Do we write the story before entering, or can we enter and then write the story?

Neat idea, crizyz! I might just have a go at this. Thanks. ^_^

Where must I post the story?

Aha, generous giveaway, and a great idea! But why am I not surprised to see 12 entries and 0 stories. :( Good luck with your re-rolls...

Once upon a time there was a young sailor, he was sailing his nice little ship on a calm sea when pirates came and attacked. The sailor fought valiantly but then was pushed overboard by captain snucklebeard. The sailor swam to an abandoned island and lived there happily ever after.

To be continued... maybe

You seek inspiration in wrong places

thx

About 500 years ago, a great adventurer started his journey to sail around the world. But already the first week of his trip, he encountered a problem. A tropical storm was raging just in front of is ship, and it was impossible to sail away. The ship got dragged down under water, and the captain locked himself in his cabin, hoping he could survive the storm. Unfortunately the ship was destroyed completely and the captain was never to be found again. However, he did not die in that storm. The moment the ship touched the bottom of the ocean, the sand made it impossible to see what was happening, but the captain felt the ship started moving. The ship was falling in again, then it started rising again, and soon enough the ship reached the surface. But when the captain looked to the sky, he was stunned. There was no sky, only rocks. The ship was stranded in a underwater cave. And the captain just knew he was not alone in there...

Hope you like my story! xD
EDIT: fluff ¬¬

The lights faded as I fell deeper into the depths.

I had to do it. I needed it. Was there any other way? I borrowed it and couldn’t repay it, so they came after my family.

The carpet was soaked and the walls painted with gasoline. I lit a match and stepped outside as the flames engulfed my home. As it crackled and roared, a shrill scream pierced my mind.

No, it couldn’t be. She was supposed to be at her mother’s. I tried to run back in, but the door was blocked by fiery debris. Ran around back, knocked out the window, reached for the ledge and was knocked back by an unrelenting explosion. I was thrown into the pool and pinned down by a smoldering wreck.

It was done. I hoped to repay my debts with the insurance money. I hoped it would ensure my family’s survival.

The lights faded as I fell deeper into the depths.

I could no longer hold my breath. My mouth opened. Water rushed in and extinguished my burning thoughts. As the lights flickered out of sight, I found comfort under an ocean of trouble.

Jack went down beneath the water on a survival mission from poseidon. He died during this mission by an angry underwater unicorn.

Can you give me a guideline on the shortest / longest the story can be? And how in depth would you prefer?

edited
(please post on my steam profile to remove my entry if not, i read your rules)

My story is about a man who lived in a small town near the ocean. He had that kind of lifestyle that we'd call normal (which is just another way to say boring). This man had a steady job, he lived with his wife and a dog and had a couple of unadventurous friends who only found joy in getting drunk every Friday night. It's quite easy to imagine what kind of man he was, simply because he was just like most people are: normal.
He didn't recall having any hobbies or passions in the past. He didn't care about movies or books, the only thing he cared about is protecting himself from losing everything that made his life normal. In fact, his lifestyle even started to affect his dog. A playful puppy him and his wife adopted a few years back turned into a dog which doesn't ever bark or play with it's toys. If a burglar would ever break into the man's house, his dog would just be okay with it because no one was allowed to cause panic in this house.
But surprisingly this man had one interesting activity in his daily routine. Every day before heading off to work he came to the ocean shore, stood there and looked at the horizon until it was time to go to the office. Was he thinking about his future? Did he realize that he's wasting his lifetime on something he doesn't hate or love, he's just okay with?
One day, during his regular trip to the ocean shore he frowned when he saw a group of children skipping their lessons to play on the beach. He thought about how irresponsible these kids are and that he would never do anything like this, but seeing their smiling faces and hearing their laughter made him try and remember the last time he had as much fun as these kids were having. Words 'would never do anything like this' started to sound in a complete different way in his head and the man, crushed by this sudden realization, whispered: 'If only I had a second chance'.

