Tension makes a story - and this week, our four finalists' entries were full of it.
For their third assignment in So You Think You Can Write, the Times Colonist's amateur writing contest, our finalists craft pieces about real-life conflicts and the ambiguous grey middle ground at their heart.
The creative non-fiction pieces could take any form: narrative, opinion piece, essay or otherwise.
Nick Clewley won the judges' favour for the second week in a row, for his piece When Needs Clash, which explored the competing needs of smokers and non-smokers. You can read it below, along with judges' comments.
But the other finalists also had creative takes on real-life clashes.
Frankie Blake wove scenes from her family history into the larger context of post-Civil War conditions in the United States. Judge Janet Rogers called it a good balance between fact and art, while judges Dave Obee and Matthew Hooton asked for more focus on the grey middle ground.
Pat Parker wrote an essay exploring Canadians' relationship with both tap water and bottled water, which came into focus following a deadly water contamination in Walkerton, Ont., in 2000. Obee and Rogers warned that it read too much like a report. Hooton said it was clearly written, but asked again for more grey area.
Fiona Luo shared a personal account of a friend's hospitalization for childhood obesity and arteriosclerosis to enter a discussion about where responsibility lies when it comes to kids' eating habits. Hooton said Jamie's story was a good way to develop emotional engagement in an issue-based essay, while Obee said the reader is left wondering why Jamie ate the way he did.
Rogers called "we should," a "preachy" statement and said the writer should build on identifying the problem, effects and solution.
Visit timescolonist.com/writingcontest to read each of the stories, along with judges' comments, in full. [email protected]
