The FOURTH Fractal Writing Contest is over. There were ten contestants, an all-new record for the contest! We had short stories, poems, and TWO haikus this time -- with most entries themed after altered states and other dimensions. My personal favorite is @thot2word's entry, a small paragraph of text similar to automatic-writing, a transcending experience.
WINNER: @thot2word, for this entry.
The contest post expired with a reward of 1.473 SBD, so @thot2word gets the minimum of 1 SBD. The rest 0.473, I'd like to offer as a prize to another great entry:
2nd PLACE: @breezin, for a poem about awakening and salvation.
Finally, an honorable mention goes to a regular contestant, @ronism, for a short story of terrifying science fiction. Congratulations to all participants and a big thank you to all upvoters. I'd like to see more participation in these contests and get a bigger reward pool to distribute. If there are enough SBDs made by the contest post, I will try to reward a 2nd- and 3rd- place winner, as well.
This week, the FIFTH installment of the Fractal Writing Contest will run.
The Contest
Each post in this contest series will contain a fractal, a 2-dimensional representation of a complex mathematical formula. The participants have to post a comment with something inspired by the fractal, be it just a title, a haiku, a story, whatever.
Rules
- You have to reply with a comment in the contest post.
- The reply must be inspired by the fractal, but no explanation needed.
- Any kind of content is acceptable: just a title, a haiku, a poem, a short story, a painting, a photo, a video, a doodle, whatever. The content must be yours, no links to other people's work accepted.
- I will pick the best reply, when the post expires (1 week after posting it).
- The winner gets half the SBD made in the post, minimum 1 SBD. The rest are split to the other winners: if there are enough SBDs made by the contest post, I will try to reward a 2nd- and 3rd- place winner, as well.
- Upvotes and resteems are welcomed, but not necessary to participate.
Fractal for Contest #5:
right-click -> "open in new tab" for detailed view
by @nyarlathotep
A fractal made in JWildFire
(right-click -> "open in new tab" for detailed view)
At night when darkness comes it creeps
Inside your mind and in to your dreams
The patterns speak to those who’ve seen
The spirals of the fractal machine
"Spirals of the fractal machine" -- this sounds like an amazing title for this picture! Or, for a collection of short poems, of transcendent science fiction; thank you for your entry. On second reading, your poem reminds me a lot of lyrics for music, especially of Ronnie James DIO lyrics; maybe someone should post a soundtrack for the picture as well :)
Thank you! Just trying to do my best at being creative 😊
Congratulations, you got the 2nd place in this contest, for 1.1SBDs. Check out the new contest: https://steemit.com/contest/@nyarlathotep/fractal-writing-contest-6-and-winners-of-the-previous-one
The space going deep
John looked down. trying to consider what is hidden in the depths of this beautiful moat. He watched for several hours until he suddenly realized that this space was hypnotizing him.
He shook his head, and as if something had changed in his mind.
He suddenly realized that he had been sitting at the open space in the ground for three hours and was looking at him.
"We have to go on," John said to himself.
He got up from his seat, put a ruczyk over his shoulders. And he resolutely moved along his intended path, into the depths of the forest, to the barely perceptible roofs of the monastery.
After walking a few steps, he felt such a strong sense of separation from Space. With a cry escaped, he threw the backpack off his shoulders and ran back to the space.
...
My Haiku in an alliteration form:
Callous claws cause chaos
catastrophically crushing
corrupt consciousness
I keep seeing the lower levels of hell as described by Dante. Nice poem!
I agree. There is a fractal post I made some months ago, inspired by Dante's Inferno:
https://steemit.com/art/@nyarlathotep/dante-s-infernal-fractals
I tried to reply in a similar alliteration way, but I can't :( I can only thank you for your awesome entry and link an extreme alliteration, from V for Vendetta:
Thanks!
Congratulations, you got the 3rd place in this contest, for 1.1SBDs. Check out the new contest: https://steemit.com/contest/@nyarlathotep/fractal-writing-contest-6-and-winners-of-the-previous-one
Metamorphosis
Mighty forces shape our destiny
Elegant wings form outward
Touching the tips of others
And lighting up our
Mindful incubator giving life
Only to those who embrace the singular
Rays bending upward toward a righteous
Path dictated by a shared
History unconsciously understood
Only to those who desire it
Submission to the volitive command
Inferred by essentiality
Sovereign wings take flight
A great entry indeed, full of images and concepts; thank you!
