Writer's Showcase Soiree - A Haunted Masquerade

[Hana]

Coding by Sir Basil. Banner by Sen.

​

WELCOME TO THE WRITER'S SHOWCASE SOIREE

---

AN INVITATION ?

What's this? The strange abandoned mansion that you see ahead of you as you clutch that slip of paper you found is suddenly flooded with lights. Shivering at the chill in the wind, you wrap your coat tighter around you and trudge through the misty front yard, determined to see what's inside. The grass underneath you crackles underneath your feet, or was it the dead brown leaves that you were stepping on?

Standing in front of the huge oak doors, you raise your hand to use the heavy brass doorknockers… Only for the doors to suddenly creak open on its own. Holding your breath, you expect to see a monster…

Only for a man in a mask to smile at you, a young lady coming up to his side and extending a welcoming smile.

"Welcome. We've been expecting you." You watch as the lady reaches out with a gloved hand, and you grip it to find that her touch is as cold as ice.

And you smile.

For you have found a place where you belong as a creature of the night...

WHAT IS THE WRITER'S SHOWCASE SOIREE ?

Good day, everyone! I hope everyone is pumped and excited for this month's Halloween, just as I am for this sweet new event we have prepared for you - the Writer's Showcase Soiree. The Soiree is a creative and hopefully helpful two-part event for this month that involves us as an entire community - from us staffers to our beloved members, we hope to help you and each other improve your writing, have fun, and make friends. It would help you flex your writing and creative muscles in the prompts and exercises we have prepared for you, should you like to participate. You may be aware of MISC - a competitive writing contest that other staff members run every other month. Same as them, WSS is slated to run every other month in alternation.

What will you do in the Soiree? Participants will follow the given prompts and exercises, and submit it in an allocated thread in the Refining Writing forum. Entries will be both reviewed by a panel of staff members and given constructive criticism, as well as peer reviews from non-staff members and even discussion! Let's have fun, everyone, creating and writing together.

Because at the heart of it all, the aim of this is to improve and learn together.

Without further ado, I welcome everyone to the opening night of the Writer's Showcase Soiree.

This month's theme is:
A HAUNTED MASQUERADE

PART ONE: THE MASK OF A MONSTER

Exercise: Create a monster that could be your own unique or personal take on traditional myths and folklore, or an entirely new creature from your imagination.

Make sure to explore this creature's appearance, name (it is possible for it to be in a foreign language if they are known in different cultures), its history (including myths), abilities, habitat, life span and gender ratio. We encourage picture references! You can write it out however you like, in paragraph form or as a CS.

These questions can help you develop the appearance of your monster.

• How tall is your monster?
• How heavy is your monster?
• What does your monster's face look like? Include eyes, mouth, nose, teeth and ears.
• Describe your monster's arm and leg appearances.
• What does your monster's hand(s) and finger(s) look like?
• Describe the aspects of your monster's feet and toes. eg. Are they smelly?
• Does it have hair/fur?
• What color is it skin/fur?
• Is there a type of texture to your monster's skin? Is it rough like sandpaper, scaly, smooth?
• Does your monster have horns, wings, tails, or extra limbs?
• Why would someone be afraid of this monster's appearance?

Here's an example monster:
[spoili]
Standing at 40cm (1'04") and weighing 5.5kg (12.1lbs), the Iwakubunnit is a small bipedal rabbit that spends most of its time lazing about the Iwaku forums doing nothing. It looks quite ordinary, covered with a fluffy and sleek coat of fur that is incredibly soft to touch. The Iwakubunnit is so cute and adorable and fluffy that when it is sleeping and has its head tucked within the mass of rabbit fur, it looks like a cloud. Beady black eyes, a twitching grey-furred nose, pointed ears that flop to the side every time it tries to get a look at you and whiskers so long that they drag on the floor. The Iwakubunnit's hands and feet and uncannily similar to human beings, with the exception of them being padded and protected with a thick layer of fur. They are surprisingly clean, but mysteriously stink with the stench of metallic blood. If one were to look closely, the Iwakubunnit has a set of horn stubs, hidden away in between its ears.

The Iwakubunnit thrive on the website IwakuRoleplay, and spend their days roaming around the forums in search for something to amuse themselves with. Sometimes, they can be found poledancing in the FAQ area, or bouncing around the Donations page in hope of catching someone's attention. They prefer higher altitudes, so the majority of them are found in the upper area of the website. The Iwakubunnit like to feast on textboxes and the occasional shitposter, but that gives them severe diarrhoea. Their favourite food of all time are other people's plots.

