Once Upon A Time: the Dark Fairy Tales Challenge

[BryanRichardson]

I've finished my Born to Run story, so now I can focus on finishing one of my fairy tales!

And after that I'm not going to write anything to order for a while. Who keeps coming up with these challenges anyway?!

Ahh, several different people? Including you…
I hope your story is published in time!

 

[Thefireflies]

I really like the idea of this challenge, and I’d had big hopes to write something, but life gets in the way. My idea persists, and though I won’t get it into this challenge, I hope to finish what I started.

 

[StillStunned]

I really like the idea of this challenge, and I’d had big hopes to write something, but life gets in the way. My idea persists, and though I won’t get it into this challenge, I hope to finish what I started.

That's a shame. Remember, though, that the challenge runs until the end of September, so that's still another month to go.

But if you don't finish it before then, you could use the "dark fairy tales" tag so that your story shows up when people search for that.

Good luck!

 

[Thefireflies]

That's a shame. Remember, though, that the challenge runs until the end of September, so that's still another month to go.

But if you don't finish it before then, you could use the "dark fairy tales" tag so that your story shows up when people search for that.

Good luck!

Thanks. Unfortunately there's no chance to finish anything worth posting by September. I will consider the dark fairy tale tag though, if when i do end up completing the story

 

[EmilyMiller]

The beginning of mine:

—

THE BITCH’S RED LINGERIE


by Emily Miller​

When I was at school, not so long ago, my English teacher told us to avoid what she called info-dumps. Starting a story with who the narrator is, her situation, what she looks like, and so on.

I’m sure that’s wise advice, and - at the time - I took it. I got excellent grades, for my essays in particular. I was heading for a good college. I hoped to major in English. Then Dad died, and The Bitch felt it would be much better if I focused on making sure the house - Dad’s house, previously Mom and Dad’s house - was clean, and that she and her pampered progeny, my step-sisters, Regina and Gretchen, had not a single one of their whims unmet.

“Cindy,” she said in her hateful, patronizing tone, “the best way to honor your father is to take care of his property, and to look after your older siblings.”

Siblings? Both were chips off of her marble block; cold, hard, liable to crack and cause all sorts of fuss. I didn’t know who I hated more, them, or her. But what choice did I have?

 

[StillStunned]

With a week to go until this event kicks off, and a month until it closes, I've finally decided which of my fairy tales I'm going to finish: "The Cobbler and the Boots".

It was my first snippet in the Fair Tales Writing Exercise, and I always meant to expand it. Here's a taste (so to speak):

**
At last he put away the cord and wrote down the measurements. “I’m–” he began, then coughed and started over. “I’m done.”

She didn’t close her long coat, however. For a long moment she gazed down at him while he stared up. Then: “Your throat sounds dry.”

He nodded. “A little.”

“I suppose it must be the dust in here, dust from the leather that you work with.”

Again he nodded.

“I imagine that you would like something to wet your throat.”

Another nod, smaller now and with a slight hesitation.

The woman pulled her coat further back, exposing her legs all the way to where they met her hips, exposing the mound between them with its curly dark hairs, exposing the dark pink folds below. "Drink," she said. It was not an invitation. It was an order.

 

[Aoife_from_Ulster]

Okay it is one week and one day until we can submit. Then a full month until the stories are posted, god, I will be on pins and needles.

 

[StillStunned]

Okay it is one week and one day until we can submit. Then a full month until the stories are posted, god, I will be on pins and needles.

The stories will be published as they're submitted. It's only the compiled anthology page that will be published at the end of the month. And you can submit your story now, if you want. Laurel generally holds back submissions until the launch date.

 

[Aoife_from_Ulster]

The stories will be published as they're submitted. It's only the compiled anthology page that will be published at the end of the month. And you can submit your story now, if you want. Laurel generally holds back submissions until the launch date.

Thank you Still, I was under a different impression for this comparing it to other events, such as the “Born To Run”

 

[TiberiusPrime]

Ok, I'm done! Definitely the longest thing I've written that's not a multi-part story. 20,300+ words. Here's a snippet of mine:

The Golden Egg

by TiberiusPrime​

Once upon a time….