Thank you. I see at the center a group of butterflies emerging and beginning the pathway out of the cavern. This is a great fractal.
iSpiral
At the vortex point
All is eerily calm
Spinning, spinning
All around
A coalescence of color
A cosmic convergence of curvature
At the center is I
Identity spiraling out
Into infinity
Great poem, of cosmic significance :) Thanks for participating.
Thank you!
Awesome.... Beautiful..... I really love it...
Amazon live
It is a title that occurs to me for this fractal. Fast, dark and full of life, this is the giant river of South America. I seem to see the piranhas swimming around a whirlpool, challenging in their domains. Beautiful
Yeah, I also see their teeth and their grotesque snouts, now that you mention it! Thanks for your entry.
Woke infinity
A dark magician gifting
Dunce caps to Buddhas
Yes, I can totally see the dunce-caps and the Buddhas, a unique view on that image, since most people saw sinister things. Thanks for your originality!
Thanks Nyarlathotep. I'm glad you can see the buddhas too :D
Sir, first of all, that image really got to me... Its soul deep... It made me see a soul in a force field, possessing itself.. Brought this poem to mind.. Hope you like it...
POSSESSOR
All through the timeless stint,
The soul looses itself, and explodes;
The soul is now a splash of hued smoke,
Dancing - free swimming in the blank..
The soul is possessing itself,
Wriggling beneath a nameless force;
At the blind stop, the invisible lock,
The soul shall spring and spread,
Far and haphazard, like a gust of smooth ash;
And when the nameless riles itself
To a muck of vengeance,
The soul will shake itself to strength,
Spur itself to a wild, powdery intensity,
And with passion, retake itself...
Thank you; your poem is very emotional, of finding the strength to stand up strong again.
Yes sir.... Thank you for accepting it...
@moneyinfant has added your contest to the list Steemit Writing Contests: Issue #18. The list is updated on a daily basis and your contest will remain on the list until its expiration - there's nothing you need to do.
The list was created to save writers the excessive amount of time spent searching through the #contest tag for writing contests. Now they can just come to the list each day, see new contests and use their time doing what they love - writing.
If you'd like to help spread the word about the Steemit Writing Contest List I'd really appreciate a resteem, but it certainly isn't necessary. The project is simply meant to help writers save time and contest creators attract more contestants.
P.S. If you know of any contests I've missed I'd love to hear about them. Thanks!
The Vision (Original Short Story)
Kim woke up with a start. She had been having visions again. Her mind began to contemplate between the pills and the Bible. But deep inside, she knew she had a third option.
Kim Lapp started having visions when she was 6. At first, she thought everyone could see what she saw. It took the jeering from her playmates to realise she was unusual - or, in their words, weird. That day, she had described the bright constellation in the middle of the apple tree in the center of the play garden. She saw the bright star in the centre and the stars that surrounded it. It was such an awesome sight for her that she shouted to all of her playmates to come have a look. All they saw was a hole burrowed by a squirrel who used to live there. They thought she was joking. When it began obvious that Kim was serious with her claim, they all burst out laughing. Kim got into a fit and called her friends blind.
The visions continued. Each one different from the last. Sometimes, they occured by day; at other times she saw them in her dreams. Everytime, she described what she saw, people thought she was going mad. Soon the other children became scared of her and her visions. That was when her parents began to take her serious.
Her father was very religious. He believed in angels and demons and witches and spirits. His first thought was that Kim had been possessed and would require an exorcism. The local priest thought otherwise. He felt that since Kim had not shown any visible sign of demon possession, she was receiving signs from the divine. He exhorted her to read the Bible and recite prayers from the prayer books. He sprinkled holy water on her, the house and declared everything to be alright. Her father felt honoured to have a daughter who received divine visions.