The first Iwakubunnit was born when the Admins offered the feather of an owl, the heart of a demon and the eye of a honey badger to the writing gods, in an attempt to summon a worthy guardian for the fledgling site that was IwakuRoleplay. The first Iwakubunnit ate up all of the shitposters, all the spambots and gave the admins their coveted and treasured Banhammers. However, after the banmins became efficient with their new weapon, the Iwakubunnit became bored, since there was not much for it to do. As a result, it went into retirement and gave birth to small Iwakubunnits that started overtaking the site. After spending so many years in the presence of writers, it seems to have turned these gentle creatures into moody and unpredictable monster.

Iwakubunnits are capable of transforming into insatiable monsters that devour all plots and stories in sight. They increase a thousandfold in size and gain immense strength capable of smashing entire threads to bits. Each Iwakubunnit has their own preference of genres, but none go unscathed after the rampage of an Iwakubunnit. They say that everytime Diana messes something up during an update, the Iwakubunnits mutate to become more and more powerful…[/spoili]

PART TWO: THE ENCOUNTER

Exercise: Write an original short story featuring a monster that was submitted in Part One. You may feature another participant's monster with respect to the author, playing the monster as a part of that race. Recommended setting is fractured fairy tale.

Bonus: Write the story from the monster's point of view.

Bonus x2: Incorporate this month's masquerade theme into the story.

PRIZES: THE HONOR ROLL

What? Honor roll and freebies? After the first Soiree event has finished running, a list of members on the Honor Roll will be published! The Honor Roll is a list of participants who have fulfilled the judges' set criteria and standards for the events, and in the following soirees people who have participated often and regularly will get a spot on the list!

For the Soiree's grand opening, the Honor Roll participants will get a chance to win redeemable freebie coupons, which are randomized awards that one can redeem anytime. There are 5 coupons that can be won each distributed to one person. What are the possible freebies that Honor Roll members can get?

Free Art Request from [Insert Staff Artist Name Here]
Free Div Box or BB Code Character Sheet or Formatting from [Insert Staff BB Code Wizard Here]
Free Character or Roleplay Banner from [Insert Staff Photomanipulation Wiz Here]
Free Character Playlist put together by [????]

People also have a chance to get the COOL THANG user banner under their names for one month. In following soirees, the more you regularly participate, the higher your chances of one day getting that fun user banner.

These coupons can also be gifted to friends, so if you have friends you'd like to help out or cheer up and you have a coupon you don't really get to use, why not make someone else's day?

GENERAL SUBMISSION RULES

Each part of the event is allotted two weeks' time to finish and submit entries. The time period for Part One begins from October 1 and ends at October 15, and for Part Two it begins October 16 and ends October 30. Any entries for the respective parts that is submitted past the deadline dates will no longer be accepted, so be mindful of these dates. We will be using the site's native time (GMT -6) to decide when the date rolls over.

To submit your entry, just post your finished work in the thread we will set up for submissions. A Contest Runner will copy and move it to the opening post so that it will be visible to those who want to post reviews. To make sure that the Soiree team will see it, please remember to tag these names: @Hana @Sen

These are the main contest runners for the Soiree, and they will put up your submissions as soon as they can once they are alerted of them.

• All entries must be submitted before the deadline dates set for each respective part of this event. Entries submitted past deadlines will no longer be reviewed; the staff reviewers all have limited time to read and review all entries. We can only help those who have submitted within those dates.
• Only one entry per part is allowed per person.
• Entries must fit within the given criteria for each challenge.
• Participants must write original entries for the challenges; they may not take concepts from original published works and use them in their submissions. Inspiration from published works is of course allowed; however the point of this activity is a creative exercise to help members create their own works.
• Plagiarism isn't allowed and if a participant is caught, they face the possibility of being banned from the Soiree.
• Submissions have a word limit of 5,000 words, but the recommended length is 3,000 words so as to not overwhelm the reviewers and the staff who will be reading over the entries. Other participants are also encouraged to read each other's entries; constructive critiques and comments are part of these exercises.

THE STAFF BEHIND THE SOIREE

Judges/Reviewers
@Hana
@Minerva
@IceQueen
@Sir Basil
@Izurich

Prompt/Challenge Creators
@Izurich
@Minerva
@WhisperingWillows
@Sen
@Kitti
@Jorick
@Hana

Awards and Gifts
@WhisperingWillows
@Sen

Event Runners
@Hana and @Sen

Let me share with you a story behind how we all came together for the Soiree. In the two years I have been on Iwaku, I've grown to adore the community and the variety of people with all kinds of talents in not just writing or roleplaying, but art, music, and so much more. But what drew me most other than it being an inspiring creative outlet for me was the people that made it up, and eventually along the road this year, I wondered to myself - how do we bring both writing and community together? We can collaborate together in groups or in partnerships, but what about something else other than roleplaying that can both be fun and helpful?