Jeremy Faulkner is a darn nice guy, but he’s also very average. There really isn’t anything special about him. If you looked up average in the dictionary, you’d probably see his picture. Everything in his life was completely average from his looks to his job to how he lives his life.

He stands at 5’9”, weighing in at 180 lbs., with brown eyes and short brown hair, with a very average endowment. He works in transportation and makes an average salary of $65,000 a year. He lives in a nondescript house in a suburb of Chicago. He feels like anything he does in his life doesn't matter and he’s just there taking up space. Essentially never being lucky enough to be the one to get the goose of who lays the golden eggs.

 

[Djmac1031]

From my work in progress; im hoping to finish in time. Hell I'm just hoping to finish, being honest.

***

As he carried me to the bed I knew probably wouldn't survive this night intact, I managed to break our impassioned kiss long enough to ask one last question:

“You're name? What's your name?”

“Lobo,” he growled. “You?”

“Annej,” I managed with a breathless whisper.

“Beautiful name.” Lobo's voice was gruff, husky . “You're not as delicate a flower as you appear, are you, Annej?”

It was more of a statement than a question, but I responded with an eager, “No.”

“Good.” Lobo tossed me to the bed. He grinned at me with ravenous hunger. “Because I am about to devour you whole, little one.”

Grinning my most wicked, alluring smile, I spread my legs wide for him in invitation. “Come and get it.”

 

[SmilingLez]

My prose will be a dystopian dark fairy tale

 

[StillStunned]

I'm loving these little teasers!

 

[Sapphira_Vex]

Right I've hit submit on mine! Eek!

 

[TiberiusPrime]

I just submitted mine!

 

[dirk2024]

I'm loving these little teasers!

Dusk was falling as ‘Little Jimmy’ Aingeal dashed through the forests twisted branches, the tips of which scratched his skin and tore at his clothes. His nickname had nothing to do with his age. He graduated high school last spring with the rest of his class and was now a trainee for a local HVAC company. No, the nickname 'little' was given to him because of his size. Born small, he hadn’t grown much and now as an adult, stood all of 5'2" and his wiry body maybe weighed 125 lbs. When he was wet. Too many of the girls he had graduated with outsized him, which is why none of them had accepted his entreaties for a date on Prom Night. That was why he was out here now, in Eldritch Hollow, the spooky forest to the north of the town named Covenant's Rest. He was one of a trio of friends who had become brave adventurers, convinced that if only they were to solve the mystery of The Hollow, perhaps the young women in town would see them in a new light.

He had not seen Pauley De Angelis for two nights now.

 

[BryanRichardson]

I’ve started writing mine!

I’ve got three whole paragraphs done…

 

[StillStunned]

The official announcement is up: Dark Fairy Tales 2025 - Coming Soon.

 

[StillStunned]

I've finished my first version. A shade under 3k words for now. I assumed it would go in SF&F, but actually I think it might have to go in Fetish. Do the readers there like bossy women in thigh-high black leather boots?

 

[Aoife_from_Ulster]

I've finished my first version. A shade under 3k words for now. I assumed it would go in SF&F, but actually I think it might have to go in Fetish. Do the readers there like bossy women in thigh-high black leather boots?

Many readers anywhere won’t enjoy a bossy woman in thigh, high black leather boots

Goodness now you have me intrigued

 

[StillStunned]

Goodness now you have me intrigued

Yay, that's one reader on the hook already!

 

[dirk2024]

I've finished my first version. A shade under 3k words for now. I assumed it would go in SF&F, but actually I think it might have to go in Fetish. Do the readers there like bossy women in thigh-high black leather boots?

You tell me. https://www.redgifs.com/watch/culturedcalmjellyfish

 

[TiberiusPrime]

I've finished my first version. A shade under 3k words for now. I assumed it would go in SF&F, but actually I think it might have to go in Fetish. Do the readers there like bossy women in thigh-high black leather boots?

1




I kid, I kid....

 

[StillStunned]

I've decided it needs an extra sex scene. Or rather, I have to devote a scene to putting the boots on, and that's going to lead to sex.

 

[StillStunned]

Phew! I've submitted mine. It came out at 3.8k words in the end. I hope I managed to preserve the fairy tale tone throughout.