Her mother on the hand wasn't all that enthusiastic. Following her recent switch into atheism, she believed Kim was manifesting some kind of mental disorder or hallucination. She immediately demanded Kim be admitted into a mental facility. Her husband would have none of it. At the end, they settled for regular checkups. Her mother didn't stop with checkups. She read online articles, newspaper clippings, medical journals, anything that shed light on her daughter's unusual condition. She consulted with doctors regularly and ensured Kim took her pills at as when due.
Kim sat on the bed and stared hard at the pills in the little yellow bottle on the table. In the last two months, Kim didn't have any vision, thanks to her continued mingling with a sinful world and the drugs. Her father wasn't disturbed. The priest assured him everything was alright. Kim was gradually losing her spiritual innocence and divine connection due to her continued stay in her sinful body and constant mingling with sin. Her mother was relieved. Finally, she had a normal child. The hospital bills had taken a toll on her and she was grateful to learn that Kim was returning to normal. Of course, the doctors' care and regular medication had taken the problem and not the superstitious beliefs her husband still held onto. She couldn't wait for Kim to return to school.
In the last two months, Kim didn't have any vision because she was tired of visiting the doctors by morning and priest by night. So to create peace for herself and her parents, she kept her visions to herself alone.
Not really to herself alone. She walked to the door, turned the knob and walked to her chest drawer. She brought out the large crucifix, followed by the Prayer book and Bible and then a plywood just the size of the drawer. Underneath, she brought out a large drawing book she had bought with her piggy bank savings.
That night, Kim sat by her bed, using only the faint light from moon, and drew her latest vision.
https://steemit.com/story/@iamthegray/the-vision-original-short-story
Excellent story! Maybe we could see more of her visions and their significance?
Thanks
We could. But the story already passed the 500 words benchmark I had in mind. I didn't want it to be too long.
Maybe I'll rewrite it again - when I get the chance
Or it could be a new story, with the same protagonist, experiencing a different vision, and how it affects her. Just throwing some ideas here & there :)
🤔
You just gave me an idea. Thanks for sharing your insights. I'll create a new story using your suggestions
I'll let you know when I publish it
Blessings
A mortal's journey to The Next is not typically a linear one.
Time is a fickle thing once you move up into the higher dimensions, nearly meaningless, tangled up in space and with no true order.
Thus the soul is often lost in that initial tide. That first retreat from the physical into the quantum, is not measured in time, but in Feelings.
All the warmth they ever felt, for example. Many beings cling to that particular Condensate. Warmth was there at the first for mammals, and it is to where many retreat.
First being a relative term of course, as all moments of "warmth" are experienced simultaneously, and for eternity as the new Consciousness comes to grips with its situation.
Eventually they will feel brave enough to experiment. Perhaps the Taste of food will entice them, for others it is every orgasim ever granted.
It doesn't matter what it is, so long as it happens. Nirvana has the potential to be a very lonely place, and nobody has time for introverts.
Warmth is boring, everyone has had it, and so sharing it is of little value. When you ascend to the 6th (or even 7th) your value is in your differences, for there are so few in the higher dimensions. As one approaches infinity, one inevitably starts to find overlap with the others on the same journey.
It is not known what happens to a Consciousness once they attain infinity, just that they are gone, and there is only light in all the places they once were.
It is assumed it is desirable, since everyone else is heading there. Not that one could stop the inevitable, were it discovered to be undesirable.
The flip side of entropy. While all matter moves towards a state of chaos, all Consciousness moves towards a state of infinity.
You did again! This climax of your short story is again so powerful, that it can be a new setting to write a multitude of stories in! Thanks for your entry.
Thank you, I wanted to write something slightly less ominous this time around haha.
I'm just so glad your contest is really taking off! I should probably devise one of my own!
Atoms in a core, spiraling
Fractal like a sun, only exploding
Supernova but with claws
Tentacles expanding like rays of said sun
A black hole, but lighter.
Oh yeah, coming soon to your hometown, to spill your guts! To be honest, that's what I had in mind when I made this fractal, something dark and huge and twisting with tentacles and teeth, coming straight out of a Lovecraft story. A Death Metal cover does the trick, just fine!
Lol, googled it and WTF?!!? look at that:
ha - Hellmouth is too good of a name for a death metal band. It had to exist!
Abandon all hope ye who enter... the arena this Friday night!
