The 8th Writer’s Playground Challenge is on!

I received such great feedback the last time around, I was really jazzed to have the opportunity to participate in the next one.

We had ten days to write a story based on several prompts. We had to choose from five character archetypes, pick one of five different settings, and include an object.

I’m all in! I wrote my piece and submitted it over the weekend. Now, it’s a 12-week wait to get news of a winner. Not to worry: there’s more to do!

Friday, March 8, 2024.

I was editing the website today and thought I might as well update the entry for this contest. The contest is over, and the material rests in the judges’ hands now, so I’m free to discuss it.

When I received the prompts, it read so much like a Shakespearean playbill, I just had to do a story incorporating all the characters.

Remember that we only needed to incorporate one of these characters, but I incorporated them all. I mean, look at this:

• A reformed criminal

• Someone in an arranged marriage (or soon-to-be in an arranged marriage)

• A faun

• A mortician

• A babysitter or nanny

Doesn’t it just scream tragedy?

My main character is Fosin Piao, a reformed criminal, who summons an undertaker who knows him to be a murderer. Fosin is deeply interested in redeeming himself in the eyes of Gradif, the undertaker, and tells him a story explaining why he has a dead body in his possession.

It was a fun dark fantasy to write — telling two stories in one — and I wanted it to feel vaguely Shakespearean in context, so I riffed the title off As You Like It, and repeated my catchphrase “As it was told” often enough in the narrative to be annoying … but still!

Writing the character, Fosin, and his dialogue with Gradif was a hoot. Further, I’ve got a strong female lead who takes matters into her own hands, and my faun is a little more upscale than most, well-spoken, dressed in a waistcoat and ascot, and sporting a pocket square. You know, charming, yet goaty.

I hope the judges like it as much as I do! Stay tuned.

As It Was Told received an Honorable Mention in the contest! Thank you so much, Writer’s Playground!