Friday, June 4, 2010

Dream Sequence Blogfest and WINNERS!

A huge thanks to everyone who helped vote for the Query Spoof winners!  I've posted them up after the Dream Sequence Blogfest entry below sponsored by Amelia T.  Thanks Amelia!
*     *     *
Gretchen’s eyes fluttered under closed lids as she dreamt, her body twisting and turning under the covers.
She had seen this all before; standing upright at the foot of the master bed in her parent’s chambers at 49 Chicory Lane.  Despite the light showing through the frosted window panes, the room was cast in a gloomy haze.  
A thick layer of dust lined her mother’s vanity and the place before the chimney was covered with soot, as though it hadn’t been properly cleaned in some time. 
A movement by the bed caught her eye and she spotted her father sitting in the parlor chair.  He looked ragged and fatigued; his skin was pale and he had dark circles under dull eyes.  His hair had grown grey around the edges and he wore a perplexed and saddened expression as he gazed at a figure lying in the bed.
Mira came in, carrying a tray of tea and Gretchen drew in her breath.  ‘My how she’s aged.’  Mira’s beauty and vitality had been one of the few constants in her life. Now it looked as though her dear friend had aged beyond reason.  Her once glorious red hair was streaked with white and tied into a stiff knot at the back of her head.  Her dark green eyes were sunken and lined by fine wrinkles. She set down the tray with trembling hands and asked Mr. Grey if he’d ‘be needing anything else’.  As she turned to leave, Gretchen saw her throw a concerned glance at the master bed before making her way out of the room. 
Gretchen came up beside her father, but his eyes never left the bed.   Before them her mother lay still, her head supported by large cushions.  Her light brown hair had been let down and she was wearing her nightgown under the down feather quilt. 
She didn’t sleep soundly.  Her head twitched every few moments and she whimpered and mumbled in her sleep.   Her features were pale and drawn tight and beads of transpiration lined her skin.  Gretchen knelt beside her mother, reaching for her hand.  But before she felt the touch of cold pale fingers, her attention was drawn to a strange shadow that was cast down upon the bedcovers.  It was moving, almost pulsing.  Gretchen frowned, leaning in closer to examine. 
Before her eyes, the shadow lifted, becoming a dark form, almost like a cloud.  It began to stretch and elongate; shapes springing from its sides; arms, legs, hands, and the round of a head.  
As Gretchen watched in horror, the figure of a dark man appeared over her mother’s body.  He gazed down at her; an aura of hate, disgust, vengeance and madness emanating from his black form.  It made Gretchen’s stomach churn and her head feel dizzy.  She wanted to stop it, to tell it to go away, but it was as if she were frozen in place.  And then the monster turned its head away from the bed and look at Gretchen, its red eyes ablaze.  Features continued to form in the cavity of a skull; a pair of slim nostrils and a mouth that grew into a wide, cruel smile; the light reflecting briefly off a single gold tooth….
“Gretchen!”
Gretchen’s eyes were wet as they fluttered open and her nightgown clung to her skin.  “Gretchen!  Wake up!”  Samantha whispered.  Gretchen turned and Samantha’s worried features entered her field of vision.  “You were dreaming again.” She sighed and bit her lip, her eyes searching Gretchen’s face.  “Was it still the same?”
“Yes.” She swallowed hard, fighting the nausea that overtook her as she remembered her nightmares.  “I’m sorry I woke you, Sam.  God, I thought that these dreams would be over since….”  She shook her head and her hands balled into fists for a moment before she released them and patted Samantha on the shoulder reassuringly.
 “Thanks for waking me.” She turned back into her pillow but knew that sleep wouldn’t find her.  Guilt and remorse had taken up permanent residence in the pit of her stomach. 
*     *     *
WINNERS!!!



1st Prize winner of  the over-the-phone publishing consultation from one of the accomplished authors/editors at The Writer’s Workshop



is:


Raquel Byrnes for her 'Fright Light' entry!

2nd Prize winner of the 30 page critique from the members of the ‘3Critics Club’ (my critiquing group) on The Word Cloud is:  


Erin Spock for her 'You Are Not Good Enough for Me' entry!


3rd Prize winner of the choice of champagne or gourmet chocolates shipped directly from yours truly (in France:) is:  T.J. Carson for her 'Harry Ring Lord' entry!

Thanks to everyone who entered and for all the follower support!  Winners please be sure to email me so I can give you the details and congratulations!

40 comments:

Avo said...

Congratulations to all the winners!
And good job holding the blogfest. : j

Vicki Rocho said...

Love winning days! Congrats winners!

I was going to say "nice dream" but since it was a nightmare, should I say "bad dream"? hahahaha

Laura Pauling said...

Congrats to the winner!

And what a scary dream. Seems filled with foreshadowing - great job!

Bethany Elizabeth said...

Congratulations to the winners! I enjoyed reading all the entries. :) I don't know if I've been so amused for awhile.

Unknown said...

WHat a great contest and congrats to all the winners. Maybe I'll take part next time.

CD

Unknown said...