Long story short: magic happened, there was a Tsunami, the man traveled underwater to save his wife and a bored dog, they survived and now he's ready to start a new life.

If you don't like happy endings: he died trying to save his wife and an unimpressed dog, no one survived, but his last thoughts were that he's happy he at least tried. And that dying sucks.

Hope it's good enough!

I'm going to tell you about a legend that I heard many years ago from a retired soldier. The story begins with our main character: an skilled ex-cop who quit the job for untold reasons, and decided to follow the footsteps of his now deceased father and reform the old boat that once belonged to his old man and explore the seas, alone and calmly. He had no wife or son at that time, but is unknown if he ever had one of them or both. Even though he wasn't a cop anymore, he was always with his trusty 90two, an old beretta whom he said had saved his life many times.

Sitting on a bar near the coast, the now adventurer swallow the last gulp of whisky from the glass, and while he felt the liquid going down his throat he looked at the bottom of the glass and saw his reflex, just for enough time to notice that some white hair started growing up. Immediatly, flashes about his old carrer as a cop came, and he felt sad that so much time had past, but also felt happy that he was starting to bury that deep down, and maybe even forgetting about it. He decided that it was time to get the boat and go back to the seas. And so he did.

After one week navigating, the adventurer was stunned the events ocurred on that place were still on his mind. That was uncommon, since the alcohool used to erase everything, at least for some time. Thoughts about how he had nothing started to come back, and not even the best of his drinks could make that go away. But there was nothing he could do, so he decided to stay on the seas and let the "water" make his problems disappear.

One month on the boat and the ex-cop decided it was time to go back to the coast and resuply. Unfortunately for him, the sun went down and a dark storm came, with winds that seemed like hurricanes and waves that seemed like huge unbreakable walls. Thunders were coming from everywhere, and the adventurer started to worry if he would ever make out of that wet mess. As he tried to control the uncontrollable boat, he noticed that some of the bolts were coming from underwater and making all the way to the sky. He didn't give much importance to that at the moment, but some time later something else caught his attention. An extremely loud groaning sound came from his back, and when he turns to see what is going on he looks into the sky but it's not the sky he sees. An huge sea animal, shaped like a snake but with sharp teeth and big fins that seemed like they could cut through the hardest of the stones was there, with bolts all over his body. The boat immediatly looked like a kids toy, and in no time the animal started a motion to crush the ship in two, but as that happened, the instincts of the cop were activated and the man pulled his gun from the holster in a blink of an eye, and as everything seemed slow for him he shot the monster in the eye, avoiding the certain death. The animal groaned loud and went underwater. The storm stopped after a while, and the adventurer saw an big island on the background, as it yet was a little far away. "What the hell is going on here!?" he thought. "Did I miss my way? My map must be wrong. This island is not even drawn on it!". Nothing could answer him now.

As he was running dangerously low on supply, the adventurer decided to make his way to the island, and see if maybe he could gather some supplies and fix the boat who had taken some damage from the last night. As he got closer, an familiar sound runned through his spine. It was the animal again. But this time he didn't played around. The monster hit the boat through the bottom of it, sending the adventurer and the wrecks directly to the island. It was pure luck the man landed on a big pile of sand, otherwise he could have suffered serious damage and maybe even death itself. "Great" he thought. Right now he had no supplies at all. No boat, no food, no water nor a way to get out of there. He would have to discover what the island had for him. At least he still had his weapon with him, but with low to no bullets. He would have to survive.

So, what do you think?

I'm trapped under the ice. Holy Shit! How did I end up here?!

It was supposed to be another lazy weekend scuba-diving - short venture to keep my skills in tight. Just go to the same lake I go diving whole the year. We cut the hole in the ice and went below. Everything was going according to the plan until we lost sight of John. We communicated through the radio, and decided to go and look for him. Mary, prepared for all circumstances, as always, tossed us a line. We connected it to our belts, after all we don't want to lose anyone else now. I was the last one in line. We were diving further and further below - cold water should provide extremely clear vision, but as we progressed deeper and deeper strangely the vision became very blurred. After 10 minutes I wasn't able to see person next to me. But we had to save John!

