PROMPT ONE: 

For those who are visually impaired: The image is of a rather gothic and gloomy landscape. In the background, there is a stone mountain that is brown in shade, and is surrounded by mist. The mountain is rising up from what looks like murky water, and towards the front of the image, the water has reeds sticking out of it. On one side of the mountain, there is a structure that resembles a bridge, and atop the mountain, there are long structures -- they could be seen as buildings, or smaller pillars of stone. Furthermore, there is a tree towards the front that has no leaves -- it just have branches sticking out like broken limbs. The sky is a purple-grey colour, there are a few thin clouds here and there, and there are a few smaller mountains rising from the water but look very hazy in the background. 

PROMPT TWO: 

Seeing is not believing.

PROMPT THREE: 

"A poison tree. It's grown, fanning out, vines winding around my gut, my lungs, my heart."

~A.J. Finn

Wow. 

We went from having like, four stories in each month to... eleven. Yay! And hopefully we just keep growing. Thank you for everyone who has stayed with us from the start, and thank you to these beautiful people: 

Crazie_gracie_101 - Thank you so much for judging with us for the first time ever! You completely blew me away, offering to judge almost all the stories, and getting it done with a fantastic amount of feedback and professionalism. Thank you so much for helping us out, and I hope to see you again!

GnomeMercy - I have no words. You are simply phenomenal. Phenomenal. Like, I... Thank you. There we go. Thank you for being a beautiful friend, a beautiful person, and a brilliant judge with so much experience and writing wisdom under your belt. I genuinely feel lucky to know you. Thank you so much for everything!

LeafStorm924 - It's always an absolute joy having you judge (though I also love reading your short stories!). You are, quite simply, a fantastic judge that showcases so much professionalism and knowledge in your work. Thank you so much for being part of the team yet again!

NDeMeer - Queen. First of all, for those who don't know, this incredible judge just got her novella shortlisted for the ONC this year -- but on top of all that writing, all that interviewing, all that admin-ing, she's judged for us. And gotten everything in before time. And judged amazingly with brilliant feedback. And stayed beautiful inside and out. Thank you so much! 

And now... 

TITLE: The Poison Tree

AUTHOR: adventurousity

FEEDBACK: 

I really liked the idea of this story! It was very subtle, but I liked the dark tones. I do think it would have been a bit better if more things had been explained, but I liked the mysterious air to it. The ending was dark, but I enjoyed the way it tied to the poison element. Well done! 

I didn't notice any grammatical errors or spelling ones, but I did notice a redundancy. Here are the sentences: 

A tree of poison. Starting to sprout within me, its roots digging deeper into the soil, sending poison pulsing through my veins.

Here, the word "poison" is redundant. I recommend either rephrasing it or using a synonym, such as "venom", for example, so that the word isn't repeated.

Other than that, I think you had a great short story and I loved the dark tones and ideas!

TITLE: Oblivion

AUTHOR: GiftiFikir

FEEDBACK: 

This story is quite unique. The vocabulary usage in here is incredibly advanced, and the message is one that requires a deal of thought to get and understand. The writing quality is excellent, too. Throughout the whole story, there is exactly one spelling mistake; that's rare to find stories on Wattpad with that few. The imagery is also very good.

TITLE: A Price to Pay

AUTHOR: avadel

FEEDBACK: 

I really loved the idea of this story! It uses themes that we've seen before, but I really loved your twist on it! The relation to the poison tree was great, and I loved how Lyriesse had to make a choice—and you could see her struggles clearly. Well done for creating such morally grey and complex characters in the space of a few thousand words! I can't give you much to work on, other than the fact that there were a few repeated phrases. She did mention she "spoke politics" multiple times—and the only reason I'm mentioning this is was because it was worded similarly both times. This is just a small nitpick however. Overall, wonderful job with the themes!

TITLE: Not Seeing is Not Always Not Believing

AUTHOR: imtheoddgirl

FEEDBACK: 

A five-word story, very impressive! It reminded me of the shortest story I've ever heard, by Ernest Hemingway: For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn. The very first thing that stood out to me in your story, is that I felt like there was a word missing, grammar-wise. Rather than In invisible God we believe, shouldn't it be In THE/AN/OUR (etc.) invisible God we believe? Another thing stood out which is easiest to explain when your story is compared to Hemingway's. Hemingway manages to convey a sort of plot with his story; thereby actually making those six words a story. Your story did not seem to convey any plot; your five words are simply a statement. What I really liked about this story is how the prompt was taken in a clever and unique way. The title very cleverly combines the prompt with the story. 