There was an idea, building inside my head about what I can also do as a part of the content staff. In my search for what I can do to help produce content and exercises to help members, I asked the members themselves about what they thought would be a good, fresh exercise.

I'd like to thank @LimeyPanda for bringing this up in a Discord server, as well as @Jorick for letting me base this event off of his old writing competitions that eventually grew into what is now MISC. If it weren't for you two, I'm not sure if the idea would have even been sparked as well as it had now.

And I'd like to thank @Sen for being there for me in the month that it took to put this together, drawing me out of my creative slumps and discouraged feelings that sometimes seemed to almost overwhelm me. She's been the angel that's been pushing me forward as always even if her methods are more a sort of tough love.

The entire team of volunteers for this group have also been wonderful in molding the ideas and suggestions we bounced back and forth into what are now are prompts for this month. Thank you so much.

Lastly, I'd like to thank you, the members, who are reading this. The members that are considering on what to write. And the community as a whole.

We welcome you all to the Soiree, and may we all enjoy the fruits of our creativity and innovation this month to present monsters that enthrall, monsters that repulse, monsters that can even be very much in the realm of possibility in the strange world that is ours. And in creating them we wear their masks to spin tales and stories to share.

- Hana

Please take note that the reviews and critiques of submissions must be posted in the reviews thread. Only submissions and discussion are to be posted here. ​

 

[Ravenfrost]

This is a great idea. Thanks for setting it up for us.

I do want to clarify one point before depleting my measly pool of remaining brain cells (I blame bath salts, head banging, dehydration and chewing tobacco) in a writing effort.

I was drafting something more along the lines of what Krieg submitted (Red Light Ravager). A unique monster. However..., one owing its creation to cross-breeding (waves at Poetlore). A cross-breeding that doesn't produce predictable results. As so often happens with certain entities.

Is that okay - or are one-shot monsters not acceptable?

Do we need to describe a uniform breed /race of monsters??

Whatever you want on your pizza, just let me know.

Please advise at your convenience, senators.

 

[Chewy Rabbits]

These submissions look cool and all.

But after thinking about it, this really just doesn't capture me like I would wish it did. Hope y'all keep coming up with cool ideas tho.

 

[rechonq]

Breaking
(Known around the world in various cultures by whatever they would call a 'Broken' person.)

The size of a Breaking varies greatly. The entirety of the spectrum ranges from 120cm to 250cm, but the greater majority are around 180cm. They are very humanoid in appearance, but are terribly pale and thin. They have ornate and alien markings that line their bodies and appendages. Their skin is hard and smooth, almost like a plastic armor with defects. They do wear clothes that are typically worn and tattered, and almost always have a hood. They all wear a white mask with perfectly round empty eye holes and an indifferent empty mouth. If one were to look into those features, no matter how close they got, they would see 'something' that is constantly enshrouded in darkness. No one ever does examine them long though. Breaking have an aura to them that make them very forgettable. Despite their appearance, they are very good at never being seen or known until it is too late.

Breaking are known worldwide and can adapt to any environment. They don't sleep, eat or drink. They merely have an innate desire to bring suffering. They can do this in two ways. The first is more passive. Breaking have ways of making people lose their inhibitors. Everyone has something about themselves they are embarrassed about or try to hide. Some things are as petty as a foot fetish and others hide desires to become work center shooters or serial rapists. Social stigma and repercussions are probably the greatest reasons people hide these desires. Breaking are constantly giving whispers that amplify these desires and breakdown any need we feel to squelch them out. It doesn't happen often, but looking into a Breaking's empty orifices will amplify this feeling tenfold. Often times people will seem completely new to those who thought they knew them. Many people become outcast by society or placed in institutions. There are many different results of Breaking's torment, but all result in the subject's internal conflict and regret.

The second way is much more direct. Occasionally Breaking gain obsessions with people. When that happens the person will typically disappear without a trace. After kidnapping their target, a Breaking will torture them until they are satisfied. This can range from a few months to a few years before they move on with life. The Breaking hardly ever kill a target and if they do it is accidental. Killing someone means they won't suffer anymore. Breaking always try to leave their victims alive to deal with the physical and mental scars that they have imprinted. Whether the subject is driven to suicide is of no concern to them. As long as they suffer. More often than not, both of these effects will be applied, so when a person is released they merely get treatment as a self-abusive loon.

