Writing Battle Wonder 2025 Submission
This Writing Battle was pro-judged, and I was super excited by the prompts.
Fantasy’s my jam, and the Character and Object cards seemed like a good fit. I may have cycled through the Object cards until I found Amber, but I don’t recall spending a lot of time fussing over the prompts. I loved what I was handed.
My story, A Prison of Skin, is told through the 1P perspective of a wizard, Maerlin, who pushed too hard against the boundaries of magic and reality. The result was an explosion, and for three years, he’s remained trapped in a transmogrified form — half human, half raven — as a punishment for his transgressions. The Tormentor in this story is found in the form of Maerlin’s daughter, Caelia, who infrequently visits him, and her presence only serves to remind Maerlin of who he once was, and who he could never be again. He urges her to leave and to forget him, to leave and never return, but she’s determined to help her father regardless.
I’d been thinking about the concepts behind this story for a long time and had been itching to write about it. I envisioned a fantasy world of ornithomancers (bird wizards) where the only purpose magic served was to transform oneself into any variety of bird. My initial concept was about a wizard locked in the form of a raven who collected baubles (memories) and shared them with his daughter to communicate with her. I didn’t have the time in this piece to explore that full storyline (1,000 words), so I had to pare down the setup to delve into the story’s emotional core (a father/daughter connection).
It’s a dark fantasy at its best: rich imagery, textured description, dramatic (read: deliberately overwrought and poetic) prose to give it mythical weight, written around a basic, relatable connection (fathers and daughters). Dad is cursed by his hubris; his daughter refuses to abandon him; the central conflict revolves around his redemption. I wanted to make that emotional weight anchor the story. I knew, above all else, the story should serve their connection, going back to my original idea about a raven delivering baubles to the windowsill of a young woman.
Only Caelia’s conviction can save her father, and her courage drives the story.
Panning back, though, the story’s an allegory for loving someone through the wreckage of their self-destruction. The father's monstrous form, twisted by forbidden magic, is a metaphor for the aftermath of trauma, addiction, or ruinous choices that estrange people from their families and former selves.
Yet Caelia’s refusal to turn away mirrors the difficult, grace-filled act of remembering a person not just for what they've become, but for who they once were. Her belief in remembering what her father was becomes a kind of redemptive magic. This story asks: What if remembering someone kindly (as they were) could save them? And I kinda see A Prison of Skin as a bedtime story about memory, identity, and the power of names (who we are).
I hope the judges like it! I’ve had a pretty good run so far, winning 4/5 rounds, but the next rounds (six, seven, and eight) will determine if I get to move on to the finals. Results should be out later today — fingers crossed!
2025.06.13
Good news, everyone!
A Prison of Skin bested 6/8 contests and will move on to the finals! Results Sunday! Fingers crossed!
R
