A total of 51 entries were made for the Second Annual Brno Short Story Writing Contest before the April 30 midnight deadline. Now, it’s up to the four judges to decide the best. Photo: Pixabay
Brno, May 3 (BD) –If you want to get a feel for how writers addressed the “Out of the Box” contest theme, their own brief descriptions are listed below.
BSSWC-2 was a free contest with only one entry per person. Each story had to be in English and 2,500 words or less. The contest winner will receive 6,000kc. Second place gets 2,000kc and third place gets 1,000kc. There will also be Honorable Mention entries.
The jury includes a cross-section of local cultural icons and writing enthusiasts: Don Sparling, a co-founder of the Brno Expat Centre and a longtime leader in the local expat and Masaryk University communities; Tomáš Kačer, a teacher in the Department of English and American Studies at MU and a translator; Anna Formánková, a translator and a book editor at MOBA Publishing House; and contest co-founder and Brno Writers Group co-founder Lee Adams, the At the Movies blogger for the Brno Expat Centre.
The jury has been instructed that the contest is focused on creating a story that includes the theme “Out of the Box” in some significant way. The story is the most important aspect, including writing, originality, character development, and plot development. It is understood that most of the entrants are not native English speakers and that, in fact, this may have been their first attempt to write creatively in English. All entrants should have endeavored to adhere to the rules of English; however, spelling and grammar are not be critical for success.
The winners will be determined when the judges meet in early June. Results will be announced by mid-June.
Information will be posted on the contest website at www.brnowritersgroup.blogspot.com. You can also go to www.facebook.com/brnowritersgroup for information.
Brno Daily (brnodaily.cz) and the Brno Expat Centre (brnoexpatcentre.eu) are both media sponsors of the Brno Short Story Writing Contest.
BSSWC-2 Synopses
Though you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can get a feel for how writers addressed “Out of the Box” through their own brief descriptions. The synopses are printed below in the order that the entries were received. Each synopsis is intended only for publicity purposes; it is not judged as part of the contest entry. Some entrants did not include a synopsis. Stories will be available to read after the winners have been announced in June.
Hope
This short story is about kitty, one person and hope. Its about you and me, basically, it gives you enough space to find out, who you want to be in the story. I hope so.
Jack
The gift of a simple toy stretches people’s memories and experiences. What comes out of the box is not always what one might expect.
The Great Escape
In a tale of unexpected circumstances and a thirst for freedom, will an escape plan find its stroke of luck?
Racing the Lid
A short story based on the phrase “Out of the Box”. Featuring: black coffee, orange juice and mint tea.
A Simple Mistake
The most promising, yet at the same time terrifying, thing about life is that you never know what tomorrow may bring you.
Do you hear me…
This is the story of the loneliness and love of two expats, of the hardships and will that they needed, because life changes are never easy.
Dreambox
The Dreams are a whole new world. A world inside of a box.
Sweet Peas
The highly idealized, very short, but really beautiful story of a young boy and his desired flowers.
How to be on time
The story describes a worker in a software company who is very often late. He invents a solution how to be on time which is „out of the box“.
Out of the box (1)
Nobody knows that there’s someone inside the old abandoned house – a boy named Arran is trapped in the haunted room in a supernatural invisible prison, an unknown force is holding him there. How long will he survive, can he solve a terrifying mystery he’s involved in, can he find an escape out of the Box, will someone help him before it’s too late?
The story of life
The story of life written out of the box.
Out of my mind
No synopsis provided.
Playing God with František
No synopsis provided.
Come closer
Vince gets a souvenir from his brother’s trip to Japan, but there’s something unusual about it. After unpacking it, he can’t seem to focus on anything else.
The Box That Is My Life
A girl is trying to leave her old life behind by getting back at people who represent a chapter of her past that she would prefer to forget, and ends up spiraling down to a dark place instead.
The Encounter
A woman on holiday goes on a seaside walk and gets into conversation with a man. Their talk makes her ponder questions of choice, morality, and trust. People didn’t come to this city for the sea. Some came for the cheap booze. Others for the European exotica. And yet others had always been here anyway.
What if Mo stood for Moses?
A story of a girl on the verge of losing two of the most important men in her life.
Missing. Bring him back! Reward. Please call…
Another story without story: this is the narration of a three-feet-god who wants to be human. The story must be read with a song of dembow while being near the beach, but any other genre at a 100BPM would also work.
How I Found Myself in Japan
When you do not belong to the place where you have to hide your true self in order to fit in.
Nice to meet you, Valerie
Ella has never attended a funeral before and now she is supposed to mourn her scary grandmother, but she does not know how to mourn her. Instead, she wanders off following a cat and finds herself in a forest, where she meets beautiful Valerie.
