"Finally, the winners are announced and so are methods to improve!"

The long awaited results for the short stories genre is here! Firstly, a huge round of applause and a namaste to the judges, sj_shaw and  mustarrd- and for spending their valuable time to judge the entries! Thank you! Secondly, Ilakshi and I would like to thank all the participants who took part!

Please respect the decisions and reviews of the judges! Do NOT blame them and bully them. If news of such irresponsible behavior reaches our ears, you will be reported without a second thought.

Let's continue to the scores!

Timelines collide by CloneRazorX155

Cover: 3/5

Your cover totally matches the genre of your book, and I find the title to stand out very much. However, I think everything's rather dark, and the background is a bit blurry.

Title: 2/5

The title is, if I'm honest, basic. A more adventurous title would definitely be more efficient and bring more attention to your book

Blurb: 3/5
The blurb is good, but could be even better. For example, why does Joseph need to time travel(as in, what's the point of gaining a Signet)? What was underneath the valley? How does Joseph time travel? I think more details should be added in the blurb

Creativity: 3/5
I’ll be honest, I’ve seen these types of stories before. The plot is fairly common, and although your story has a bit of a twist, it still isn’t very creative.

Chapters: 7/10

First of all, to split this in two, I’d say that my enjoyment was a ⅗. Simply because I found the paragraphs to mostly be long, something that I know for a fact doesn’t settle nicely with readers. However, the punctuation I’ll have to give a ⅘. I found practically no errors in this area, and really, I would have scored you a 5/5 if it weren’t for the lengths of the paragraphs

Grammar: 5/5

Rarely found any grammar errors at all, which is impressive. The 5/5 doesn’t mean that there are no spelling errors, it just means that I barely found any.

Preciseness: 3/3

This book is an adventure all right, and you stuck to that, so very well done :)

Character Development: 2/2

Can I say there was character development? Not really. So I based this mark on how fleshed out your characters were. I love how you give each character their own personality, and how we get a little hindsight into Joseph's past.

TOTAL: 28/40

Through the Wormhole by CroodsGirl

Cover: 4/5

The cover is very good! I love the graphics and the background setting. However, the “Have you ever wanted to see where life first began” line kind of sticks out too much for me.

Title: 3/5
I think this title is simple, yet has that deep feeling to it. At the same time, it might not be a title that will bring lots of attention, since it's a bit too basic.

Blurb: 4/5

A very well written blurb, that I think just needs a few tweaks here and there. Example, near the end of the blurb, we get slammed with this: “Despite this, Dan's love for paleontology did not save him when he died. And all he could ask himself was "Will I rise?"
I mean, my brain did a 180 when I read that. And I read it again. And again and again and again. My point is, that line felt like it came out of nowhere, which I think is what you were going for, and I understand that that can pull readers in. But then again, it doesn’t make sense. He dies, then he’s asking himself a question. Really, that doesn’t make sense.

Chapters: 7/10

Now, I read about 4 chapters, and I still haven’t really gotten to the main plot of the story. Usually, you should do this in about 4-5 chapters. I think you spent too much time feeding the readers information than on the plot for the first few chapters, which is why I’ll give you a ⅗ for this part. For my enjoyment, I actually liked the story, the humor and the future aspect, so you earn a ⅘ for this.

Grammar: 5/5

This doesn’t mean there aren’t any mistakes, but I didn’t really find many, which is why you get a solid 5/5

Preciseness: 3/3

The book very well sticks to the adventure genre, and it has a hint of sci-fi as well.

Character Development: 2/2

I based this mark on your characters overall. Let me just say how much I relate with Dan, and I enjoy the fact that you wrote the book from his point of view, which was a very good choice. Molly is a great character too. To add, I love how important you make Dan’s mother. You’re able to show the impact she had on his life, which greatly adds to the story.

TOTAL: 33/40

Crystal House by feechi17

Cover: 4/5

I love the title font, for sure. But it’s very hard to see the supposed house, so making that pop out more would surely give you more marks

Title: 3/5

Like the other books I judged, the title is simple, and not a title that would attract attention. If you do change the title, I would recommend keeping the “crystal house” part, simply because it’s a huge part of the story

Blurb: 5/5

This blurb was fire, I’m dead serious. The anticipation, the emotion, the mystery, it was there. There was just the right information, and overall it made sense. I didn’t have to ask any questions that the blurb could answer. By far, I can see you did very well on this.

