Who will win £100 in the MEGASAGA WRITING COMPETITION?

BEFORE you check to see if YOUR story made the shortlist, please read this. Take a breath. Ok? Many’s the time I have waited intently for a shortlist, and felt that hollow sinking feeling when coming to that hole where my name should have been.

So I know exactly how it feels not to be on the list. Here’s a message for YOU: A MEGASAGA is so hard to write, and once written, so hard to make perfect. Every word counts. Producing an excellent Megasaga is as much of a skill as writing the perfect sonnet or haiku or aria. Just producing 100 words which make sense, which make a story, which evoke an emotion, is brilliant. You did that. You are brilliant.

And one more thing, before I paste the shortlist below: I discovered very early when I was involved in Karate competitions, and watched football: the ref is blind. So sometimes he or she will miss your most brilliant move. You won’t agree about some of the finalists. The ref is blind. Keep writing. Keep perfecting your craft. Hokusai, the great Japanese printmaker reached his 90’s before he admitted to having approached perfection…

I’ll shut up now.

COMMENT! Cheer! Boo! Here are the stories the Judges chose. Which should win?

1. By Cindy Field.

State of Emergency 

For years wearing my mask and going to work, social distancing was my reprieve. Hide from the virus “stay home” they say.  Pretend it’s sunshine and roses, sing from the rooftops.

As the patriarchal mood inside grows more menacing; be patriotic he demands, on your knees.  Withdrawing from his cigarettes and booze I am confined an arm’s length from his frustrated fist. Black eyes and rings around my neck as I cower in my cage.  

Appeal for help may result in weeks of his revenge. ”Stay inside,” they say or it will be the death of you.

A very sad fact about this ghastly lockdown is the rise in cases of domestic abuse, as cabin fever brings out all the tensions between people. This story vividly portrays a relationship based on control and cruelty. Emotive and powerful.

2. By Beulah Lee Harris

Megasaga 

Her crossword lay wordlessly neglected as she sipped her chardonnay – the glass was half full, like her attitude to life.  She sighed contentedly, listening to John Lennon singing the most beautiful song ever written, and to the gentle snores of the two golden Labradors nestled at her feet.
She did feel for the less fortunate but there was nothing she could do about them.  Cocooned here in her own world, she had everything she needed including the solitude she had often craved. 
When the ambulance came to collect her husband’s corpse in the morning, life would be perfect.

A great punchline, very much in the classic Megasaga tradition. Like a good joke the punchline must deliver a blow, preferably drawing blood! Not sure about “the most beautiful song ever written”, rather than just “Imagine”! Again, maybe putting word count first? If so, a compliment to some very tight writing.

3. By Tessa van Aswegen

Knocking Bird

Saw a bird this morning. Knocking at my window. Old folks would say it’s the bearer of bad news in an already scared world. Sometimes it was just sitting there staring inside, looking at me with its yellow eyes when I was close by. Came knocking for three days, then it was gone. Could it have been someone visiting from heaven? Telling me that I’m not alone. That just like this little bird is not scared of this virus, I should not be scared. That I will be free again but for now stay inside and stay calm.

We liked this because we have all felt this alone, this abandoned during the Corona pandemic. It’s a good evocation of an emotion. I am wondering why three days? Let’s ALL stay calm…

4. by Jacqui Huxham

Covid Tale

Below me, the city is silent.  I shouldn’t be up here, it’s against the rules, but really?  It’s been days since the last broadcast.  No power since? Not sure.    Time has no form.

Hungry.   For food, information, touch.  A scurrying shadow.  Human? No, a coyote slunk down from the hills.

From my hoarded stash of toilet paper I tear off squares and painstakingly write my President’s reassuring words: “It’s a hoax”, “No need to panic”, “It will soon be over”.

I drop them one by one into the once sparkling pool, watching them sink below its scummy surface.

As a fan of dystopian stories, novels, films, plays I enjoyed this. The image of the hollow promises of our leaders in this crisis written on toilet paper and dropped into a once-clear pond is delightful. Great imagery and perfect metaphor.

5. by Jacqui Huxham

Love in the Time of Corona

He said: Daily, I watch you dance on the roof. Your beauty and grace uplift me, give me strength.

She said: The song of your violin floats skyward and gives me wings.

He said: Watching you dance. I dream of one day, holding you close and breathing in your scent.

She said: Where are you? I miss your song.

His final breath was the scent of roses on his nurse’s skin. A dream of dancing in the summer sun.

She closed his eyes , wondering at the strains of music in the sterile air.

Much as we resisted shortlisting two stories by the same writer, we found it terribly difficult not to include both of them. There is an insouciant mastery in Jacqui’s decision to use a repetitive theme as a formula in a story of only 100 words, and to pull it off so well.

