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Horse story character competition! Design characters for my *possible*new story!

2K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  Conrad And Freddie 
#1 ·
So this morning I had the biggest brain fart. I had no idea what triggered it actually. It could have been the thought of adopting/rescuing that has been swirling through my head, *Conrad, don't get a head of yourself... One pretty pony at a time... BUT THEY ARE SOO AMAZING GAAAAHHHH*, or my need to help those who are suffering.. Anyway, I had the most amazing idea for a story...

So I have been writing short stories since I was about 10 years old, and I have written a few longer ones for English, but I have never completed one outside of that. However this morning I was so driven to write this story, but I needed more personality, the I decided to jump onto the forum and make a contest.

The Story Idea
There is a young horse woman, who runs a farm, with some horses, chickens, ducks, dogs, boyfriend... You know those type of animals *I so funny at 10am...* She lives in a small, isolated town in outback Queensland where she is a Child Services worker. Pretty plane-jane average Aussie *would have done another country, but I only know Australian culture*.

She has got the "OK" from the bosses in Children Services that her plans for a Child-Horse rehabilitation program have been approved. She has set up a program where troublesome children who have no where else to go come to live at her farm and at the same time, train with horses that have been through the same as they have (mistreated, neglected, forgotten) to team up as horse and rider. In the end there will be a boy and a girl in both English and Western discipline..

This is my best attempt to explain it on two cups of coffee, but you get the general idea... I know in real life this probably wouldn't happen, but this is Conrad's World and she likes to turn bad things to god things :) Also growing up in a town where you see a lot of children go through this, you mentally wish that there was something to turn their lives around and open their eyes to a new world. And who doesn't love ponies :wink:

So im looking for descriptions for the following characters (please try and make characters different, I'm looking for diversity. Each character is Unique!)....

2 Girls to be in the program
2 Boys to be in the program

2 Horses to be in the program (English)
2 horses to be in the program (Western)

2 trainers
Farrier
Vet
"Big Boss"
Various other characters (neighbors, people of the town etc...)

Various other animals of the farm

A NAME FOR THE FARM!

And if there are any really creative people out there...

A plan/design for the farm

I have my own style, and I do not want to restrict my story to just that, I want diversity :)

Entries close on the 25th (not long I know, but after that I will be bombarded with TAFE)

Thank you all who enter :D
 
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#2 ·
Hey...glad to see a new kind of contest and glad to help out too. First, I only have ideas (as of now) for two of your characters, but more could come later. Second, they have programs like this and I think its a wonderful idea. I actually want to start my own some day (bit of a pipe dream but who cares?)

Anyway here's what I got:

Female in the program: Not sure if you want details about appearance and such

Name: Emma
Age: 16
Background: Emma suffers from two major mental illnesses that has bumped her around from program to program trying to find one that works. She has a history with abuse and tends to lash out verbally at people who try to help her, making most programs give up on her before she is helped.

Other farm animals:

Name: Sammy
Species: Border Collie (Dog)
Background: This senior Border Collie loves to laze around the barn and keep an eye on the children of the program. Sammy enjoys being a baby sitter for the program and loves it when his "children" give him pets.

Hope this helps, if I didn't give enough details then feel free to add on or ask for more. Also not sure if the female character is along the lines of what you're looking for, but that's what I've got (so far)
 
#3 ·
Thank you so much, I love it! See I wouldn't have been able to think of that, I wouldn't have been able to get anywhere near that, so having you describe Emma and give her that personality and mental illness is very unique! And I love the sound of Sammy, the farm senior Border Collie who keeps an eye on the children, fantastic! Thank you again for your entry :)
 
#4 ·
this is like as far as i ever get for my stories (making the characters haha)
ill just set it up like H4H did

Girls
Name: ....
Age: 16
Background: Grew up in a house with 2 alcoholic parents, tried to raise younger brother and sister. Got caught up in peer pressure and was goaded into going to a party where they were all busted for underage drinking.
So with teh choice between going to juvie or community service she chose to go to the rescue.

Name: Alice
Age: 12
Background: Alice is a horse crazy little girl who just wants to ride. But her family is too poor to pay for lessons. Alice has numerous medical problems (asthma, allergies) and shes a very quite petite girl that has trouble making friends.

Boys
Name: Eli
Age: 17
Background: Maybe family friends of the owners of the rescue?? Overbearing military family with really strict rules. became rebelious and started fighting at school. Eventually he was expelled and ha to be homeschooled. But the father didnt approve of him lazing around and threatened military school unless he went to contribute to the community. so he went to the rescue.

Name: Josh
Age: 16
Background: Josh (being african american) is subject to alot of racism and is bullied terribly at school. He dropped out his sophmore year (14 yrs old) and joined a gang. But when his best friend was shot he was accused of the murder and went to juvie. Thanks to his good behavior he was given the opportunity to go to the rescue on the weekends to work with the horses.


Western Horses
Name: Ranger
Age: 20
Background: Ranger is an old retired ranch horse. Hes the baby sitter for the new kids learning to ride. He loves the younger kids and will do anything for a horse cookie...and hes trick trained

Name: Diablo
Age: 4
Background: Diablo was a promising young WP horse bred on a very respectful farm. But he tore through a barb wire fence as a weanling and was sold since he "ruined his looks". he went to a farm where he was dumped in a back field and abandoned when the owners moved away. When he was rescued he was severely emaciated and would not allow any human contact, he would get very aggressive towards men.


English Horses
Name: Emporer
Age: 14
Background: Emporer is a retired Eventer. He was a young girls dream horse until a trailering accident sent her to the hospital and turned him into an aggressive "man-killer"

Name: Dojo
Age: 16
Background: Dojo was an endurance horse for 8 years until he became too oldd to keep up. He was rescued from the owners after some good samaritan saw him being beaten to make him continue racing and and reported it to the authorities who took him to the rescue to be rehabilitated.

Other farm animals
Name: Hank the cat
Age: 4
Background: Hank is the tabby barn cat who is to "amazing" to be bothered by petty humans. He loves to jump on dojos back and sun for hours while dojo grazes.

For the big boss i dunno but people always picture some nice little lady doing it and i always see some tough cowgirl/vet....maybe a relationship with the trainer who would be her cowboy hubbie haha
 
#5 ·
Thank you H4H and Roper for your entries. As you might have guessed, I had a hard time choosing the winner *sarcasm* therefore I will use all of the characters mentioned in my story :happydance:

I will message you if I decide to go a head with the story, thank you very much again :)
 
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