Chapters: 7/10

Similar to the other books I read, this one gets a ⅗ for the first half. I find it hard to keep up with the constant switching of POV’S, which can really throw someone off. My enjoyment gets a ⅘. The plot is definitely intriguing, and if it weren't for the switching of POV’s every few paragraphs, this would be something I’d read in my spare time.

Grammar: 5/5

Not much to note here, but there are hardly any mistakes I could find. Good job :)

Preciseness: 3/3

I think this sticks to the genre very well, even though it doesn’t seem like it in the first few chapters, you get the feeling it’s going to be an adventure wrapped in a mystery, which fantasy sparkled here and there.

Character Development: 1/2

The diversity here is outstanding. Now, the only reason I removed a mark is simply because we don’t gain that much info on the characters, especially the main six. That is something I would appreciate.

TOTAL: 28/40

Queen of Dark - beingmyself06

Scores:
Cover (5)
Title (5)
Blurb (4)
Creativity (4)
Chapters (8)
Grammar (3)
Preciseness (3)
Character Development (1)

Score breakdown:
Your cover is absolutely gorgeous and really sets the tone for a fantasy-type adventure.
Your title is also highly relevant to your work and captures the change that is to come for your
main protagonist. Regarding grammar and language use, you often rely on “past perfect” or
“past continuous” to tell the story rather than “past simple,” which works if your character is
remembering something before the story, but I’d advise using a tense that keeps the reader
more grounded in the moment. Your blurb would benefit with a little bit more detail to hook
readers in. You have a very creative piece, with a rich world waiting to be explored. I
appreciated the opportunity to go on this adventure with you.

Total: 33/40 

The Different Kind - yuhina15

Scores:
Cover (4)
Title (5)
Blurb (3)
Creativity (5)
Chapters (6)
Grammar (2)
Preciseness (2)
Character Development (1)

Score breakdown:
You’ve created a very extensive world with a lot of creative concepts. Regarding
grammar, formatting, and punctuation you often switch “tenses” throughout your story. This
makes your story harder to read, understand what is happening and appreciate your creativity. It
wasn’t always clear when things were taking place, in the past or present, because of all of the
switching. In addition, there are many instances of run-on sentences.
You balance the use of dialogue, action and narrative summary, but your story could
benefit from weaving in other narrative techniques as well to give us information about your
world. Although your story is “adventurous,” the otherworldly elements present would put your
story more in the “sci-fi” genre. Your title is highly relevant to your writing and your cover is
beautifully executed. Don’t forget to have the author's name on the cover as well! Overall, I
appreciated having the chance to read your work and enjoyed all the creativity you weave throughout your story.

Total: 29/40 

THE LOST ISLAND - hojumirahyor

Scores:
Cover (4)
Title (5)
Blurb (3)
Creativity (4)
Chapters (7)
Grammar (3)
Preciseness (3)
Character Development (1)

Score breakdown:
You have a beautiful image on your cover that is very aesthetically pleasing. One
improvement would be to have the font stand out more and make it easier to read. Your title is
both enticing and relevant to your story. Your blurb is interesting but could benefit from a bit
more detail to ground readers in the journey to come.
Regarding grammar, you switch “tenses” throughout your story, which makes it harder to
understand if the story is happening in the past or the present. If you’re meaning to write in the
past, stick with past simple and switch to past perfect to talk about events that happened even
before the story, such as something in a memory. There are some errors with punctuation as
well. Overall, I appreciated the opportunity to engage with your story and there’s definitely a lot of creative concepts you mentioned in your blurb.

Total: 30/40

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Please respect your judge's opinion. Thank them for taking some time off their personal lives to judge and review your works. Do NOT send any sort of hate messages to them. If knowledge of any such events reach our ears, we shall report the hater.

I am extremely pleased to announce the winners of Poetry genre. To those who lost, do not worry. A little bit more hard work and your work is going to win the first place! Winners, please request for your rewards if we forget to deliver them. Our hearty congratulations to all the winners!

🎊 First place goes to:
Queen of Dark by beingmyself06

Through the Wormhole by CroodsGirl

🎊Second Place goes to:
THE LOST ISLAND by hojumirahyor 

🎊Third Place goes to:
The Different Kind by yuhina15

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Thank you all for participating. Congratulations to everyone once again. Please direct message the respective host if you haven't received your prizes from them.

"One does not need to win the competition if they know that they have tried their best. Participation matters more than winning."

Your hosts,
Ilakshi and Marina ❤