6. by Lorna Macleod

The Envelope 

Two months, isolated from the world.  Today is the day. ‘Starry night’ painted on my black walls wont help anymore. The needle and syringe lay waiting, ready. On the windowsill, lays the envelope. 

Today I open it and find the strength to fight, for the only thing I did right in this life, my son. John, my beloved husband had mailed this here two weeks into my isolation.

I open the envelope and pull out a single paper folded in half. “In loving memory of Gregory Fold.” Starry night, liquid through my last available vein. Today I died.

This story made the hair on the back of our heads rise. One feels the tragedy seeping in from the very first sentence and by the punchline, we were drawn in to this dark world.

7. By Pavlova Maharaj

The Miscarriage.. Or Not?                    

Yesterday- I popped the “pills.”

Today- We’re on our way to my appointment, to see if the baby is okay. Dave is as nervous as a kid taking a pop quiz the entire drive. I sit as still as a chameleon. 

This was the wait.

Finally, the doctor calls us in. I’ve had a miscarriage. I can see the devastation in Dave’s eyes. I feel all the guilt build up inside me like a gas pipe about to explode. 

I did this.

What else could I do?

How could I tell him the baby wasn’t his? 

Another great punchline, which I did not see coming. Pavlova won the first ever Megasaga competition and I’m glad she’s still developing her craft! But hang on – should she tell Dave?

8. By Shaun Harris

 MegaSaga 

War to end all wars, Great Grandpa smiled. Millions dead, he groaned. He did not lie. Never again. He lied.

Horrors of a hundred and two years. A million dead. The virus has been contained, world governments declared. Few more will die. They lied. Worst plague ever. They did not lie.

Millions more will die, I cried. Vaccines will fail. I lied. The vaccine arrived, it worked. Humanity was saved, the world rejoiced. Lockdown was lifted, celebrations, dancing in the streets. 

It is not over, I lied. Recant, people cried.

But millions more had died. I did not lie.

This is more a bitter poem than a Megasaga. I’m left a little confused by the message! Nevertheless, an interesting piece of creative writing. I suspect rather stream-of consciousness? We had to include it, because it’s so different.

9. by Miss Pretorius

The stranger 

He knew everything; my deepest, darkest, dirtiest secrets and what I considered my biggest flaws. My reaction to everything before I even decide on it, one would swear he was psychic. He claims to have loved me since he laid eyes on me yet I don’t remember him. Forever was promised yet everything about him is strange to me; not even a familiar flicker. I can’t quite place him and that leaves me at an unfair disadvantage. “Will you be mine forever?”,my “no” sounded meek. As the light drained from my eyes I realised; he was my creator.

This sums up well one person’s spiritual journey and one of the judges identified with it a great deal.

10. by Isha Bramdow

Lock Down, Break Up

While the paranoid hordes out there are donning their home-made floral face masks (courtesy of YouTube), complaining about the price hike in groceries…..I sip this wondrous freedom in the early morning light. Just before lock down, he left. Up and flew away, like a kite with no tail. I’m quiet, no resistance here. Go. Be free from my loyalty. Relish in the disaster of what you used to be, before me. Before Us. Meanwhile, I’ll wait for the courier with my delivery of fresh apples, still moist with morning dew. Eyes closed, smiling, I sip again.

This is less a Megasaga, more reminiscent of a haiku. It perfectly depicts a moment in time, a reflective hiatus in a life. Some excellent imagery made this piece for me.

11. by Jeremy Isaacs

Collapse

He leant down and removed her mask. Her so-well known and remembered face was frozen into an expression of dismay. She had deserved the virus, just not to die like this! She had been utterly unbearable while she was raising him. Admittedly it wasn’t easy for her all alone, on her wage as a hospital cleaner. She had controlled every aspect of his life for his 41 years. With a sigh, he uncoupled his own mask from around his ears. Free at last! A moment’s thought. Then, leaning forward, he kissed her deeply on the lips.

Another Dark Tale – why are there no humorous finalists? Ask the judges. My only stylistic comment is, why the repetition of “she had…”? Every word in a Megasaga has to work for a living. Nevertheless, a powerful story.

FOR YOU, which was the best one AND WHY? Let me know by commenting below!

CONGRATULATIONS FINALISTS! You are all wonderful.

CONGRATULATIONS even if you didn’t reach the finals! You, too, are wonderful.

THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON 31ST MAY!

…and, needless to say, I love you all.

OVER TO YOU:

NOTE:

The winner won’t be decided according to the sheer number of votes! The important thing is to say WHY you love the story. This gives the judges something to think about when they decide which is the best. Insert smiley emoji. 🙂Reply