Code In the Grain. Short Story Contest

Code in the Grain

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Contests on WattPad

How about a Writing Contest on WattPad? Many of you know Wattpad. Some do not. It is a social platform for writers. You get to read stories and novels for free. Writers get discovered. Win win.

To make it fun, WattPad has contests from time to time. This month their contest is for you to write a very short store (under 2000 words). The trope has to be “I woke up in my own Store”. But the over all concepts needs to make readers say, “What in the WattPad”.

Sure, it’s kinda silly, but why not. I decided to enter.

Code in the Grain

Title: Code in the Grain
Read it here: https://www.wattpad.com/1571289634-code-in-the-grain

It is a tight New Orleans thriller. A photographer wakes in his darkroom. A print develops of his own character, Reed Sawyer. A cracked phone orders him to the Superdome. One shot. Hide a code in the grain. Get out alive.

It is weird on purpose. It should make you question things. That is the fun.

If you enjoy it, please tap Follow on Wattpad. Drop a Star and a short review. That helps a ton.

A Quick Excerpt

I woke to the sting of fixer and the hum of a safe light. Red filled the darkroom. Trays in a row, developer, stop, fixer, rinse. ‘How did I get in the darkroom’ I thought to myself?

A sheet of fiber paper rocked facedown. I lifted a corner and watched the image climb out of white.
Canal Street. New Orleans. Pavement slick after a hard rain. A man stood mid-lane, hand raised holding an old cell phone and wearing a jacket like mine. Not just any man. Reed Sawyer, the face from my novel, Double Exposure.

I looked down. I’m wearing the exact same jacket. Same cut. Same scuffed cuff. What’s going on I thought?

A phone buzzed on the enlarger base. Old, cracked, not mine. The twin of the one in the print. The screen lit: ‘Bring your camera. Two batteries. Card wiped. Come alone.’

The safe light flickered. The print darkened. Reed’s figure thinned, then bled to black, gone. Just then another text hit: ‘Hurry, come now.’

I rushed out of the darkroom into the studio, pulled the camera off the tripod, snagged two batteries from the charger, wiped the card, pocketed the cracked phone, and stepped into rain that smelled like pennies and camphor.

READ the rest of the story here: https://www.wattpad.com/1571289634-code-in-the-grain

Other Stories on WattPad

I currently have 3 total stories on WattPad. The one above and:

Boots and Stilettos: https://www.wattpad.com/story/397936993-boots-and-stilettos

Double Exposure: https://www.wattpad.com/story/387652278-double-exposure

Thank You and WattPad Advice

Finally, thank you for reading my writings. It sure does mean a whole lot to me. Some have told me they have problems on WattPad. They tell me that they read a chapter and then WattPad wants them to JOIN the PAID side of their platform. WELL, if you get an AD pop up or if the platform send you a message to JOIN and shows you a price to join, all you have to do is CLOSE OUT the app or web browser. Then once it’s closed, just re-open it and this will allow you to keep reading it from free.

Thank you again!!!

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