The Černá Pole Kid
The dog walking of a foreigner who has anxiety towards authorities turns into an action-packed adventure in Brno after meeting a kid with a box in a public garden.
The Discovery
During the archaeological excavations in a not-so-near future, several human bodies were found with weird objects in or near their hands.
The Great Escape
The date: Easter, 1948; the day of my parents’ escape from Czechoslovakia. Every family has origin stories that point up the spirit of their forebears. My parents’ fictionalized account of their flight from their homeland is one of the legends that captures their essence as a young couple willing to take enormous risks in the face of direct danger and future uncertainty.
Blindness
Your disability does not define who you are.
On your knees
Three people. One square. And the end of the world.
Lost in Translation
This is what happens when your soul can’t leave.
Out Of The Box (2)
Every Thursday a student and a teacher meet up and spend the night together. They share the same bed, talk the same talks and the future looks bright and uncomplicated.
The Reconstruction on the Tram Line number 12.
From Komárov to Brno city center, Klára is supposed to deliver an “object“ of great importance. The reconstruction of the sewing system under the tram line number 12, however, changes the way the things should have been. Picked up in the tram, sold on a yard sale and stolen in a robbery, the “object“ creates its own history.
Dictator
Freedom is not something we should take for granted in this world. As there will always be sick people who want to have a control over other people…
World Of Thousand Choices
A brief insight into the life of a lost man, who is looking for some kind of a closure to his problems. His troubles escalate after he let some of his demons escape a box he created for them and kept closed for many years.
Exposed Frames
Hubert and his family attend a funeral of his great aunt in a small town of Bouzov.
Reflections
I keep coming to the lake, enjoying its calmness and being just with myself. One night a new companion joins me and my life changes completely.
a box
my therapist told me that I’m crazy after reading this story… she doesn’t think i’m crazy because because it’s a bizarre experience to have had, she thinks i’m crazy because she’s imaginary. also, an abundance of ellipses is no longer… fashionable.
Yellow Snail
What should I do to protect my mind against villains?
Over the Fields Under Bílé Karpaty
This is a story of unexpected encounters, with a little jazz, one hot potato, a dash of stealth, and a promise kept.
The Last Time
They were young and in love, of that no-one had any doubt. But when a relationship this intimate begins to turn sour, you can’t always predict what will come out of the box.
Thinking Outside of the Box
Such a phrase is used when you want to describe how creative and original something is, how it breaks conventions and people’s expectations. But it breaks people’s expectations even more to take this phrase so literally that you separate someone’s mind from their body and make them think outside the box you locked them in.
The Rise of The Queen
This story is about a girl called Harriet, she is on her way to the final bachelor exam and during her way she has got some philosophical questions about putting people into boxes. She also remembers what people did her in the past because of this division and retrospectively thinks about it.
Out of the Box (3)
The story about filled and unfilled love. Will Jim´s gift realy a surprise?
Life Comes At You Fast
One minute you live in Manhattan, working as a lawyer, never really giving a thought to ordering food in restaurants or basic administrative tasks like the DMV. The next minute, you find out on a Wednesday that your wife has a job offer in Prague. She needs to decide by Monday, and be there in 10 days. She takes the job, and you get a lot of questions from friends. Most frequently; “You’re moving to Czechoslovakia?”
Outside is the Right Side
Even in an infinitely big universe there is a teeny tiny possibility to discover something bigger.
To date or not today
A story of young man asking his twin brother to be his proxy in work, so he could have third date with a girl. Out of a box soultion with unexpected ramifications.
The Moon In The Sky, And The Stars, And I’ll Die
A girl takes a social media break and is confronted with herself, which makes her think about life, and eventually about death, too. Trying to find herself, she understands her mortality and starts to desperately look for answers that give her life a meaning, which, after she talks to her parents about it, might be love.
Cat on a Hot Leaky Lap
A story about a generation that can have everything, achieve anything, love anyone and think out of the box, yet it loses joy, sense and hope and goes through a disillusioning times.
Unrequited Love
Pain is not linear, it’s circular. It tends to pay more visits than one.
Gravity
I always wondered how our little cube looked from outside, but if I knew. I’ve never would have left.
Out Of The Box (4)
No synopsis provided.
She
This story is about everything, or nothing. It is all up to you.
The Pendulum of the Mind
There is no right or wrong, just sense and nonsense and they are intertwined as magic allows them. Feel free to enjoy it. It is your choice.
Don’t Be Collie
Memories from my childhood on two unique neighbours.
Aren’t you afraid of the sun?
This story is about losing hope and finding it again, in unexpected places.
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