A little scribe looks up from a table to the right of the room.

"You're looking for a writing contest?" she says. "There's no writing contest here."

You frown in confusion and point to the sign above the table that says 'Writing Contest!' "It says writing contest right there."

The scribe looks up. "Oh, so it does," she digs through a pile of papers. "Aha! Here we go: the rules." She slides a single sheet of paper towards you.

Dragon Rider Hemingway Contest

Objective: To write a Hemingway (six word story) with the theme of dragons or dragon riders.

Details: Dragons do not need to be mentioned within the Hemingway, as long as you can write it so that it obviously fits the theme. There is no limit to the number of entries.

Deadline: Saturday, September 21 at midnight PDT.

Judges: Lady Katharina, Lady Elanor, Constable Jaynin Mimetes

Prize: King Arthur: His Knights and Their Ladies, kindly donated by Constable Jaynin Mimetes

You look up to see the scribe looking at you, her head tilted a little to one side.

"Well? Are you going to enter or not?"

A slender, auburn haired young lady in a flowing light green dress glides into the room, takes a quick look around and addresses the room of eager authors. "Greetings fair maidens and brave knights! You are most welcome here. I am here this day to give you a few sample ideas to get your creativity flowing. Get parchment and quill ready and start writing."

She glides over to the table and lays down a piece of paper that reads:

Hemingway Examples:

Dragon scales found. Come to identify.

Wings and gold. Naught else needed.

My gold will always be here.

Pure gold needed immediately. No exceptions.

A young man enters the room with a paper in his hands then puts it down on the table.

Dragons for Sale: Green and Blue.

A pot of gold hidden away. *wonders if that fits *

Big and huge cannot be hidden.

(Are we allowed to submit more than one? It was probably in the rules, but I'm still sleepy, so I must not have noticed. *grins sheepishly*)

(I don't see it in the rules... * frowns * Well, I 'spect that you can do more than one, since Raven was the one that posted the contest, and she was also the one who told us in the Weekly Challenge to write at least three entries. * hopes she's right *)

There is no limit, write as many as you like.

* lets out breath in relief * 'Cause I wrote a lot....

Dwarf king returns to mountain hall.

The girl straightens and sits for a little while, eyeing the desk. Then she finally gets up, walks over, and lays the paper down, smiling for a second before skipping away.

Wanted: sky, wind, wings – to fly.

Give it gold, or the sky.

I guard the gold of sunsets.

Earth may die – I need sky.

For treasure, my golden eyes, rider.

Flying through rainbows, living leprechaun gold.

His pride is wind, wings, and gold.

To keep a dragon happy: fly.

Broken wings break the golden heart.

I breathe fire – you only burn.

Wings, flames, curling towards the moon.

You'll burn and your gold won't.

Cool!

The grumbling dragon rescued the princess.

I thought of another:

They rode dragons next to airplanes.

Fighting. Winning. Losing and dying. Home.

Jesus taught, led, died and rose.

Hardship abounds, but steadfastness is triumphant.

PS. I notice a fantasy theme. I guess I'll have to write some more.

...

The clash of steel portends widows.

Against the armies of hate, courage.

Fiery heart. Scaly curse. Armored redeemer.

I believe the theme of the contest is dragons and dragon riders. So, they don't have to even mention dragons...but they need to be about dragons or dragonriders in a fairly plain way. For instance Lady Katharina's 'My gold will always be here' does not mention a dragon, but it is a dragon speaking or thinking about his hoard. And E's 'Finger's tighten on the fiery egg' does not mention dragons, but the 'fiery egg' is a dragon's egg.

A young man scratches some sentences into his notebook then continues to write and rewrite, if you take a look at the page on which he writes, you would see...

Large and small. Great and weak.
Easy to lose, hard to find.
Scales and wings, collect gold things.
Claws are for writing you know!
Meat catcher and cooker in one!

My absolute favorite, a perfect irony.


A darkly clad individual squatted in the angle between the wall the ceiling, muttering to himself, "Ach, I keep coming short." and, "Can I take one from this one to finish that one?" and, "Why must I turn the pen upside down for ink to run to the tip?"


I hope six word quotes from dragon lore count: here are some. Try to figure out where they are from! (Googling it or asking Juliet does not count.)

...over all the children of pride.

...the grisly plaint of God's enemy.

...master of doom by doom mastered!

...and then he missed the cup.




These ones are my own invention:

Melted gold, and an empty cave.

"I hate him."
"It."
"Yes, it."

The dragon has taken a hostage.

It slept well in the ashes.

Loud he blew the dragon's horn.

The ceiling cracked, dragon's claws appeared.

The dragon stumbled; I helped him.

Eldest of all that liveth: fire.

Flying because I fear the world.

A long winter. The dragon shivered.

The dragons fought, lighting the blackness.

The ram struck, the dragon bled.

"Lead the dragon through the minefield!"

My treasure sleeps between my wings.

The dragon began to cry bitterly.

The flame alchemist allowed no rival.

The dragon wailed when bombs fell.

He stared blankly at the flames.

The dragon gave the bride away.

"Take me away, and hoard me!"

The dragon laid down his crown.




A few of the ludicrous sort:

The dragon coughed nervously. They survived.

I boiled him in his boots.

"Blast it all. No no don't!"

Warning: no snuff within fifty yards.

The dragon laughed; we were unamused.

Fair sir, what of thy eyebrows?

Saffron, ivory, silk, and good meat.

Do not suck your tail, please.

"My hoard." "Gold..." "Those are bananas."

"Take my hand!" "I have." "Oh."

You can't drive! You're a dragon!

I prefer to be addressed, pyrotechnician.

