Welcome one and all to the very first edition of the Monthly Adaptive Storytelling Contest! Check out the Rules and Info thread for a general overview of how the contest works and to see all the rules and prizes. Without further ado, let's get right to the prompt. The prompt for the inaugural run of MASC is...



Is it weird to do a nostalgic tribute to an old contest for the very first run of a new contest? Yeah, probably, but sometimes life is strange like that. This prompt is in the exact same format as the old Writer of the Month contest that I used to help run in years past on the Guild. All you've got to do is write a story that fits the overarching theme and uses at least two of the listed components. You can take on the extra challenges listed below the components, but those are completely optional. Send your entries in via a PM to @Jorick before 2 AM Eastern Time on August 9th. See the Submission Rules below for full details, and ask questions in this thread or via PM if you have any.


Write a story involving a myth. Myths cover a WIDE variety of things, usually explaining traditions, historical events, or natural phenomenon. Check out Greek, Norse, Egyptian, etc. myths if you aren't familiar with what sorts of topics myths cover.

Components: Use at least two of these in your story.

• The protagonist of the story is a villain.
• The story involves one character trying to trick or deceive another character.
• The myth does not involve gods.
• The myth explains a technological advancement as the result of supernatural events rather than mortal ingenuity. (Note: things like the invention of the wheel to the creation of the first spaceship both count as technological advancements.)
• The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting.

Extra Challenges: These are optional. The entry that best fulfills each extra challenge (as decided by @Jorick) will be highlighted after the voting period ends.

• Overachiever: Use all five components in your entry.
• Mic Drop: Have a character deliver a devastating insult to another character.
• Artist: Use your words to paint a mental picture of a vividly detailed setting.

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1. Send your entry in a PM to @Jorick before the deadline: 2 AM on August 9th in the Eastern Time Zone.
2. Submissions may have no more than 5000 words.
3. One entry per person. Entries are gathered for posting after the deadline, so feel free to edit, tweak, or entirely replace your entry with something new in the PM before the deadline arrives.
4. Submissions will be posted anonymously in the voting thread.
5. No poetry entries allowed.
6. Characters and settings used for this contest must be original works. No fanfiction or non-fiction entries allowed.
7. All site and contest moderation rules are of course in effect.
8. I can and will disqualify entries that violate the above rules or fail to fulfill the prompt. The extra challenges are not required, they're just there for fun.

Write a story involving a myth.

So just to be clear: the story does not have to be the myth in itself. It can be any prose story at all as long as the myth affects the narrative in a significant way?

<Snipped quote>

So just to be clear: the story does not have to be the myth in itself. It can be any prose story at all as long as the myth affects the narrative in a significant way?

Yep, a myth just needs to be an important element, not the entirety of the story. An entry that is the telling of a myth in and of itself would definitely count though.

Are we allowed to do re-tellings of real world myths should they fit the brief?

Are we allowed to do re-tellings of real world myths should they fit the brief?

Sure.

Mummy

Written
By

Timothy Rhymer


Chapter One

Ancient Egypt
391 B.C.

Long ago, there was a Pharaoh by the name Ammu Calotep who had a daughter, Princess Nabul-tepites, and her father had once told her that she was going to
rule Egypt. But the Pharaoh fell in love with his brother/ bodyguard Nabmu Calotep's girlfriend Elonu-pheties.

Then one day Elonu-pheties gave birth to the Pharaoh's son. So now the Pharaoh's son will inherit Nabul-tepites's destiny. Out for revenge, Nabul broke the most worst of ancient laws, she made a pact to embrace evil...She made a pact with Set the Egyptian God Of Death and to seal the pact, she had to turn someone against mankind and over to evil. So, Set gave her the worst of the worst gifts, he gave her his dagger "The Dagger Of Eternal Evil". But before she could seal the pact, Pharaoh's guards stopped her and mummified her alive and put her in a sarcophagus and took her far from Egypt and sealed her in a tomb where she'll spend all of eternity in darkness.

@Jorick So, I wanted to double check something that's probably unnecessary. So the topic is about mythology, but most of the rules are about a myth. Both make me imagine rather different things. So what scale does this story need to be? If the story simply *includes* some kind of mythological creature. Would that fit the rule? Would a modern myth fit the prompt? (Like Santa Claus or Urban Legends?) Is folklore separate from mythology? (It's usually done so in scale.)

Mummy

Written
By

Timothy Rhymer


Chapter One

Ancient Egypt
391 B.C.

Long ago, there was a Pharaoh by the name Ammu Calotep who had a daughter, Princess Nabul-tepites, and her father had once told her that she was going to
rule Egypt. But the Pharaoh fell in love with his brother/ bodyguard Nabmu Calotep's girlfriend Elonu-pheties.

Then one day Elonu-pheties gave birth to the Pharaoh's son. So now the Pharaoh's son will inherit Nabul-tepites's destiny. Out for revenge, Nabul broke the most worst of ancient laws, she made a pact to embrace evil...She made a pact with Set the Egyptian God Of Death and to seal the pact, she had to turn someone against mankind and over to evil. So, Set gave her the worst of the worst gifts, he gave her his dagger "The Dagger Of Eternal Evil". But before she could seal the pact, Pharaoh's guards stopped her and mummified her alive and put her in a sarcophagus and took her far from Egypt and sealed her in a tomb where she'll spend all of eternity in darkness.

Uhh, not sure what's going on here my dude, but if you want to enter the contest then you need to read and follow the submission rules. Entries aren't supposed to be posted into this thread.

@Jorick So, I wanted to double check something that's probably unnecessary. So the topic is about mythology, but most of the rules are about a myth. Both make me imagine rather different things. So what scale does this story need to be? If the story simply *includes* some kind of mythological creature. Would that fit the rule? Would a modern myth fit the prompt? (Like Santa Claus or Urban Legends?) Is folklore separate from mythology? (It's usually done so in scale.)

The title intentionally went for the big boy overarching term as an attempt (possibly made in vain) to note the vast array of things that the term "myth" can cover. I was going more for the "study of myths" meaning than the "collection of myths pertaining to one religion/culture" meaning. The scale of this contest requires only the use of a singular myth, but more than one is fine too if you can fit it all in there.

That said, modern myths, folklore, and urban legends would all qualify as myths under that broad umbrella. However, just including some creature from a myth wouldn't quite count unless the myth is also discussed/explained/mentioned in the entry, though honestly even a line or two can cover your bases there.

Just so folks are aware and not wondering what's up, I'm pushing the deadline back a day. Any entries submitted on August 9th (in US time zones) will be accepted, and the voting/critique thread will go up shortly after midnight.

My vacation took away my time to get a proper entry. But I'll eventually get around to reading and reviewing these, might be after the weekend.