The results are in!
A windfall of creativity
Together, we wrote more than 30,000 words during the first week. That’s about the length of a novella!
| Submissions | Total words | Average reading time |
|---|---|---|
| 48 | over 30,000 | 1 hour |
And the winner is:
| Contributor | Submission | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| TanyaDawson | “The smell of burned pancakes …” |
16 
|
More reader's favorites:
| Contributor | Submission | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| orangeaya | “After hibernating for almost sixteen hours …” | 14
|
| RTGraver | “My mother recently passed away …” | 14
|
Luck was with:
| Contributor | Submission | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| sharynlodge | “New Zealand in the late 1950s …” | 5
|
The most popular entry of the first week of Turning Tales defies expectations and breaks down a persistent positive stereotype. @TanyaDawson’s first-person narrator scarfs down the last bites of their sandwich as they enter their grandma’s house, already smelling burned pancakes, “unsure when I would have my next edible meal”.
In the second-most popular entry, food is scarce, unpleasant and evokes memories of violence-because that’s all @orangeaya‘s protagonist can conjure up at this point. The story leaves us worried for a scrawny child with a growling belly that seems to be all alone in the world.
The third runner-up seems harmless enough at the beginning. The protagonist’s mother passed following a long illness. He spends a few nights in his childhood home, the place needs to be cleared of the debris of her life. The protagonist finds a box of VHS tapes and watches them as if The Ring had never happened, uncovering childhood trauma while munching on pumpkin pie – a delightfully creepy tale by @RTGraver.
You’ve done amazing work. Congratulations, and keep on writing!
A full year of Papyrus Author+ goes to @TanyaDawson. On top of that, one participant was chosen by luck of the draw to receive another full year of Papyrus Author+: @sharynlodge! We’ll send you both an email where you can use your prizes for yourself or gift them to that one friend who always talks about writing a book.
We’re excited for what you’ll write in the upcoming weeks!