Our March Flash Contest was based on our weekly creativity prompt #142, asking contestants to stretch the limits of their imagination in order to write a story set somewhere they had never been. As always, selecting the winners was exceedingly difficult due to the abundance of quality work, but this month our editors were left especially in awe as three different pieces were also selected to be published separately on the blog. These writer’s comprehensive world building ability and infinite capacity for imagination were on display as we received submissions ranging from metafictional meditations on writing to poetic renderings of an encounter with a yeti to Frankenstein’s spinning in perpetuity! We thank all who entered this month’s contest and encourage everyone to keep submitting! In particular, we congratulate our Honorable Mentions and our Winners, whose work you can appreciate below. And a special shout out to Lake Oswego, Oregon, Scarsdale, New York, and the state of Oregon as a whole, as four out of five of Winners came from these two cities and half of all entrants selected for recognition came from Oregon! Winners “Lost in Blocks” by Scarlet He, 10, Scarsdale, NY “Frank in the Galaxy” by Kimberly Hu, 8, Lake Oswego, OR “Underworld Adventure” by Rex Huang, 11, Lake Oswego, OR “The Legend of Mount Himalaya” by Audrey Li, 13, Scarsdale, NY “Complete” by Shriya Roy, 13, Highland, CA Honorable Mentions “Green Ivy” by Riya Agarwal, 11, Portland, OR “Somewhere” by Madeline Cleveland, 11, Belleville, WI “The Ice Jester” by Chelsea Liang, 11, San Jose, CA “Shipwreck in North Pole” by Roger Krishna, 6, Portland, OR “Unknown Train Trip” by Charelle Jan Ramo, 10, Hilo, HI Chosen for the Stone Soup COVID-19 Blog “Going Viral” by Ender Ippolito, 9, Portland, OR Chosen for the Stone Soup Blog “Life Inside a Staircase” by Arjun Nair, 9, Midlothian, VA “Spring” by Porter Younkin, 9, Medford, OR Scarlet He, 10Scarsdale, NY Lost in Blocks Scarlet He It was a sunny afternoon. A castle was growing in her heart. Julia slapped the last piece on the wooden castle, causing it to tumble to the floor. “Aw, man! That was the last piece… I’ll have to rebuild it!” Julia exclaimed, picking up a wooden block from the rubble of the oak wood blocks. Her mom daintily walked into the room, with a stern look on her face. “Julia, come have dinner, please. It’s getting cold.” “No! I’m not done building my kingdom!” Julia sighed and placed the block in an empty space, arranging it in a fashionable manner. Her hands shook as she grabbed another block. She wasn’t sure if her palace was going to fall another time. The castle gradually grew higher and wider, finally becoming a real tower. Julia’s elbow swung and hit bulls-eye into the tower’s base, down it came crashing, blocks flying through the air. “No… ugh! I’ll have to rebuild it. Again!” Julia whined in anger. She didn’t know why, but she was angry… for the thousandth time in her eight year lifespan, her head started to spin. Forgetting about her fumes, she panicked and scrambled around her room trying to get balanced. Everything spun. She felt as if she was skydiving out of the sky, but really she was just about as foolish as an octopus settling into a cup… she blacked out. Julia blinked and rubbed her head. She didn’t feel right, not at all. Towers of wooden buildings loomed over her. Had my kingdom grown in the past few hours? She had an odd feeling that overpowered the “This doesn’t feel right” feeling. She felt different. The weird thing was that this seemed a little familiar. She lifted her foot to walk around, but ho! It felt heavier and she immediately dropped it. It was the same for the rest of her body parts. She lifted her foot, and eventually got the hang of it. She started toward the gate, and walked up to a fruit market with her stomach grumbling loudly. “Hello, can I get a-” Julia asked, feeling around in her pockets. She had no money. She made a concerned face at the cashier, to let her know about her mistake. She realized the cashier was made out of wood! She had short twin-tails around her shoulders and circle glasses with no lenses. “It’s ok. I can give you a wapple for free,” the cashier said, handing her a shiny wooden apple that looked like a fusion of a pear and an apple. “Thanks… but where am I? I’m supposed to be in my room right now, building Barkanther!” “Barkanther? Why, you are near Barkanther! Actually, you ARE in Barkanther!” The cashier smiled. Julia’s eyes widened, and she stuttered, “Wait, what? Why am I here then??” The cashier’s eyes widened too. “That means you aren’t a citizen… who are you?” the cashier said nervously. She took a step back and adjusted her glasses carefully. Julia remembered her tantrum when she had accidentally knocked down the palace. She felt guilty, but good at the same time. The sun shone in her face, and wooden leaves danced in the cooling wind that blew Julia’s soft bark hair. She decided not to worry and focused on attaining this girl’s friendship. “Hey… listen. I’m no citizen from around here, but I want you to know that I’m kind.” Julia said in her most convincing voice. She was telling the truth, for once. She wasn’t a citizen of Barkanther. She didn’t even know where she was. “I believe you…. That you aren’t a citizen from here.” Esther said, stepping forward to munch on a wapple. Esther stepped out of her stand to face Julia, eye to eye. Then she exclaimed, “I can see it by the way you look. Come, come.” Julia looked around for a moment before following Esther. She spotted some citizens cooking some soft leaves over a lightbulb. Is this what they use to cook? Julia was bewildered, but reluctantly followed Esther down the sidewalk and passed by a few alleys. Their shoes
writing
Weekly Creativity #142 | Flash Contest: Write a Story Set Somewhere You’ve Never Been
Write a story set somewhere you’ve never been. It could be set in outer space, Antarctica, or even an alternate reality!