5 minutes later Mary tried to say something over the radio, but I couldn't understand a word that she was saying. I've heard loud speech in langueage I've never heard before on static. It was so loud I couldn't hear anyone from the team. But I was still diving deeper and deeper - We had to save John!

At instant I've felt a powerful pull on the line we were all connected to, I began to descent faster than ever. I tried to communicate with my team over the radio, but the strange-language-static was too loud! Suddenly all the water around me turned red! I'm an experienced scuba diver, I can tell the color of blood in water - and that was exactly this color! I suddenly remembered my survival training from old days - your partner is dead? - CUT THE ROPE! I reached towards knife on my belt and quickly cut the rope.

I swimmed upwards as fast as I could, in meantime I reached to my GPS tracker next to my belt. Luckily I saved the position of the hole we've cut in the ice. Water was becoming darker and darker, but it didn't matter, I've had exat location! I saw the whole above me, I began to swin faster and faster, just to reach it, but the seconds before I did the hole turned into solid ice again! I thought my GPS malfunctioned, so I tried looking around, but everything was solid ice! Suddenly I've felt someone catching my foot, I panicked, but seconds later I was free, I stared down, and noone was there. But the water wast turning darker and darker, the light was fading away - WHAT THE FUCK!? - it's 1PM, why is it so dark down here??

I've been searching for hole for last 3 hours. My Oxygen Meter says 5 minutes left. My watch says it's 2PM now, but even as I feel the ice above me it's as dark as it was midnight - where is the light??!! I'm trapped under the ice and I cannot get out. I feel someone catching my ankle and pulling me down...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g8OnnviTSGB9ZDb0YFf6JaoeHLuJoRCkaHYAOjqqF5Y/edit?usp=sharing
I made this little something. It's short yet boring. And literally inaccurate at some times because it's not my native language. :)

ty

Hunh, I'll definitely give this a whirl.

You're going to have a lot of rerolls though. You have what, 4 approved entries right now and there are 44 right now.

Thanks a lot !

Maybe not what you expect, but maybe it brings 1 or 2 to read the ballad:

Call me Ishmael... Well, don't call me Ismael - my Name is not Ismael... I meen.. you can call me Ismael if you want - you can call me what ever f*** name you want you.. ähm.. well...

Never mind... Call me... George.. yes.. George is a nice name... Call me.. GEORGE...
I am sure you all know the greates of all Storys - about survival, ships goning down and the ocean, beautiful as the sin, dangerous as a woman - in english language... I am sure you.. NO!!! HELL!!! nobody spoke about Moby Dick!! Who gives a tiny fish about Melville? What do you learn in school these days?
I speak of... The Rime, of the Ancient Mariner... (nooooo... it's NOT from Iron Maiden!! - but at least...)

Let me tell you about a man - a mariner -, seeing his friends and comrades die, fighting alone for survival under the glowing heat of the sun. without water and bread, without hope and sanity... the man - who shot the Albatross...
He shot the albatross and "day after day, day after day" no wind came to move the sails.. no water came from above there heads to wet there dry tongues... "water, water every where nor any drop to drink"...
A ship came along, "without a breeze, without a tide, she steadies with upright keel" and the a woman claims the mariner as her own - "the Night-mare-Life-IN-DEATH was she" and after the ship was gone, "four times fity living men, they dropped down one by one".. all but the mariner... and he has to see them rise again - "they groaned, they stirred, they all uprose"...
This is the story about this man, who had no hope, but Spoiler... who had no faith but Spoiler... about a ship which went down into the cold and merciful deeps of the leviatan called ocean after Spoiler

this is a Story about a man who shot the albatross, about a wedding, about survival and a wedding, about despair and suffering, about a wedding and a ship which went down... a Story about the ocean... and about a wedding...

so.. read the Story my young pada.. ähm friends... and let an old man rest...