Congratulations to the winners!!! I wanted to drop by and comment quickly, I'll be back this afternoon when I have time to read your dream for the blogfest (hearing that it was scary has me intrigued, unfortunately work is calling and bills need to be paid)!

Don't worry I'll be back!

Susan Fields said...

Congrats to the winners! What a fun contest. :)

And great job with your dream sequence - well done!

Susan Fields said...

Congrats to the winners! What a fun contest. :)

And great job with your dream sequence - well done!

Candyland said...

Congrats!!! And loovvee the blog fest entry!

sarahjayne smythe said...

Great job with the dream/nightmare sequence and congrats to all the winners. :)

Unknown said...

Congrats to the winners! Those were some hilarious spoofs and voting was difficult.

The dream sequence was downright scary with the man standing over the MC's mother. Good job with that.

Slamdunk said...

Congrats to your winners. Well done. Now there weekend will be off on the right foot.

Aubrie said...

Congrats to the winners! All of the entries were fabulous! And great job on your dream sequence.

T.J. Carson said...

YUSS! I've never won a blog contest before! This is my first and pretty much just made my day :)

And wow, I really liked your dream excerpt, the way you described the maid's dark green sunken eyes was very memorable. And was the shadowy figure death? I mean i'm guessing but idk what genre your story is so it could be some fantastical creature. GREAT BLOGFEST ENTRY!

DL Hammons said...

High Five to all the winners! Excellent dream sequence tale. Dread-filled!! :)

Dawn Ius said...

LOVE the dream excerpt...very scary, Creepy :-)
YAY for the winners. Hope your weekend rocks.

Erin Kane Spock said...

WOOT! Thank you everyone who voted! This is an excellent start to the weekend.

stu said...

strange shadowy figures and a recurring dream. Very nice.

Courtney Barr - The Southern Princess said...

WONDERFUL DREAM!! How have I not been following you??? I see you everywhere...(okay that sounds weird..) anyway I loved this entry!

It is such a fun blogfest day!

Visit My Kingdom Anytime

Raquel Byrnes said...

Oh my goodness, that was intense and scary! The monster over her mother...the remorse and guilt. Wow, very compelling.

Great post.

Hey, thats great about the contest! Woo hoo! I loved reading all of them.

Suzanne Casamento said...

Creepy dream! Yikes.

Congratulations to the winners! The queries were hilarious.

Janet Johnson said...

Congrats to the winners! So fun. :)

S.A. Larsenッ said...

Congratulations to all the winners!! I know--redundant. Sorry. I was on a field trip all day...LOL. Love these contest, Ms. Creepy. I must enter the next one!

Lindsay said...

Yay. Congrats to the winners. They were all hilarious. :)

Shannon Messenger said...

Loved your scene! Well done you. Thanks for sharing.

Have a great weekend. :)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to all the winners. They were all fun. And creative!

Carolyn V. said...

Congrats to the winners! =)

Talei said...

Congrats to all winners! Great contest. Loved this dream sequence too, almost wanted her not to wake-up yet...creepy. ;)

Amalia Dillin said...

That shadowy figure really hooked me-- he sounded really disturbing! I like that you are up front about the fact that it's a dream, too. I think that works really well here.

Thanks for participating!!

Anonymous said...

Congrats all, they were tons of fun to read!

Julie Musil said...

Oooooh! Great scene! Congratulations to the winners.

Julie Musil said...

I loved your blogger awards slideshow so I copied you! Hope you don't mind.

Martina Boone said...

This was such a great contest idea! I love all contests, but the way the five finalists were done was so clever and tongue-in-cheek--and also right on the money. I think we all actually learned something reading them in addition to having fun. Congrats to everyone, especially the winners.

I'm going to pop the five finalists post into our weekly roundup for 6/11, and congratulate the three winners there too. You all did a fantastic job.

Martina

P.S. -- Hope you will come do some of that clever writing for us next week. We have a contest starting on Thursday with Natalie Fischer judging -- and 1st prize is a 25-page crit by Natalie.

Elizabeth Mueller said...

Query Girl, rofl!!! I just loved your contest spoofs, they brought tears to my life. You so ROCK! Reading those entries really lightened my day because writers have to be so freakin' serious all the time and we need a laugh. Thank you!

I loved your entry! Poor thing, I could feel her anguish and shock at her world crumbling all around her and the shadow man! *shudder* I'm glad it was just a dream--I hope it wasn't some kind of premonition of a real monster.

Thank you for sharing!
Come by and read mine and tell me what you think! Btw, I'm going to send you an email asking you for a favor! ;)

Elizabeth Mueller said...

PS--congrats, winners!

Creepy Query Girl said...

Thanks to all of your for your support throughout the contest! I'm so so glad you guys got as much of a kick out of it as I did!

Unknown said...

Love your dream scene! (although I've never been fond of the name Gretchen...knew one, once. hated her.)

Also...you've been tagged! Check out my blog...

Jo Schaffer Layton said...

Funny stuff!
Totally enjoy your blog.
Left an award for you on my blog-- come pick it up and pass it on! (=

Theresa Milstein said...

Congratulations to the winners! Funny post.

Shelley Sly said...

Congratulations to the winners!!!

Very vivid excerpt -- I like it!

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