In the third round we had people stuck in a lift, and for the fourth round we wanted stories told by a suitcase. Writing from the perspective of an inanimate object is not an easy task, but the writers all did well. This makes it even more sad that we have to say goodbye to eight of them, as only ten writers go through to the semi-finals of the Fiction Marathon.
Just to recap: once the fourth writing round closed, all stories were sent to the judges – anonymized – and the public voting round opened.
During the public voting round, feedback was left on the stories, which you can find at the bottom of the fourth voting round post.
A tip on reading the feedback: not all feedback will be good, and you might feel negative emotions when you read it. Don’t. It’s been given to help you, to give you tips to improve your writing. It’s up to you whether you do anything with the feedback, or just ignore it, but never feel discouraged when you read it. Turn it into something positive, and ace your next assignment!
Let’s get on to the official part of the 2022 fourth round results.
The authors
1. Me and Bobby McGee – Stephanie Scissom
2. My Romantic Rendezvous – Steeled Snake Charmer
3. Suitcase in the Bardo – Christopher Robin
4. The Faithful Sister – Elk Vilianni
5. Saving the Andrewverse – Hardison Parker
6. What I’m Useful For – Jessica Wilcox
7. The Pullman’s Peril – J. Sharland Day
8. Life of Crocodile – Alexander Gibbons
9. Rough Treatment – The barefoot sub
10. The Beach is Nice – Lyndsey Ellis-Holloway
11. The Moveable Type – Bob Merckel
12. Packed Full Of Memories – Eric J Stover
13. A Life Well-Lived – Caitlin Mazur
14. Until Death – Kristen Haveman
15. Never Travel Alone – Marcello Spektor
16. One Way Trip – August Wright
17. Dreams Dashed Again – Kelly Cathy
18. Cleaning House – Marsha Adams
Public vote
We kept track of all votes during the public voting, and in total 60 legitimate votes have been received. We are amazed by and grateful for your support!
Winner of the public vote (tie):
Me and Bobby McGee by Stephanie Scissom and The Moveable Type by Bob Merckel
The result of the voting can be found below.
This is the full result of the public vote:
Jury vote
Each jury member sends in their votes individually. The lowest score is removed, and the average of the three remaining scores is the jury result.
Winner of the jury vote: Me and Bobby McGee by Stephanie Scissom
The jury’s votes are as follows:
Overall results for fourth round
The public votes and that of the jury are added up to get to the end result for the round.
The overall winner of the fourth round is: Me and Bobby McGee by Stephanie Scissom
The overall results are as follows:
Rankings after third round
We work with rankings from the first to the fourth round, where writers accumulate points from the jury and public votes. Those at the bottom of the rankings will be knocked out in the rounds where it’s applicable.
In the table below you find the rankings after four rounds.
Please note: In round 5 and 6 there will be no rankings. Those at the bottom of the scoring will be knocked out of the race.
Knocked out
As is stated in the marathon rules, only 10 writers go through to round 5 of the competition. This means we have to say goodbye to four writers. They are:
- Marcello Spektor
- August Wright
- Steeled Snake Charmer
- Kelly Cathy
- J. Sharland Day
- Hardison Parker
- The barefoot sub
- Alexander Gibbons
Many thank for your participation and entertaining us with your stories!
As said above, the accumulating of points only happens until round 4. In round 5 the slates are wiped clean, and all writers that remain in the competition, will be on equal footing.
Next round
Thank you to everyone who has written for this round and thank you to all the voters who have taken the time to read the entries, to vote and for those who have given feedback. A special thanks to the jury members for their hard work!
The writers will be sent the third assignment later today and have until midnight London time on 2 September 2022 to send in their stories. The next public voting round opens on 5 September 2022.
