I Won a Short Story Contest!

*whispering to myself* it's not bragging to be proud of yourself, it's not bragging to be proud of yourself, it's not bragging- you've been debating whether or not to post this for like 2 months now get a hold of yourself.

So please don't think I'm bragging because I'm not, I'm just really excited.

So several months ago, I heard about a short story contest being held by the ladies of Tales of the Lonely Sun, and since the theme was Twisted Fairytales, I said to myself, "why the heck not", and signed up.  I've been wanting to work on short story writing anyway, and it was the perfect opportunity.

The fun thing about this contest is that we were assigned the fairytale we were supposed to retell (which was such a nice thing to my indecisive self), and the story I was given was "The Wild Swans" by Hans Christian Anderson - the story of a girl named Elise and her 11 cursed older brothers who are swans by day and men by night.  And I had no ideas.  None whatsoever.  The idea well was dry.



The point was to put a spin on the fairytale, and the one tiny idea drop in the well was a fairytale setting.  And that couldn't work.  On this vicious cycle went for about two weeks until one day I thought to myself, "Abby, you're writing a historical fantasy novel and loving it.  why not write make this historical fantasy too?"



And the spark that turned into "West" was born.  Originally, I had thought it might be cool to write almost a prequel to my Bonnie and Clyde novel, to help explain how magic got west, but Elise and her brothers decided they wanted to stand alone, and I respect that.  (and also the 5,000 limit.  that was mostly the reason, pfft)

So after settling (lol) on the Oregon Trail as a time period, coming up with names for all 11 brothers, and a lot of this:



I had a finished first draft.  And had a little cry.  Because the last time I finished the first draft of a story I was probably... 10?  11 maybe?  And here I was staring at a little story that I was really proud of. 

It went through a couple more drafts, and I sent it in.

And I had another little cry a month later when I heard that it won the contest.

So now I'm happy to present to you, "West".  The story of Elise, on her way to Oregon in 1846 with her brothers who are men by day and oxen by night.  Also featuring Michael King, the frontiersman I would marry in a second tbh, Jon, the nerdy big brother I would also marry in a second, Oskar, the general store proprietor, scarves made of stinging nettles, bottles of magic, and probably the Softest romance I've written.  I could gush about this story for hours (and have, to various friends), but that's all I will say for now, because you can go and read it for yourself.

- Click here to read West -

And if you're curious I also have a playlist that I put together while I was working on it and I've been vibing to it for the past two months, I'm not gonna lie.

Anyway, that's enough rambling from me for today.  I hope you like the story if you decide to read it, and even if you don't, I hope you liked my Muppets gifs.



~ Abby