Some say that a Breaking was born of a Human and that they mate with Humans or spawn from their suffering. They are their own species and do mate with each other, but they can also impregnate and be impregnated by Humans. Sex is the same as Humans, but the female doesn't carry. Instead during intercourse extra fluids are created that carry the fertilized egg away. The egg can grow underground or above ground and looks like an ordinary rock until it hatches. It doesn't hatch until it is fully grown which only takes about four years. If a human woman is impregnated she will give birth to an egg after 9 months where it will continue to grow until it hatches. Breaking are very tough and strong, but can certainly die as well. They are not bulletproof and do bleed and have hearts. Three of them to be exact. They die naturally around 100 years.

Breaking are typically nomadic and will wander the earth, only stopping to satisfy an obsession. Some will set themselves up in large cities and use technology to their advantage. No matter what Breaking are extremely resourceful, being able to make shelters and tools out of almost anything, anywhere. They're also very determined and never give up on someone. Whatever effect they had on a person lingers with them. The words or images are ingrained in their subconscious, constantly reminding them what it is that haunts them. Most have trouble explaining it, but those that are truly tortured know the Breaking intimately. Most think that Breaking are just legends, but the better one knows of them the more they fear even hearing them again.

Now that you know a little about them, pray that you never meet one, for they will drive you to your breaking point.

@Hana @Sen

(I hope this is a feasible monster.)

 

[Mu]

This is a great idea. Thanks for setting it up for us.

I do want to clarify one point before depleting my measly pool of remaining brain cells (I blame bath salts, head banging, dehydration and chewing tobacco) in a writing effort.

I was drafting something more along the lines of what Krieg submitted (Red Light Ravager). A unique monster. However..., one owing its creation to cross-breeding (waves at Poetlore). A cross-breeding that doesn't produce predictable results. As so often happens with certain entities.

Is that okay - or are one-shot monsters not acceptable?

Do we need to describe a uniform breed /race of monsters??

Whatever you want on your pizza, just let me know.

Please advise at your convenience, senators.

It would be better. If you'd rather give it mutations/cross-breeding related add ons, maybe you can give some examples of what might be different among them. The whole point of Part One is to create a monster for members to write with in Part Two, so the more uniform, the better it is for them!

 

[Krieg]

I've noticed my submission hasn't been added, is there something wrong? Just curious if I had done something wrong with the entry. I forgot the tags but included ya two right afterwards...

 

[Mu]

I've noticed my submission hasn't been added, is there something wrong? Just curious if I had done something wrong with the entry. I forgot the tags but included ya two right afterwards...

My bad, I'll be adding it now x _ x

 

[Aoi]

ooooo~~ looks fun! ^_^

 

[Turtle of Doom]

I might have missed it when I was reading through the rules and stuff but is there a deadline or deadlines for each section?

 

[Hana]

I might have missed it when I was reading through the rules and stuff but is there a deadline or deadlines for each section?

"Each part of the event is allotted two weeks' time to finish and submit entries. The time period for Part One begins from October 1 and ends at October 15, and for Part Two it begins October 16 and ends October 30. Any entries for the respective parts that is submitted past the deadline dates will no longer be accepted, so be mindful of these dates. We will be using the site's native time (GMT -6) to decide when the date rolls over."

 

[Black Dahlia]

Im so in. I just skimmed through since im on my phone but two questions.

1. As far as what the creature looks like does it have to be detailed to look like a monster or can it have the traits of a vampire for example. Beautiful yet still deadly. Not what my monster would be, just curious.

2. As far as what they look like. If i have a drawing being done but I didnt draw it. I had someone else draw it because I cant draw but its all my idea and character is this alright.

If so Im so in and will look iver everything in detail tomorrow on a computer.

 

[Mu]

Im so in. I just skimmed through since im on my phone but two questions.

1. As far as what the creature looks like does it have to be detailed to look like a monster or can it have the traits of a vampire for example. Beautiful yet still deadly. Not what my monster would be, just curious.

2. As far as what they look like. If i have a drawing being done but I didnt draw it. I had someone else draw it because I cant draw but its all my idea and character is this alright.

If so Im so in and will look iver everything in detail tomorrow on a computer.

It doesn't have to look like something from the sewers, anything that is supernatural is fine. As long as they aren't... human. Vampires and things like that count as monsters.

Yes, as long as it's your monster. You can use other people's art if it inspired you as reference for other members to see~

 

[Black Dahlia]

It doesn't have to look like something from the sewers, anything that is supernatural is fine. As long as they aren't... human. Vampires and things like that count as monsters.

