Competition!

[Gibs960]

There's a local writing competition and I'm going to enter, first prize is a laptop, second is a digital camera and third prize is an MP3 player. Hopefully I can show that I'm a good writer and win! The subject is summer holidays, so I have an idea...

I'm going to do the story in this thread but with something saying I'm bored and go to a haunted house, then wake up and find it's all a dream Tell me if you think I should include anything

[Misawa]

No one likes a dream revelation.

[louder]

I'm going to do the story in this thread but with something saying I'm bored and go to a haunted house, then wake up and find it's all a dream Tell me if you think I should include anything

well, "i'm bored, let's go to a haunted house. oh this is scary. oh it was a dream."
not the best, or most original plot i've heard.

everybody hates it when it was just a dream. don't do it.

[Gibs960]

so how should I end it?

[dbgtz]

haunted house is cliche and is more of a halloween thing
i think youre best off doing like, if you wanted to stick to the haunted theme, have the haunted go to him (like in paranormal activity except that sucked).

[Nicola]

Stories that end with you waking up from a dream are never favoured.

Leave it on a cliff hanger but not in a way where you have no idea what happens next, more like a cliff hanger where the reader finds something out that they may have suspected in the story all along, or hint something that they didn't expect but they aren't certain that they know what it is. I think that's better than leaving someone completely clueless as the end

[Matthew]

Stories that end with you waking up from a dream are never favoured.

Leave it on a cliff hanger but not in a way where you have no idea what happens next, more like a cliff hanger where the reader finds something out that they may have suspected in the story all along, or hint something that they didn't expect but they aren't certain that they know what it is. I think that's better than leaving someone completely clueless as the end

i think thats what you should do (leave it on a cliffhanger)

its usually the best way to leave a reader because it leaves them thinking about how it could end, keeps the judge thinking about your story for longer.

thats the way to go imo

[Jahova]

The dream ending is a no.

[Apple]

People need to know that he is actually just 11, I know it's hard to tell with him having excellent spelling/grammar but you have to keep in mind that he has just left primary school this year so obviously stories that include haunted houses and it all turning out to be a dream will be the stories he will be used to. Is the competition age restricted or is anyone welcome to enter? With the prizes being so good I'm guessing it may attract some very good authors that are wanting to write stories for a living. But nevertheless, not to put you down you still have a chance of winning. Try to end it with something that will shock the reader, maybe one of the main characters has been involved in something all along and the other main characters/us the reader never knew. You can sometimes have shockers that the reader may of had a tiny sneaking suspicion that this would happen to give them a sense of accomplishment in figuring the story out but don't make it too obvious because nobody likes stories that you can guess exactly what will happen at the end. Anyway good luck with it, I got an A* and an A in my English mock which involved a story and I enjoyed writing it, even though it was in the middle of an exam room which I hate. You obviously have talent in English as most ppl ur age tlk lyk dis.

[The Don]

I'm going to write a story out of pure boredom and hopefully turn it into a script lol

On Topic: I wish you the very best of luck, dream endings tend to fail, and it makes the reader/viewer resent what they just spent their time on. Imagine reading a book for like 10 hours and it turns out none of the actual things/events happened. I would try and add mystery to draw the reader in maybe having something mysterious happen in the first chapter and not explain what has happened untill the final chapter or whatever. I'd also try and use good descriptions, a wide vocabulary, personafication. Just really go for it Goodluck, let us know how it turns out.

Also is it age restricted?