This post follows up the Write 7 Lines in 10 Days competition.

I was enormously impressed with the quality of submissions. In this post I outline what I’ve learned, point you to the runners up and finally close with the winner.

If you write a contest, make it easy to enter.

That’s what I learned from this project. By that, not only do I mean make it simple and clean, but also make it attractive. I’d originally titled the contest “Build me a Frame.” As soon as I called it “Write 7 Lines in 10 Days” people took interest. It seems obvious in hindsight.

If you want to break English, make sure you tell people that’s what you’re doing.

In Hell for Leather Checkpoints don’t mean locations, they mean tasks. This was completely miscommunicated. Unless you play specific kinds of shooty video games, the word “Checkpoint” means a point at which a check is made. Did I highlight the difference in the contest? Did I go out of my way to translate my intention? Check the submissions. They shout my mistake.

Runners Up

Which leads me on to the runners up. My god, your brains are big and generous. There were some beauties in there that I’d love to use in the book—but the checkpoints didn’t fit the template. Check out Group Therapy, Virus, Frankenstein Prison (Forge), 19th Century China (Forge), Eyes in the Skies, Fragile Future, Zombie Football Team or the Lovecraftian School Trip (Forge). Amazing artistry.

That made it a little easier to choose the runners up (which feature on the Hell for Leather wiki). All of these are awesome and unexpected. Well done guys. Here they are:

The French Wars of Religion by Eoin Corrigan (Cobweb)
Aztec by Jason Hickey
Rome by Daniel Z. Klein
Terran Resistance by Hudson
Inside the Code by Ben Wright
Angel Apocalypse by Christopher Heath (Forge)
Rumble Fruit by Joe McDonald

Winner

Before I announce the winner, a special nod to Ron Edwards, Joe Murphy, Joe McDonald and Pete for trying to bend the game. You are rebellious and inspiring.

Now, on to the potatoes of the contest. Baruuummmm Baruuuuump! Congratulations to Sam Zeitlin for his winning entry, The Most Dangerous Game. It’s off kilter, colourful and open to massive interpretation, yet it’s clean, simple and direct. Maximum points for elegance.

Well done everyone and thanks for helping out!

Sebastian.

The Most Dangerous Game (by Sam Zeitlin)

Setting: Victorian, steamships, tropical jungles, waistcoats, hansom cabs,
Adversary: The Somerset Gentlemen’s Club & Hunting Lodge
Gore Threshold: 4
Connection: Survivors of the wreck of the SS Jeddah
Drop-off: The rocky beach of Ship-Trap island
Objective: London, England
Checkpoints: Escape the Colonel’s island, hijack the RMS Oceanic, kill Lord Chancellor Chelmsford