Behind the Story: The Face We See

Well hello, it's me again, coming to tell you that I predicted the future!

Unfortunately I didn't predict the future I wanted, but the future that was bound to happen. Up until this point I have been KILLING the short story competitions with steady increases in my score to the point that I was certain that a cash prize, fame, and fortune (yes I'm repeating monetary spoils) were well within in my sights. Well dear reader, I'm sorry to say that what I got this time around was the exact opposite of that.

Heading into August this year I enlisted in the Summer 2025 MicroFiction battle which meant I had 48 hours to write a 250 word story including the prompts Road Trip, Entertainer, and Disguise. I won't beat around the bush, I didn't have a clue where I wanted to take this one but I knew one thing for certain. I just wanted to do better than I did the first time I entered this contest exactly one year ago.

You see, I've been lying to you. I mentioned in a previous post that the first time I entered this writing battle contest was for my Liquid Cold story in the fall of 2024. That's not true. My actual first attempt was the 2024 Summer Microfiction battle where I wrote a story called the Catcher's Sentence. It was a wild story where I had large ambitions and very little experience cramming my thoughts into so few words. I was proud of it, but I only ended up winning 6/10 battles and not moving on to the final round of judging. Looking back on it now I find that particular story kind of cringy and confusing which is why I didn't post it originally, but for context I'll include it below as a sort of bonus.

Anyways, coming into this new round of micro fiction I was sure that with the extra year of experience that I would be able to beat that score and show how much I evolved as an artist. I was going to have clear and definitive proof of my journey forward in a field where that doesn't really exist.

Well... it didn't work out like that.

The story I wrote only ended up winning 3/10 battles. Yes you read that right, 3/10. A complete and absolute trouncing of my hard work. But you want to know something? It's actually okay. Yes there was the initial shock where I thought "What the actual f***!?" but for the first time that I've been doing these contests, it didn't feel like a reflection of my true talents. Yes I had put a lot of time and effort into that story, and yes I lost by a landslide, but I knew that I did all that I could. I tried some new things, ended on a fun note that I liked, and sometimes that doesn't resonate with people. I have no control over that and that's okay. I wasn't going to let it ruin my weekend. And even though the score isn't a reflection of my growth, I believe my reaction is. I mean come on I've literally written about how I would cry over these contests in previous posts!!! There weren't any tears this time baby!!

Truly though the best part of this contest is receiving the feedback. When I get judged ten times, I also receive ten pieces of positive and negative critique. It's not so nerve wracking when I've won a decent amount of the battles but when I've won THREE I imagine all the critique is going to be about how much they hate me as a person and think I'm terrible. Obviously that's not the case but the funny thing about it is how contradictory the feedback can be. It's part of the many joys of writing. Let me show you an example below of two pieces of contradictory feedback:

See what I mean? What works for one person might not work for another. What I like, you might not. There's no pleasing everyone and the feedback has helped me to learn that. That being said, not all feedback is contradictory and it's important for me to always practice reading it with an open mind and try to see through an individuals bias and get to what the issues might really be.

Anyways, this was a lot of behind the scenes rambling. I'm not over the moon with my 3/10 score, but I'm happy with my reaction. I'm also excited for the next battle, I have two coming up in October and I can't wait to see what sort of nonsense I come up with then!

Thanks for reading along as always. As promised below I'll post my VERY FIRST short story so be kind as I be ~vulnerable~

Until next time,

M

The Catcher's Sentence

by Mitchell Hoyle

Repeat.

The doorbell jingles as I’m pulled in, the fly paper floor grabbing at my feet as I’m compelled towards the booth in the back. My friends greet me with blurred faces, their features coming in and out of focus like fish in a pond.

The drinks materialize and the reflection taunts me. For it’s not me staring back, but the intricacies of the beaded web that keep me here. I want to stop it all, but the cup finds its way to my lips. The familiar poison swelling in my stomach.

I blink and asphalt becomes my resting place. The night sky twinkling above like the shards of glass adorning my broken body. A constellation forms, the woven net, and through it I see myself asleep in a bed, dotted with scars but free of the nightmare that is my reality. The wails begin, but they’re not mine. Why hadn’t it been me instead?

Repeat.

I’m at the bar, my stomach swells, I hear the cries.

Repeat.

I try to resist, I want it to stop, I wish it were me.

Repeat.

I startle at the bell. The booze crusted floors sucking at my feet as I’m forced towards the booth. I don’t even know if I’m me anymore, don’t know if I ever was. I exist solely in the catcher, held to it’s cruel cycle of my own imagination. Resistance is my one hope but the glass only shakes in my hand.

I hear the cries.

Repeat.

*Hello. It's Mitchell again. Are you confused!? My prompts were Jail Break, Dream Catcher, and Habitual Drinker. I was trying to write a story from the perspective of a drunk driving dream that is caught in a dream catcher. Very cerebral. Very high literature. Nobody understood it haha.