Welcome to the fourth round of my contest! This competition will follow a modified tournament-style bracket with 4 rounds. For this round, the overall winner will be crowned. A big thank you to everyone who submitted work for this competition! It was absolutely amazing to run it. The general rules are as follows:

1. Entries are due at 12:00 pm GMT on 18 May, 2018. No late entries will be accepted*, however if all contestants submit their entries early, judging and the next round will begin early.
   
2. Entries must be exclusively yours. No collaboration is allowed.
   
3. Whether you advance to the next round of competition is determined solely by my judgment. The amount of diamonds or favorites on your submission will not count toward your chance of moving on.
   
4. All rounds require the submission of a short story of 500-10,000 words in prose. Please leave a word count somewhere on your submission.
   
5. Only the text of your story will be judged. Any visuals you use will not be judged, although they will be appreciated.
   
6. All submissions must be in the form of a blog post linked in a comment on this forum post before the deadline.
   

The challenge for this round is called "Writing In Reverse".

Like many other people, I enjoy a valiant hero's tale, one of a scrappy underdog taking down a malicious all-powerful institution to benefit the common good. But what about the other side of the coin, the power-hungry despots, the ruthless conquerors? Are they not deserving of our storytelling attention?

In this challenge, your task is to write a classic hero's tale of a rebel or group of rebels fighting the perceived injustices of a powerful institution from the point of view of the "villain", so to speak. What motivates them, what is their raison d'être? You may choose to further villainize your subject, or to humanize them. Make it compelling!


The writers in this bracket are (in no particular order):

JediJerboa
CaelChan


The breakdown of the judging criteria is as follows:

Originality – Make your stories new and interesting! I want to see you think outside the box, present plots in unexpected ways, write something I've not read before!

Quality – Write well and present clearly. Proofread your entries!

Cohesion – Organize your thoughts and finish your stories. Make sure that your story is a complete package as-is, without the need for "Part 2" or other accessories.

Let me know if you would like my in-depth feedback of your work and I will PM my thoughts to you. However, keep in mind that my writing is not perfect and I judge from the perspective as a reader and writer.

If you missed the entry for this contest and would like to participate in a future one, let me know and I'll be sure to contact you when the next one happens.

Good luck writers!

*If you need more time than is currently allowed, contact me and suggest a new end date. A majority of the writers in the competition must agree to your extension in order for it to be valid.