And the winner is...

Wow, that was a lot to read for one challenge! Let's dive right into it.

torainfor - What impressed me the most about your entry was how much of the back story I could pick just reading the climax. I'm not saying it was all clear, but you did a good job of reinforcing information I suspect the reader had already learned without falling into the "As you know..." writer's trap. The action was good and believable in context. Now finish the novel so we can read the whole thing.

Arisia - Your entry seemed like a good action-based climax but strikes me as being the prelude to the actual climax; the meeting between Jorn and his brother. In looking back over the wording of my challenge, it's probably my fault that you wrote the action scene instead of the confrontation scene. As for the action, it's quick and deadly. Speaking solely for myself, I like the way you described it simply as Jorn's blades flashing and slashing and killing rather than attempting to describe the action move by move. Some scenes benefit from a more detailed description but I think you chose correctly. Though if I were one of the King's Scouts, I wouldn't have entered the bandits cabin without letting the bandits know they were surrounded. Things might have turned out differently had they done that. Then again, the bandits may have decided they had nothing to lose and acted exactly as they did.

the bandit - A very well written, albeit disturbing, entry. You use metaphors to great effect, describing how the woman (I'm not even sure how to get the character set to type her name) feels and is affected by the world around her. I felt the change of tense as the procedure began was jarring, pulling me out of the story. I'd suggest picking a tense and sticking with it because anything that pulls your reader out of the story is a "bad thing." If this was the big climax to the story, I'm almost afraid to wonder what the rest of the novel will be like! That's not a criticism, merely a comment on the dark nature of the entry.

Ben El - Nicely done with odd, attention arresting images and revelations about characters that leave the reader with even more questions. I'm guessing we wouldn't have as many questions as I have now if we had read the entire novel. While there was some gruesome imagery, I didn't think the theme was all that depressing. In all, I thought it was a very well written climax that leaves me wishing I could read the entire novel.

Vidad - Obviously, Vidad is off his meds again. I really must speak with Rachel about that... Honestly, I think the bandit pegged Vidad's entry best -- lucid insanity. High action lucid insanity filled with wild and crazy ideas. Big Bird and Snufflupagus (or however the snuffly critter's name is spelled) combined with our worst fears about the swine flu, with a modesty gourd tossed in for good measure. Lucid insanity, indeed! But now we all want to read the rest of the novel, Vidad, so plan on writing it after you finish with your current novel.

Al - Nicky Weird is going to make you rich. I'm serious. Don't put any more of this stuff out on the web for all to read and get busy writing that first novel! I liked your climax a lot but also agree with many of the comments that it wasn't long enough. Having read your earlier Nicky story helped our comprehension of the action a lot, but what you presented was clear enough for anyone who hadn't read it to understand most of what was going on, too. Now write that novel and remember us all when you're a big name children's author!

There was no clear crowd favorite this time around, with single votes being cast for torainfor, Ben-El and Al. We also had one abstention and Arisia, who's been busy all day, hasn't finished reading nor cast a vote. Alas, I cannot wait for all comments to come in.

This turned out to be a very interesting challenge. I was afraid it would scare away some of you because of the possibility of a very high word count. Fortunately, I was wrong. I was impressed with all of the entries but find myself agreeing with those who cast the votes. Torainfor's entry displays an incredible fantasy back story. Ben El's entry was thought provoking and displays a totally different, nearly modern day, fantasy back story. Al's back story is extremely compelling and, based on what I have seen so far, probably the most commercially viable one.

Now, somehow, I'm supposed to come up with a winner for this week. For a brief moment, I was tempted to roll some dice to pick a winner from the three who received votes. But that's taking the coward's way out. So, let's try some elimination...

After some thought, I'm going to remove Al from the final list. His climax was too sparse on details and, besides, he's going to be rich once he writes the book. That leaves me with torainfor and Ben El...

Yep, torainfor and Ben El... Got to pick one of them- wait! In the tried and true tradition of the Friday Challenge, I'm going to drop back and punt. You're both winners this week! Come on down and select your prize from behind Door #3.

By the way, how did you all feel drop.io worked? Is it worth keeping it for future challenges?