The Path to Hell
The wall of the art museum is home to this evil beauty, her dark colors drawing you ever closer to the wall; you stop and read the name of this piece one more time. Why this would be “The Path to Hell”, is the question going through your mind.
Moving closer for inspection of the intricate details reveals things not seen from two paces away. The path is guarded by jagged sharp teeth, like those found in the jaws of sharks.
Claws are now visible on the edges, and the hair on the back of your neck starts to rise and tingle, the depth is now calling for your attention. The faint golden light at the end of the path is calling you closer, your instincts say look away; move on, but your body is frozen in time and space.
Your body is now helpless, as your soul has now left you and has started down the path, it takes one last glance at you, as you stand there helpless, your mind is screaming but your body is silent.
Your soul turns away and moves further in; as your soul disappears at the bottom of the path your body drops to the floor, violently shaking uncontrollably. Your body takes its last gasp of air, the final breath of life, The Path to Hell has claimed you, as the artist intended.
original story by @sultnpapper
https://steemit.com/contest/@breezin/the-fruit-of-our-actions-my-entry-for-the-fractal-contest-5
With moments to spare ... My Entry (and apologies):
The Fruit of our Actions
Awwwn. Thanks So much @nyarlathotep. I'm really honored. Thanks very much.
You're welcome! I'd be glad to see your entry for this contest as well.
Catacombs of love
In the middle of love it pulses like a light reaching to some parts and not all. But even the shadows do not stop the spirals and swirls of feelings that coat every curve. Each pod, each heart pulsing to a rhythm though brown but full ofthe beauty of life. The different shades of nothingness are what makes up the fractals of love. 💘
TOPIC : SHORT STORY
TITLE : My Grand parents Journey From Bangladesh to India.
It was the time when India just got partition and then India was divided into 3 parts India-Pakistan-Bangladesh.
My ancestors were shifted to Bangladesh unfortunately and being Indian and specially Hindu it was getting difficult for my ancestors to adjust with the muslim community but within a year or two everything was getting use to it my ancestors adjusted and were quite happy with a fairy atmosphere my dad was born. The third child of our family. My Great grand father was then elected the local village panchayat (Political Member or Politician of Village). He soon started a business in Bangladesh of Brass and thus it became our Family business then. Soon my grandfather got a huge success their he was then the in 1955's one of the richest person in the village with over 200-300 cows 1 big shop one could have in the village coconut tree fram Mango tree fram and many big things. Local villagers used to obey him alot and respect him almost as he is god. Every thing was going good and he felt like shifting to Bangladesh did really change his way of living as my ancestors used to be very poor. And one fine night when my grandfather grandmother and my dad and my dad's brothers and sisters were having dinner a local villager came on to him and said that Sir the bangladeshi's and specially the muslims are fighting and wants to kill all the Hindus to leave Bangladesh as soon as possible otherwise you and your family will be killed. Soon my grandfather said to pack up the bags to my grandmother and said to be ready and said let me clarify as what he said is correct or not he went and after a minute he ran and came to his house saying whatever the villager said is true and the villager was killed by the local people. Living all his property he left out from their taking his family and escaping. Escaping from their was never very easy because it was 4 boy child and 2 girl child and all were very small. My dad was just 10 or 12 he remembered he said.he anyhow escaped living all the baggage in the jungle and finally got a train they dint knew were the train was going and boarded the train. The train was going to India. He was very said because he left almost a property worth 25-30lakhs at the time of 60's which was quite a huge some. He was left out with no money in his pocket and also no food as they were running through the jungle the food fell down. He reached India to a new city Siliguri. With no shelter he and his family spend foodless days finally he managed to get a job and he used to work as a labour of 50 paisa a day wage a lot of hardships were then faced by him after few days 50 paisa turned into 1 rupee and after lot a hard work he managed to save a lot of money he lot a land and build a bamboo house and inside the house he opened a small shop were he used to sell goods(i dont know what kind of goods) he soon got a good success in that business he soon purchased a few more lands and sended his childens to school and after few years he again had a better lifestyle he used to have earlier became rich and good to good family got respect in the town.
Thanks for reading hope you like my Grandfather's story ..
Hey wow, what an honor to win second place. Thank you!