"Beginning-Endings" Unofficial Writing Challenge

Welp, it's all in title: I am very excited to announce the kicking off of another unofficial challenge! I will be blathering on about the inspiration for this and such for a few paragraphs- so if you just want to get straight to the details of the challenge itself, feel free to skip down to the section in bold. No hard feelings, life can get busy. :)

This challenge is inspired by and a continuation of a concept which I developed a bit for Vocal's recent "Self-Editing Epiphany" challenge. I was grateful and honored to receive the recognition of a runner-up spot for my enigmatic reflections, and felt inspired to invite more folks to participate in this quirky and abstract prompt. I will include here an excerpt from the article in which I first discussed the concept, as well as the link to the piece from which this is borrowed, for those who are interested:

"What is a beginning-ending, you ask? Well, it's in the name: it is a scene or moment which appears at both the beginning and ending of a story - as both the prologue and epilogue of a tale, in other words. If the author is good enough, a beginning-ending will be granted by the story that occurs between it's two appearances a new profundity and significance when encountered for the second time. We will see the scene with new eyes, as it were, even as it unfolds in an identical fashion. The aforementioned good author will hopefully also be able to capture a sufficient measure of mystery and wonder in the first run-through of the scene, of course, so as to keep readers intrigued enough to follow along into the rest of the story."

Before getting into the details of the challenge, I want to mention a secondary inspiration behind creating it: In this phase of life, it is unfortunately quite impossible for me to remain as up-to-date on all of the wonderful things so many of you write and share on this site. Therefore, I am starting this challenge up in part as a way to guarantee that I will make the time to read, appreciate, and respond to at least some new, brilliant writing produced by friends on this site! There are so many geniuses, storytellers, and artists in this community, and even if I had days twice as long I wouldn't come close to having enough time to appreciating you all. So if it piques your interest, I humbly extend an invitation to this challenge to YOU, reader! Whomever you may be, I know I would love to read what you come up with, and would be honored at the chance to respond to your work.

But enough dilly-dallying! I present here now the framework of my "Beginning-Endings" Unofficial Writing Challenge:

The challenge is to write a brief fiction piece which, without context, carries the feeling that it could serve as both the prologue and epilogue of a larger story. What characters might appear - and how will we be convinced of their significance? What details will pique the interest of readers, communicating intrigue, complexity, and depth? Can you find a way to conjure up the feeling of walking in on the closing scene of a movie - and being so compelled by the magic of that scene as to immediately want to watch the whole thing from the start?

I am aware that, as with my last Unofficial Challenge, this is a fairly abstract concept to go off of; perhaps unorthodox prompts will become my signature!! I encourage you to lean into the breadth and lack of clarity, and to let your imagination run wild. Perhaps try to think of prologues and epilogues from movies or books which you find particularly striking! Will we witness a wizened grandmother winking as she tells tall tales of magical family powers to her young progeny? Will we survey the moldering ruins of an ancient battlefield, and watch as a lone figure stumbles across it? Where might a sweeping story begin - and end? Let your imagination decide!

TO QUALIFY FOR THIS CHALLENGE:

1) Please keep the entries at 500 words or less (the main body of the entry, that is; if you include author's notes or something that extends the piece beyond that word count, that is totally fine). If you want to make a 100 word microfiction, that is fine by me! But for the sake of keeping it feasible for me to read all entries, I will request that your wonderful Beginning-Endings do not exceed that 500 word limit.

2) Please include somewhere either in the subtitle or opening/closing remarks some mention of the "Beginning - Endings" unofficial challenge; this is just to spread the word so as many folks as possible who might be interested can be included in the challenge! The exception to this rule is if you have any previously written pieces on Vocal which otherwise align with the spirit of the challenge, and wish to submit those; there is no need to edit older pieces to make them meet this guideline!

3) Please embed the link back to this article somewhere in your entry, to once again help interested folks find it! As with the last request, this is not necessary for older works which you wish to enter into the challenge.

4) Please post the links to all entries in the comments below! I will plan on embedding the links at the bottom of this post as I receive them so that everyone can find your wonderful works directly in this post - and I will plan on updating the list at least once daily for the foreseeable future! Submissions will be open from the moment I post this until Saturday, May 17th. I will plan on posting the winners announcement on the following Saturday, May 24th.

Regarding placing/prizes: I will be selecting a first place winner (who will receive 15 dollars via the Vocal tipping system), a second place winner (who will receive 10 dollars) and a third place winner (who will receive 5 dollars). Depending on the number of entries, I may also name a few runners-up/honorable mentions! I'm afraid I can't quite sustain the budget from my last challenge - but this might mean that I can produce a few more unofficial challenges over the course of this year.

I am SO looking forward to seeing what brilliance you all come up with - thank you kindly for taking the time to read this far, and even just considering joining in the fun! Until next time - cheers, all. :)

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CHALLENGE ENTRIES:

"Of Chaos and Consequence" by Paul Stewart

"Indigo Sky" by JBaz

"The obsession" by Parvathi J

"Hunger" by Matthew Fromm

"Meteor Birthed Barbarian" by K.B. Silver

"Shifting Sands" by D.K. Shepard

"A Second to Go" by Cristal Beikd

"The Advantages of Revenge" by Lightning Bolt ⚡

"There is Always a Fire Somewhere" by Tim Carmichael

"Will it Go Round in Circles?" by Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred

"Before the City Burns" by Diane Foster

"Exploring" by Rachel Deeming

"The Fourth Way" by C. Rommial Butler