Yes, as long as it's your monster. You can use other people's art if it inspired you as reference for other members to see~

Okay thank you ill look over the rules and details tomorrow

 

[IntrusivePenDesperateSword]

@Sen @Hana


Log date 23 4 26
With this, I, captain Hobsworth, announce the beginning of this traveller's log, to document the sightings and studies of the legendary Punomti, the Trees of the green Man. Me and my crew are located in Holt's woods, as caused by numerous sightings in this area. Search around the forest is still ongoing, but results are bound to appear shortly.

Log date 24 4 26
It is with absolute certainty we announce we have found a specimen of the Punomti. The circular arrangement and fixed height of six oaks, which despite lacking apparent movement, has emitted a nauseating aura. The five trees all have the height of around four metres, their branches beginning outstandingly low on the trunks, and stretching remarkably long as well, entangled in each other. A camp has been established at a safe distance from the creature, and further observations are to be done following morning.

Log date 25 4 26
The nausea caused by what we believe to be a scent emitted by the trees has become too much to bear, and several of my crew members have suggested a direct approach to this observation. Interaction, if even possible, will be attempted.

Upon approaching the trees, a certain shifting occurred in between the branches, as if a strong wind was blowing. For the record, it was not. Certain branches closer to the one approaching them, bent downwards with agility and mobility like snakes, interlocking with each other to form a shape similar to that of a woman. If another om my spectating crewmates is to be believed, the form of the branches is akin to a woman gone missing in these very woods some time ago. The trees did not speak, naturally, but in the manner they all seemed to cooperate on making a single avatar of a human, one is tempted to believe they all may share a certain consciousness.

The wooden figure stretched out its branches in the form of a hand, and seemingly oblivious to countless warnings and shouts from the rest of us, my crewmate took it with his. The womanly figure soon dissolved into a flurry of retracting and curving branches, until it all formed a single, large arm of sorts, wrapped around the arm of my crewmate. With one, abrupt movement, the wooden entanglement flung the man in a curve through the air, and violently lodged him into the top of the trunk of the northernmost tree. Despite being harshly wounded, he could still move, though his legs appeared to be locked in place. Several of the branches then proceeded to pierce his body, his throat being a particularly common target. His last breath was surrounded by the rough bark of knife-like branches.

His mouth forced open by the branches, he to the great displeasure and shock of all of us, spoke. His voice was hollow and partial, it was clear the tree in which his body was placed had taken control of him, and was now using his animal organs for its own good. His words were as such, in a language from the Africas my closest companion happened to speak: "A curse lies upon me. I wish for it to be my own. Away." His body then began emitting a horrible screech, and it was at that moment it became clear skeletal remains were standing atop each of the trees, some with more remaining rotting flesh than others.

A faint, yellow mist appeared from the trees, from which my crew fled. The distinct smell of pollen wafted through the air, making it thick and soggy. I wish to run. But I cannot. One would think the pollen would be to make more of these horrible monstrosi_________________________________

 

[DocDec]

Interested. Very interested, at that. It's been too long since I've done anything to do with writing. Should probably get back to practicing.

I've got some ideas here and there. Dunno which I'll be going with.

 

[Black Dahlia]

Also this is just the character right now, the writing. We dont do part two yet.

 

[IntrusivePenDesperateSword]

Also this is just the character right now, the writing. We dont do part two yet.

Was that regarding my entry? I know it doesn't strictly fit challenge 1's "Not a story, just information"-theme, but I felt like adding a bit of creativity. I guess.

 

[Black Dahlia]

Was that regarding my entry? I know it doesn't strictly fit challenge 1's "Not a story, just information"-theme, but I felt like adding a bit of creativity. I guess.

Oh no I'm sorry for the mix up. It was just an in general question. I didn't know if I could kill snakes with one stone.

If I could do Part one: The mask of the monster and
Part Two: The encounter at the same time. Or if it was only Part One right now.

 

[Der Außenseiter]

I want to say... I am loving the hell out of these entries and even just the conversation! And any and all of you who are entering have my express permission to use my monster if you would like to make your story about facing off with one. I'm stoked!

 

[Black Dahlia]

I want to say... I am loving the hell out of these entries and even just the conversation! And any and all of you who are entering have my express permission to use my monster if you would like to make your story about facing off with one. I'm stoked!

So then we can do both the making the monster and the story at the same time then?

 

[Der Außenseiter]

I don't know. I am doing mine in two parts. I am already writing my story, which is going to be as disgusting as my monster! ^_^