A contest with a pot of 10 STEEM, 10 SBI & 1000 SNAX? You're in the right place!

307 @steembasicincome shares awarded till now, plus 22.558 SBD, 318 STEEM, & 8602 SNAX tokens through the contest in 62 weeks!

Contest Challenge

It’s @ntowl here for the 63rd edition of Finish the Story. Last time I put out a challenge for you to write “positive” endings. Though I think you all did wonderfully, I get the sense that some of you are still traumatized.

So don’t worry, I’m not asking you to do that ever again. BUT, I am going to challenge you to stretch and improve your writing skills. Afterall, why just have fun when you can learn and grow while having fun? The challenge theme for this week is:

Be different

Examples of what I mean:

• If you usually only write exposition, try to throw some dialogue in.
• If you always write in third person, try giving first person a try.
• If you tend to rely on adverbs, try finding a different way to say the same thing sans adverbs

Hopefully that’s clear and those are only examples, think about your own style and patterns to think of something new to try.

AND to be doubly clear, this extra bit of writing exercise is optional. BUT if you do decide to take me up on the challenge, please mention it in the post and share your thoughts about the process. Was it hard, fun, just a pain in the ass? If the Great and Wise Bananafish agrees you are deserving, there may just be a little extra surprise for you.

Now for the standard contest details:

Courtesy of our terrific partners, @Crowdmind, we're now also giving away sweet golden SNAX tokens! Let us raise our frosty mugs of banana grog to them! Haven't heard of SNAX? Then I urge you to check out Crowdmind's Interview with the team from the SNAX blockchain as well as our previous post.

What treasures await within the @Crowdmind enhanced Bananafish chest?

• 1st place: n. 5 STEEM + 500 SNAX

• 2nd place: n. 3 STEEM + 300 SNAX

• 3rd place: n. 2 STEEM + 200 SNAX

Popular vote: n. 7 @steembasicincome shares
(Please note there is a minimum of three votes to active the popular vote reward so don't forget to vote for your favorite story!)

Best comment: n. 3 @steembasicincome shares.
Thanks to @curie's generous funding we reintroduced this reward! We are looking for an insightful curation comment. It doesn't have to be necessary long or flamboyant.

(Please note there is a minimum of three votes to active the popular vote reward so don't forget to vote for your favorite story!)

To receive your SNAX rewards, you'll need to have a SNAX wallet.
For those who like instructions with photos, here's a handy tutorial.

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Map of the Bananafish Realms from a squirrelly perspective!

• Share the love and tell a friend about the contest!

• Join the Bananafish Realms discord chat for fresh updates and other amenities.

• Vote, vote, vote your favorite story in the comments below!

• Use the #finishthestory tag.

• Respect the dreadful 500 word limit! o_0

• Help our contest & workshop to grow by giving it some visibility and consider linking back to this post in your entry.

• Contest Prompt introduced on August 16th. Posts must be submitted, linked in the comments, by 23:00pm EDT August 21. Posts submitted after deadline will be disregarded. Sorry, but I've got a busy week coming up.

good luck, brave storytellers.

The Stairs

The darkness flowed into the basement stairwell as Jon opened the door. He paused, listening. Shit! They’re already asleep, he thought. His parents had gone to bed promptly at eleven thirty when the evening news was over. Usually he did his best to get into his room before they went to bed so he could avoid the situation he now found himself in. I knew I shouldn’t have tried to finish that bonus level! It was so easy to lose track of time in the basement hangout.

A tiny night light at the end of the kitchen counter illuminated a small spot on the floor beneath it, but otherwise the room was dark and still. In his mind he ran through the short path that would take him down the hallway, up the stairs and into his bedroom. All he had to do was turn the basement light off in the stairwell and walk through the darkness to get there. Keeping his hand firmly on the doorknob and taking a deep breath he flipped the switch. The stairwell light went out leaving him with after image shapes moving in front of his eyes. Deliberately he closed the door slowly so he wouldn’t wake anyone, and tried not to panic. Nothing to be afraid of, he thought, it’s just my house at night. The hinges creaked and the latch snapped shut with a jarring bang in the otherwise noiseless space.

Stay calm, there’s nothing to be afraid of. Stepping carefully, he made his way down the hallway. As he got closer he could see the faint yellow glow of the upstairs hallway light through the doorway to the next room where the stairs were. He paused, took a breath and continued. At the bottom of the stairs he looked up and saw the light. He hated that light. The dim yellow reflected off the walls, making the stairs and hallway appear dingy, rundown, dangerous.

With his first step on the stairs he felt the darkness close in behind him, lurking, waiting to see what he did next. Another step and he felt the pull of it, coaxing him to step back and let it take him. Stop being stupid. It’s just dark, there’s nothing there, he thought. He went up the next three steps quickly while trying to keep the panic at bay.

Tink, tink, thud. He stopped and turned around. Tink, tink. Waiting, he heard nothing else and rationalized the sounds as the house settling. But he looked at the bottom of the stairs, where the dark now consumed whatever light managed to escape down the stairwell. Nothing moved inside it, but he felt the pressure of it, reaching for him through gloomy light. Instinctively he knew it wasn’t bright enough to hold it back, that if he waited where he was, halfway up the stairs, the darkness would eventually reach him. He didn’t know what would happen if it did, but some part of him wanted to find out. The sane part screamed at him to run.

Let’s grow together!

The wise pectin-packed Bananafish wants all of its beloved people to benefit from rich upvotes. The more of us join the trail or delegate SP, the more our vote on your entries is worth.

Unity is strength, if you would like to contribute to the cause, click here to delegate 25 SP, 10 SP or find out here how to delegate an amount of your choosing!

Following the voting trail is an effortless way to make sure you always support the other participants to the Bananafish contests, automatically upvoting the posts (but not the comments) @bananafish upvotes. It only takes a few minutes to join, you can find all the instruction on how here. So check it out and make the most of your voting power while supporting your fellow bananites!

Let’s raise a glass to @foffelius, @steelochlaver, @f3nix, @marcoriccardi, @anixio, @gwilberiol, @calluna, @ntowl, @dirge, @seesladen, @theironfelix, @letalis-laetitia, @vdux, @felixgarciap, @tristancarax, @khasa, @stever82, @brisby, @drazeus, @robinsonr810, @michaias who are already in the trail.

Join the fun!

Here is how this contest works:

• An unfinished fiction story or a script is posted.

• You finish it with your own post (use the #finishthestory as your first tag) or a comment in the comment section. A limit of 500 words is recommended.

The submission deadline: Wednesday - August 21

A special thanks to @gwilberiol, @dirge, @tristancarax, @theironfelix, @raj808, @brisby, @maverickinvictus, @cyemela, @marcoriccardi, @hidden84, @calluna, @oivas, @ntowl, @f3nix, @felt.buzz, @khasa and @vdux for their precious delegations, making this project a reality! If you like this contest..SPREAD THE GOSPEL! We're grateful for your resteeming and word of mouth. Everything helps to grow together!

GOOD LUCK, BRAVE STORYTELLERS!