Saturday Newsletter: February 27, 2021
“Winding Staircase” (Canon Powershot G10), photographed by Jeremy Nohrnberg, 10, (Cambridge, MA) and published in the February 2021 Issue of Stone Soup A note from Caleb I wanted to start out by briefly recognizing the work you continue to do in the Writing Workshop. As a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, I have taken numerous writing workshops, and few come close to the level of genius you routinely display in just thirty minutes. It seems every week your work gets more original, nuanced, and engrossing. I look forward to hearing you read your work again next week. In Jeremy’s photo we look down a winding staircase, a view that could give those with a fear of heights a touch of vertigo. The shot is formatted such that we stare down the barrel of this staircase’s center, the bottom becoming a singular, darkened point, like an inverse tunnel. The result is as striking as it is ominous, made more so by the paradoxical effect of the rug draped over the banister that shifts the perspective from a person standing atop a staircase to a person standing on a rug and looking down, their body perpendicular rather than parallel to the stairs. The photograph asks questions about the nature of perception and what lies in wait for us at the end, challenging whether or not light really does exist at the end of the tunnel. Conversely, in Amber Zhao’s stunning poem “Finishing a Poem,” the speaker reaches a state of bliss as they are finally able to complete their poem, reaching the light at the end of the tunnel of inspiration. For the speaker, writing and living are inexorably linked: “the jagged edge of brokenness / intrudes upon my soul, and dusty fingerprints outline / the soul of this poem.” Moreover, writing is elevated by the speaker to the highest of planes, thereby simultaneously raising the stakes of writing as well as its potential reward, as Amber’s meta-poetic meditation on writing harks back to the concept of the poet as a godlike creator “whose words eclips[e] the sun and moon alike.” Amber’s poem reminds me that like life, the process of writing, while oftentimes long and arduous, brings with it moments that put us in a state of exaltation. So, keeping in mind these two works of art, I ask you what feelings you harbor toward completing a poem, story, or novel: do you relish the sense of satisfaction that comes with seeing something through to the end, or does the end of your writing loom in the distance like the end of a perfect day? Regardless of your feelings on the subject, I want you to take the time this weekend to practice writing endings. You could write a hypothetical ending to something you’ve already been working on, or you could write an ending in and of itself. Let this exercise take you wherever it takes you; I reckon it will be rewarding! Until next time, Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Famous author Adam Rex wrote a glowing review of Abhi Sukhdial’s novella, Three Days Till EOC, which won the 2019 Stone Soup Book Contest. The rest of our wonderful author interviews were published this week, including interviews with third-place winner of the 2019 Book Contest Nami Gajcowski and newcomers Shelby Miller and Katie Pausin. Nova, 9, wrote a review of Ellen Hagan’s forthcoming novel in verse, Reckless, Glorious, Girl. Check out Nova’s review to find out why she found it to be a delicious read. From Stone Soup February 2021 Finishing a Poem By Amber Zhao, 10 (Brisbane, Australia) I have carved truth and beauty into yellowed parchment, having created something unique, vital, simple, complex, and bottomless as a fallen flower. The jagged edge of brokenness intrudes upon my soul, and dusty fingerprints outline the soul of this poem. The unbroken stretch of time has not erased these words eclipsing the sun and moon alike. What troubles they must have faced; what creative, poetic troubles would have gnawed on that author—spirit like moss and ivy on a house! Impossible feats are possible viewed the right way, melding dark and light into lines that are like a wishing well and looking glass. These rhymes instill visions that I thought would never come again, and the rhythm beats faster than fire. For me, I find a new renewal in this poem. After years of waiting to write that masterpiece, that pièce de résistance, word after word grasps into touch, paper, and ink to reveal the tide of inspiration. To read more from this issue, click here. Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498. Stone Soup’s Advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
