readers won't know.

Good luck and have fun.

S~


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## Shouden (Dec 7, 2010)

16 Hours left as of writing this to turn in submissions....oh, and Scotty, when people log in to Anthrofiction.net, they see a message talking about the Spring 2010 Contest. It's a bit confusing. Just thought I'd let you know.


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## ScottyDM (Dec 7, 2010)

Down to 12 hours, and I've been very lax about looking at entered stories so far. I'll get to it Real Soon Now.

And seven entries so far.



Shouden said:


> Scotty, when people log in to Anthrofiction.net, they see a message talking about the Spring 2010 Contest. It's a bit confusing. Just thought I'd let you know.


What page is that on?

S~


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## TakeWalker (Dec 7, 2010)

Shit, I totally forgot about this. D: Again.


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## Shouden (Dec 7, 2010)

ScottyDM said:


> Down to 12 hours, and I've been very lax about looking at entered stories so far. I'll get to it Real Soon Now.
> 
> And seven entries so far.
> 
> ...


 
The "Contest Theme" page.


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## ScottyDM (Dec 7, 2010)

Shouden said:


> The "Contest Theme" page.


Wow. I don't see it at all.

On the server, pages are generated off chunk of PHP code that pulls stuff out of a database to create the contents of a particular page (such as theme), and modified by the selected quarter. The contents are then fed to another PHP code chunk to generate the rest of the page including navigation, etc. Finally all is turned in to HTML and sent to the user's browser. Everyone should see the same HTML (except for me, I get an extra link in the nav widget). There's very little client-side scripting--only something to help with logins and to shed any containing frames, should someone try to frame the site on another website.

Winter 2010 Theme page: http://www.anthrofiction.net/short_stories/theme.php?contestID=2010_q4  The second line should say: "For the Short Story Contest, Winter 2010."

Spring 2010 Theme page: http://www.anthrofiction.net/short_stories/theme.php?contestID=2010_q1  Which should filter based on what date the server thinks it is, and so doesn't show the page contents but invites you to view the theme page elsewhere. But that second line does say: "For the Short Story Contest, Spring 2010."

The user's OS or web browser don't get involved with page generation other than the URL sent.

S~


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## ScottyDM (Dec 11, 2010)

Had the stories ready to go on the 8th. I should have posted the story links back then, but here they are now.


*The Stories for the Winter 2010 Contest are Ready to be Judged*

Simply read the stories, as few or as many as you like, but the more the better. Then score the stories you read and leave a comment or two for the author.

You must log in to view the stories. An account is free and I hate spam, so I will not sell, rent, or give away your e-mail address. Itâ€™s helpful if you understand the Contest Rules and the theme for this quarter, which is Fractured Fairy Tale. Authors love feedback as long as itâ€™s not mean, so leave a comment. Finally, when you click the â€œCast Ballotâ€ button your scores and comments are saved on the system. You may come back any time before the close of the judging period and change your ballot. When the judging period closes all ballots are frozen.

Judging closes January 7th 2011 at the end of the day, UTC (like GMT, but without daylight savings).


Here are the stories and the first few lines from each:

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*The Truth About Cinderella*

There are many versions of the Cinderella story. Most of them get at least some of the details right, like that she was a blonde and that she did most of the house work, but none of them happen quite the way I remember it. You see, Cinderella didnâ€™t get her name from working in the fireplace, but from me, her pet dragon. And I use the word â€œpetâ€ lightly. I was more of a sister or a friend to her than a pet. But, her real name is Cindy and mine is Ella. â€¦ read more


*Rapunzel*

Once upon a time, in the leonine country of King Richard the Firstâ€¦

â€œAnd the winner isâ€¦â€ Sir Frederic announced in his enormous ball room that held just about everyone in the county. As per the Saint Joanâ€™s Ball custom, all the adolescent lions and lionesses that attended had their names written on a slip of paper and put into a fishbowl. The winner of the drawing got to choose his or her dance partner for the night, and then another name was drawn and that person got to choose his or her partner, and so on. â€¦ read more


*Whoâ€™s the Big Bad Wolf?*

Itâ€™s just like a dream. You donâ€™t know how it began, but here you are, somewhere in the middle of the woods with a path a few feet in front of you. But you know itâ€™s not a dream because you nip yourself in the arm just hard enough to make it hurt a little. You smell the air, and strangely, the forest smells old, dusty, and processed. You donâ€™t hear any birds singing or any squirrels scurrying, so you guess your reputation precedes you. â€¦ read more