(quotes from S.T.Coleridge: the rime of the ancient mariner)

I was under the water, thats the last thing i can remember. I was fighting for my survival, yet I was in a losing battle and I knew it. They shoved me off the edge before we hit land and thats when the storm took the ship and sunk it down to the floor. Me I was left alone to drown and struggle. I am not even sure if I am really awake or what. Someone please help me though, I am scared, everything I see is black, just as it always has been.
From the moment of my birth things where black, I grew up knowing no colors or sights...

I will work on this, but right now I am going to sleep because I am tired.

The deafening sound of cannon fire filled the air. Smoke obscured the view for a moment.
I held tightly to my rifle with one hand and onto the rigging with the other. The smoke cleared and then I could see the men on the other ship scurrying back and forth, screaming at us.
I wrapped my self more securely in the ropes with my arms and legs and leaned forward, now using both hands to steady my weapon. I found the enemy captain and aimed.
I waited for a moment and then let out a sigh as I proceeded, without firing, to find a different target.
I wished I could let fly at the captain, but there was an unspoken law that forbidded it.

Taking a deep breath, I steadied my rifle and watched the man at the end of my barrel, who was bravely keeping the helm. I breathed out and then fired.
Almost simultaneously, the cannon fired another volley, slamming into the sides of the other craft with all brutality.
Our volley was then answered by the enemy.

The mast broke, and I fell, along with the others who were there with me, along with the wooden beam, down into the sea.
In my horror, I had gripped tightly onto my rifle with both hands, but as I became completely submerged, I released it and struggled, for my survival, to free myself from the ropes that I had before secured myself in. They wrapped more tightly around me, and my lungs began to burn.
The water tried its best to kill me there, under the ocean, and, in desperation, I stretched my hands toward the surface of the sea, toward the roaring battle overhead.

And then, I woke up.

-

so.. will this work? :D

By the time the alarm clock went off Guy was already awake. A name most suitable for him, as he was just a guy. As average as they come. He wasn't oblivious to this. His whole life he had tried to stand out, excite himself to be more, but would eventually end up feeling embarrassed. Embarrassed for trying. This was one of those times. The alarm clock still beeping he was sitting with an empty face on the bed side. Staring at nothing and everything. Everything he had done this past month. The girl she flirted with turned into her laughing at him. The promotion he got with hard work into schemes and luck. The face in the mirror.. disgust. This downwards spiral had haunted him his whole adult life. A mother too busy with work. A father insane cause of it. Sisters far away. No friend to lend a hand. The latter being his own doing. Afraid to get close - What if they find out how empty I am? He wants to cry, but can't. Cause that would be stupid. He doesn't have the right to feel sorrow. The right to feel pain. The right to feel loved. He doesn't deserve anything and he is the master at convincing himself of that.

The alarm clock beeps incrementally louder and louder till he gently turns it off. There is no anger. Just a tired mind and body. As he forces himself up it feels as if he is surrounded by water. Holding back his every move. He slowly drags himself to the bathroom. Something still ticking in his head, telling him to move and live. He brushes his teeth and looks in the sink mirror. He doesn't see his face. Just the teeth he cares about. "Why," He snickers at himself, "Why would I care about my smile if I've surrendered?" Despite this he finishes brushing and dresses for work. As he leaves his apartment he stops. "Today" he mumbles. He walks up the stairs and his heart starts racing. He reaches the roof door and stops again. "Today?" he hesitates as he looks inside himself. Suddenly he pushes the door open and says out loud with determination "Today, today it ends." It being his whole existence.

