Member-Sponsored Fantastic Perspectives: Object-able Views! Contest

Details

Last year, I challenged you to write in the PoV of a creature you’d typically find in the fantasy genre. This year, I want you to really get outside your comfort zones and write a story firmly from the PoV of an object!

That lamp on your desk? Ever wonder if it had a story to tell? Or how about the shoes in your closet? That rag you’ve left draped over the sink? Now’s your chance to discover what adventures those objects have had—or have yet to experience.

Here’s the catch: as the title of the contest implies, the object you choose to write about must be . . . well, fantastical! That means, should you choose to write about the lamp on your desk or the rag draped over your sink, they must have some magical quality about them that doesn’t simply involve their sudden sentience. What about the object is magical? What can it do that no other object like it can? Can it float? Can it speak to others around it? Be creative!

Bring on your crystal balls, your quills and inkwells, your swords that can fight by themselves! Epic fantasy, dark fantasy, urban fantasy . . . the subgenre you choose doesn’t matter, so long as the story revolves around a sentient object with magical qualities!

Submitted stories will be judged on the following:

• Perspective, of course! Your submission must remain in the PoV of the object you’ve chosen. You can write in a more distant PoV, but never from the PoV of a beast or human (unless it's to set up the story--say, as in the human is narrating about the object--but their PoV must only take up about 10% of the story and no more! The rest must be from the perspective of the object).

• Story-telling (e.g. story structure, pacing, immersion, plot).

• Technical ability (e.g. sentence structure, flow, SpaG).

Prize money for this contest is provided by the Scribophile Writing Contest Prize Fund.

Winning entries

Winners have been announced! Log in to see them.

Prizes

Rules

• Multiple entries are not allowed.

• Your entry must be no longer than 3,000 words, by Scribophile’s count.

• No fanfiction, please. Only submit original stories.

• No poetry, novel chapters, or memoirs—they will be immediately disqualified.

• Work must have Public visibility on Scribophile until a winner is announced.

• No human or beast PoVs! Your story must be told by an object! (Unless, as stated above, it's to set up the story and only takes up 10% of it.)

• Your entry must be a complete work (short story or flash fiction), not a chapter of a larger work.

• If you have placed in a contest in the past with a particular piece, you may not resubmit that piece to this contest.

Submission guidelines

• To enter the contest, post your work to Scribophile and check the box that says “Enter this work into the Member-Sponsored Fantastic Perspectives: Object-able Views! Contest”. Your work will automatically be considered.

• The checkbox will be visible until the contest deadline, which is in UTC time.

• Entry is free, but you will need karma points to post your work. You can earn karma points by writing critiques of work by other members.