*Evil Red Riding Hood*

Once upon a time a girl was born into the world in a small rural village near the forest. She wore a red hooded cloak every day, thus all the people of the village started to call her Little Red Riding Hood. Does the name sound familiar? Or perhaps ring a bell? Oh yes, Little Red Riding Hood, that sweet, kind, caring, innocent young little girl who delivers special gifts to her grandma, right? Well, not so much, you see, Little Red did not have very many friends, and was fairly poor, leaving her to feel isolated and lonesome. â€¦ read more


*â€œGraffersâ€*

She was not surprised, after having met him in the woods, to find the Wolf waiting for her at her grandfatherâ€™s cottage. Nor was the absence of her ailing grandfather entirely unexpected considering what she had told the Wolf during their conversation. Her grandfatherâ€”â€œGraffersâ€, as he insisted she call himâ€”had always been mean-spirited, demanding, and demeaning, and his debilitating illness had done nothing to improve his disposition. Therefore, it was with a certain satisfaction that she saw the door of the closet tightly closed and a heavy bench pushed up against it. â€¦ read more


*Conla and Sorcha*

The year is 2045.

Sorcha huddles down in the blackened earth to wait patiently. That is one thing as a Wolfhound I can do, she thinks. Each minute feels like a day. Ears constantly straining for the slightest sound she waits. The sun fails in its daily battle to break through the chemical laden air making her breathing short and noisy. Luckily she is not cold in this bleak bed as her Irish Wolfhounds coat has become more like an Elkhound, double layered. It is welcome protection against the vicious winds attempting to uproot anything in their path. â€¦ read more


*The Wolf Who Cried Man*

There once was a large forest, that covered the side of a mountain. Nestled among the meadows and valleys, was a hamlet of simple, hardy folk. They farmed where they could among the rocky soil, and had sheep that grazed the mountain pastures.
In the forest surrounding the hamlet was a noble Pack of wolves. For many generations the Pack had thrived, hunting amongst the great variety of game in the forest, but in lean times, crept along the boundary of the hamlet. â€¦ read more

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Thanks a million for your help. I appreciate it and Iâ€™m sure the authors appreciate it too.

S~


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## M. LeRenard (Jan 6, 2011)

Last day to judge is tomorrow, I believe.  I got all my scores in.  Most of the stories were okay, some better than others, but I did find one that's a clear winner.  Like, not to degrade the other stories or anything, but it's not even a contest in my mind which is the best.


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## Shouden (Jan 6, 2011)

I'm going to read a couple of these tonight and tomorrow just so I can submit scores.


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## M. LeRenard (Jan 9, 2011)

Looks like the results are in.  I'd say congratulations, but I don't think the winner or the runner up posts here.
The winner was my top choice, by the way.  I would have been real surprised if that one hadn't gotten it.  But I have to say I am disappointed that Murphy's Big Bad Wolf story got so low.  That was my number 2.  (And it's not because I knew whose it was; I actually didn't this time.)  Just goes to show that people always prefer the basics, I guess, considering the actual number 2 choice.


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## Kadrian (Jan 9, 2011)

Hi, and thank you very much.  I'm around, I'm just new and kinda quiet.

I was likewise suprised by the results.  Very pleasantly so by winning the contest.  Actually, I thought the Cinderella tale would score much higher than it did while "The Wolf who Cried Man" coming in second was unexpected.  With the exception of those two tales being turned around the rest came in about the way I scored them.

I read and commented on all of the submitted stories but I noticed that my comments didn't appear on a couple of them.  Did anyone else notice that?


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## Shouden (Jan 10, 2011)

I don't know if I'll enter the next contest as I keep forgetting to read the other submissions. It also depends on if my life gets too super busy.


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## Fere (Jan 10, 2011)

well done to all those who entered


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## M. LeRenard (Jan 10, 2011)

Hi Kadrian!  That was definitely a powerful piece.  I hope you stick around here and spread your wisdom.


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## ScottyDM (Jan 11, 2011)

*Results of the Winter 2010 Contest*

*Kadrian Blackwolf*'s story *"Graffers"* took first place with an earned a score of 4.68.

*Josh*'s story *The Wolf Who Cried Man* earned a score of 4.10.

*Maria*'s story *Conla and Sorcha* earned a score of 3.78.

*Murphy Z*'s story *Who's the Big Bad Wolf* earned a score of 3.37.

*Azola*'s story *The Truth About Cinderella* earned a score of 3.24.

*Murphy Z*'s story *Rapunzel* earned a score of 3.04.

*Kaylen*'s story *Evil Red Riding Hood* earned a score of 2.80.

Thanks to everyone who read and scored the stories.

S~


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## Kadrian (Jan 11, 2011)

M. Le Renard said:


> I hope you stick around here and spread your wisdom.



Sure, I'll hang around and spread my...wisdom...or something.

I've got other stuff in my gallery on FA. Feel free to look around. Just watch where you step.


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