Laughs at the cub - instant regret.

Wonder of power, subdued by song.

Rider of motion. Warrior of sky.

Bound her wings, but not heart.

Crushed shells. Roaring anguish. Stolen life.

No worse sound than dragon screams.

Whispering a promise forged in fire.

I froze. His silver eyes blinked.

I flew, though all was lost.

Their voices shrieked, roared. I sobbed.

He didn't trust me. Wise dragon.

Never stop fighting.
“Why?”
I did.

The third one sounds extremely familiar to me... my guess is Beowulf.
That last one is definitely either what you said or Beowulf. I'm more inclined to think the latter, except I've already guessed it as third.

The girl with the unruly ginger hair tentatively enters the room and sits down in a distant corner, scrawling things down on a sheet of parchment, periodically crossing things out. Finally, she stands and walks over to the table, lying the sheet of parchment down. On it, in child-like scrawl, are these words:

The roars echoed across the mountain.

A golden spark in the shadows.

The flame faded from Kethenda's eyes.

The wings created flurries of snow.

Fire and frost, lightning and shadow.

"They hunt our kind," he growled.

Dragonfire; flickering, glowing. Gleam of courage.

Swiftly flashing scales, chasing the storm.

Belatedly:

Three heartbeats, vacuum-cold; somewhere else.

(If an enjambed or hyphenated construction like "vacuum-cold" only counts as one word, then replace the semicolon with a comma and the word "then".)

A few more that I made:

"A dragon would do you good."

Seeing, his eyes turned to ashes.

Grass became adders, and trees dragons.


I shall spoiler this for anyone who peeked at the previous guesses: Celtion got both her guesses right! And Suiauthon was right that one was from Beowulf, but it was the second one, not the third or fourth.

Well, I posted this in the wrong place. Reposting here... Hope that okay.

(Just to make sure... I know I missed the contest. still getting used to things around here. but, would these have been worthy of being added? --- Lady Camilla Uphaven Ps... I couldn't figure out where to join in, either... sigh)

Scaly creature soaring to see prey.

Fired-blocked choke, simmered to clouding smoke.

Claws extend to rescue her rider.

Glittery-eyed, it creeps; claws clicking ominously.

Shadow approaches, announced by sliding scales.

Irridescent streak of winged beast soaring.

(NOW I GET IT!! after seeing your examples and lovely works. may have to keep doing those... they are fun!)

Ha ha! Bingo!

I want to apologize to all the participants for not having results out yet. They will be posted by the end of next Sunday at the latest.

Scratch that. I have results!

A pedestal rises out of the centre of the great hall, and the lady in yellow slowly ascends the stairs leading to it. She unrolls a great scroll and looks at it for a minute before raising her eyes to the assembling crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" she says, her voice reaching all assembled. "The judges have decided to award titles to two contestants. One receives recognition for the funniest Hemingway, and one for being the overall winner!
"The title of "Funniest Hemingway goes to..." she pauses. "Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes for his entry, which said," she pauses again and consults the scroll, "which reads as follows, 'Fair sir, what of thy eyebrows?'" the lady waits for the clapping to quiet.
"After much deliberation, the prize, and the title of overall winner has been awarded to..." she abruptly rolls up the scroll. "I guess nobody really wants to know that, do they?"
"Yes we do!" you shout. Other people around you nod their agreement.
The lady sighs. "Very well, then. The Hemingway receiving the prize reads as follows, 'Never stop fighting.
“Why?”
I did.'"
She looks up expectantly.
"Well? Whose is it?" someone asks.
"Oh! My apologies. The winner is: Ophelia MirZA Mimetes!"
She quietly disappears amidst thunderous applause from all those present.

Ophelia, if you PM Katie your address, she will send you your prize.

Congratulations, Ophelia and Patrick!

Congratulations!
(And I have to say, Tsahraf's entry was by far the funniest. XD Well done, sir!)

Congratulations, Mira and Patrick!

*Patters in absently, curious to see if the winner has been posted yet*



WAIT, WHAT?! *Goes into shock* Serious? Goodness. Shock of my night.. really should be in bed now... it's late shh, almost 1 ... *Clamps mouth shut to keep from rambling all over the place*

*Fumbles around for something to say* .... Well, thank you. ^^_^^


And, uuhh, I have a perhaps strange, curious question... was anyone really really hoping to win that book? I just entered the writing contest for the fun of it, and don't think that book is something I'd read. *Isn't sure what to do* Not to cause trouble or anything - I'll read it if I get it. But I'd much rather it go to Tsahraf or perhaps a runner up.

I am not shocked at all.
I thought I had said that one was my favorite of yours, but apparently I had not.
Now if I had already said it, it might have seemed like it influenced the judges, but since we both came to the same conclusion independently it shows how natural it is that it was picked.

Do you have any story, scene, or picture in your mind when you think of it?
Did anything inspire it?
When, or where, did you think of it?


Thank you Miss Beth! It was a difficult one. *rubs eyebrows *

I'd never written a Hemingway before this, so I was mostly playing around in my free-writing doc. to see what came of it. (Ha, and I've decided I like Hemingways.) What inspired it was your Hemingway. *Points* I really liked the idea of a short, pointed conversation. It's one of my favorites of yours because it felt so different. *Grins* And I loved all the silly ones.

I love the mental image I get when I read this.




When I imagine this scene, it's of a huge dragon slumped on the ground, with a young human standing over him The dragon tells the human to never stop fighting... *Considers and writes* This. This is what I imagine:

These are all so fantastic, guys! I love reading through them. (and congrats to the winners! *points* That is now a high-five smiley.)