TITLE: Eri

AUTHOR: Maggie-Nary

FEEDBACK: 

It starts with wedding planning! What can possibly be better? One of the first things that stood out was that there were definitely some grammar issues in this story. It is always important to reread and edit well before you post, especially if it's for a contest. The story has an intriguing plot going on, which continuously had me eager to find out more. You made sure to slowly lay out the clues and the details, to keep things interesting for the readers. I have to admit though, that I very much disliked the main character. This is of course largely personal preference, but the way she cheated on someone who is clearly portrayed as someone who does not deserve to be treated in such a way, and the way she just up and left him and took the dog with her, seemed horrible to me. The guilt she felt was not enough to redeem these horrible actions. Not to me, anyway. The other thing I noticed was that the pacing was a tad too slow. Certain things were worked out in too much detail, leading to me sometimes scrolling past things to get back to the actual story. The writing itself is decent. The way the narrator gets into the mc's head and shows us the scenes rather than telling us, is great. 

TITLE: The Return 

AUTHOR: ErynneStorm

FEEDBACK: 

This story is short, but touching. Throughout the first half, we get the feel as if this man is going to this castle with negative intentions, like he's going to try to murder the residents of the castle. His intentions weren't made clear, but that's good because it left me as a reader always wondering, speculating. The flashbacks were also very good and placed at a good point. You gave the illusion that the kingdom was alive and vibrant, which was a great setup for the plot twists at the end. Even the end leaves room for speculation. Is he now gonna self-sacrifice? Is he talking about tomorrow? A few years down the road? This is one of those stories that simply eats at your mind. The few spelling mistakes that exist almost seem forgivable, but because of the length of the story (short) and the number of mistakes, you can't help but pick them out.

TITLE: Seeing the Unseen

AUTHOR: heaven-bound

FEEDBACK: 

This story is very different. It's mysterious, at first, but then once I caught onto what was going on, and figured out what a quack doctor meant, I found it to be a very interesting story. The writing is simple, containing a slightly moderate amount of spelling mistakes. Despite this, even though simple and without any special words, the writing style is still relaxing. It's one that I can get lost in. The conflict is obvious, the story as a whole hooks me throughout, wondering what's gonna happen next. Some may scoff at the fact that it's religious base, but whether you believe or not, it's still a beautiful story with a plot that pulls at your heart.

TITLE: On Top of the Mountain 

AUTHOR: HillbillieNolan

FEEDBACK: 

I really liked how short and powerful this short story was! Good job! Even if it was only a hundred or so words, it was really interesting to see what you did with it. I don't have much feedback, but I did think you could improve the last sentence to give a bit more of impact. Here it is:

Eventually I reached the tree, now, like those others, I stand, a cold, stone statue.

I think the part where the narrator reaches the tree and the actual ending should be two separate sentences. Here is a rough example:

Eventually, after much climbing, I reached the tree. And now, like those others, I stand. 

A cold, stone statue.

This is just a rough example. Other than that, I quite liked this short story!

IN THIRD PLACE: 

TITLE: Moonguarde

AUTHOR: dreams_of_silver

FEEDBACK: 

Feedback: this story and everything about it is fantastically, hypnotically, MAGICALLY amazing! All the spelling is flawless and the vocabulary isn't overdone. Everything is just so simple, yet, so complicated at the same time. The story flows like a masterpiece put together for a literary magazine. The characters so, so unique and different, and I was admittedly sceptical of the girl with magic, I grew to like her very much. There were plenty of plot twists, and the writing had the perfect mix of show vs tell. This is truly a great work!

OVERALL SCORE: 90.5/100

TITLE: Between Reality and Fiction 

AUTHOR: immatrytoread

FEEDBACK: 

This story is truly a masterpiece. It is so incredibly insightful and thought provoking. The author manages to blur thoughts and actuality with such perfection. The imagery in this story is also breathtakingly beautiful. The author paints the images such that they can vividly and clearly be seen in the mind of the reader. The vocabulary is complex, which is often criticized, but I think that it only makes the story that much better. There is formal wording and phrasing everywhere, yet it still reads naturally and flows as such. I love the realization that the protagonist comes to at the end. Perfection isn't a reality, but yet perfection is in all of life's imperfections. That is probably one of the most valuable lessons one can learn in life, and this story is the exact definition of that lesson. It's incredible and beautiful, and it's one of those that I could just read over and over again. 

OVERALL SCORE: 93.5/100

TITLE: What You Can't See 

AUTHOR: intoTheShadowTrees

FEEDBACK: 

The main character in What You Can't See has a strong, bold voice, insisting to the reader that they aren't insane in their ability to see ghosts while still doubting the reader's trust in him. The way they speak about their experiences and the people they see makes the reader doubt if they are truly sane, truly stable with how they get flashbacks of their dead sister and the girl killed in a bus crash. The characterisation in this work is flawless, though there are instances where the punctuation needs a bit of work; the main character will surely grow on the reader once they have finished this story.

OVERALL SCORE: 94/100

And that's a wrap! Thanks so much to everyone who participated! I can't wait to see everyone again next month -- as either a participant or judge!