He sits down on the edge of the roof. His legs swinging freely. He repeats to himself - "Today" and peers over the edge. Underneath an ocean of life and concrete - whistling, roaming, yelling, crying, laughing. He sees a handsome man in an expensive suit walking with his back straight and head high. "Could I be him?" He sees a construction worker getting ready for a long day. "Or him?" A father kissing his wife and children. "Who could I be?" The need to become someone grows in him. "Survival of the fittest? No. Survive to have moments like this." He feels as if no matter how submerged he feels, there's always a path to the surface. There simply is no other way to go. He stands up and smiles - "I'm Guy, the guy who gives up every now and then."

Suddenly he sat up, as if from a daze, and looked down over the water line that stretched to the horizon, as if all the world was but water from here. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he stands and takes two steps back from the cliff edge, towards the campfire he had set up.

"Stupid," he thinks to himself, "so stupid. If anyone had come for you, they'd have found you dead asleep, and near the face of a cliff. That's a terrible game plan for survival."

He stirs the dying embers of the fire, uncovering the still live embers and the warmth they bring, as he unwraps the leaves around a fillet of fish he left to roast, now more burned than cooked. Still, it's the first meal of a new day, and tastes strangely delicious to him as a new dawn crests and illuminates the clearing around him.

It's dangerous, however, to be here for too long. The area is open - visible. That's why he chose it last night. No way to approach him from behind, and 30 yards of clearing illuminated by the bright white light of the moon, with a sea breeze that dispersed the smoke of the low fire he built. It was about as close to a safe spot as he could find, away from the muggy and claustrophobic feeling of the jungle further down the slope. But, now that day was dawning, what gave him some protection in the night would get him killed. Now, he was as an actor on a stage, under the full spotlight. He could be easily seen by someone just skulking in the shadows of the trees, in range of a good bow shot.

He gathers up his makeshift tools, and kicks the remnants of the fire over the cliff edge. No sense in making it too obvious he'd been there, on the offhand chance he hadn't been noticed. No need to give them any extra advantages, nor to give up one of his own if he could come back and use the space again some other night.

"Almost anything is better than sleeping in another tree," he mutters to himself quietly.

With his gear in tow, he quickly clears the tree line. Weeks of being out on this island had made him quicker, leaner. His senses honed far beyond the limits they had had back in the city, he picks out the sounds of animals foraging in the area around him. Something stirs which doesn't sound like animal, and his hackles raise like a cat. Skin and muscles tighten, adrenaline surges - Every bit the animal ready to fight or flee.

A twig snaps, closer this time. He sniffs the air and smells a faint remnant of burning wood. He'd been foolish. He'd thought about the sights, but not the smells.

"Stupid," he thinks again, "so stupid..."

Quietly, he inches toward a tree, all the while listening for the telltale sounds of his pursuer. He reaches the tree, and grasps the lowest branch as he begins to climb. Something catches his eye in the distance. Was that just a flash of sunlight through the forest, or the glint of metal? He's never sure. Slowly he continues to climb, even more wary than before. He stalks his way up the tree, from branch to branch, methodically, always listening.

Every beat of his heart thrums with the same word "Survive. Survive. Survive."

Hidden in the shadow, high up in the tree, he begins to grin as a man passes under him, alone. The world is quiet except for the fool below, and the beat of his heart.

Like a cat, he pounces. Dropping from the tree with no more sound than the rustle of the wind, rough hewn shiv in hand. He lands with a whump sound, inches behind the hunter, already lunging with the blade. With each thrust, each beat of his heart, the repetition:
"Survive. Survive. Survive."

The other man is dead before he even finishes turning around. An attempt to cry out is nothing more than a wet gurgle of red foam upon his lips. As he is slumping to the ground, lifeless, our survivor is already rummaging through his pack, seeking weapons, tools, to continue.

He picks up the badge the man was carrying, and scoffs.

"Orderly? Bah. What would an orderly be doing out in the jungle on this island?"

Slowly, he stalks off down the hallway, seeing trees all around him. Someone in the distance begins to scream. The calm voice of the doctor chimes in over the sound system issuing the alert. He has escaped again.