Writing Battle

SPOILER ALERT: I WON!
Thanks to all my haters for keeping me motivated and my fan (singular) for putting our kids to bed so I can write and thanks to Murderbot for helping me think about how to write a sexbot with a personality.
And thanks to Writing Battle for the rest of it!

Swashbuckler -- An Eternity of Blues by author Freya
Time Travel -- Leatherwood Cottage by author Roman Petrenko
Underdog Story -- Where the Grass Grows Wild by author Mel C.

Congratulations everyone!

Fantasy High School -- The Academy of Shelved Novels by author Elle Davis
Hidden Dungeon -- The Last Death of Danica by author Aggie Novak
Space Farce -- Spaceship: Looking for Crew by author Vasa

Runner ups (Genre Runner-up (x9) each won $578 USD):
Biopunk -- Where Trees Once Dreamt of Walking by author Michael Kaukeano
Cozy Mystery -- My Father, the Grease Monkey by author Ryan Hanaway
Cryptid Fiction -- The Banshee by author Josh Loomis

Hidden Dungeon - The Hard To Reach Places by author Sultan Ahmed
Space Farce -- Get to George by author Jane Stecyk
Swashbuckler -- Salt Pork & Honour by author William Draycott
Time Travel -- The Time Agent by author Wendy Holtz
Underdog Story -- If Ya Teach a Man to Fish by author Jeff Christensen

Winners (Genre Winner (x9) each won $2,312 USD):
Biopunk -- When Mermaids Become Monsters by author Julia Jane Wilkins
Cozy Mystery -- To Care by author D.H. Minton
Cryptid Fiction -- Imugi by author D. Kang
Fantasy High School -- Meridian by author John Selden

🎉Tempest Owl 2026 Final Results!🎉
Of the 2748 registered writers, 2131 entered a short story to face off in Battle.

(1/X) Keep reading to find out the winners...

Total No Redraw and submitted story: 685
Total No Redraw and did not submit story: 214
Total Burned through all Draws and submitted story: 309
Total Burned though all Draws and did not submit story: 75

Also -- meet Ollie! Our new Battle Director, Lindsay's puppy!

Paranormal Romance
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 83
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 139
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 53
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 59
Number of houses: 5
Total Stories: 192

Crossworld Fantasy
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 53
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 174
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 50
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 55
Number of houses: 6
Total Stories: 224

Cursed Artifact
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 62
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 237
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 57
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 71
Number of houses: 8
Total Stories: 294

Conspiracy Theory
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 67
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 112
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 46
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 39
Number of houses: 4
Total Stories: 158

Origin Story
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 56
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 98
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 54
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 45
Number of houses: 4
Total Stories: 152

Second Chances
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 63
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 168
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 53
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 53
Number of houses: 6
Total Stories: 221

Workplace Comedy
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 71
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 105
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 46
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 45
Number of houses: 4
Total Stories: 151

Dying Earth
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 39
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 141
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 63
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 37
Number of houses: 6
Total Stories: 204

Ancient Astronauts
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 98
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 120
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 41
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 62
Number of houses: 5
Total Stories: 161

🧵...

This week you swap out your writing quill (keyboard) for a judge’s gavel.

We will be emailing you before every Duel, but please go to the Rules page to see the dates. Starting Tuesday, you have some undoubtedly tough decisions to make!

-The Writing Battle Team

Art by Vincenzo Ingenito

We'd also like to share some stats:
The final number of writers for the Tempest Raven Battle is 2230!
The final number of redraws used (total cards redrawn) was 5391!

If you need a Beta Reader, head on over to the Tavern
writingbattle.com/tavern?battl...

The prompts are now locked and can no longer be redrawn. The deadline to submit your story is Sunday, Feb 8th, at 10pm ET. Look out for an email in your inbox with further instructions. Submission is done on the Battle page of the site: www.writingbattle.com/battle

There's still time to join! You can join the Battle as a late entrant until Friday, Feb 6th at 10pm ET.
www.writingbattle.com/join-battle

Crossworld Fantasy
Paranormal Romance
Cursed Artifact
Second Chances
Workplace Comedy
Ancient Astronauts
Dying Earth
Origin Story
Conspiracy Theory

Prompts drop tomorrow night at 10pm ET. You ready to Battle?

www.writingbattle.com/join-battle

As soon as the Genres are revealed, you can no longer select a Class. Register before the Battle begins to select a Class and perhaps receive a Genre that better suits your writing style.

Autumn Raven 2025 Winners!

The Pirate and the Priest by author Exeter T. Stevens @exeterstevens.bsky.social
Aisles 11 by author Dean Koorey
Baked Good by author Riley Nowak @pollyhedral.bsky.social
Awaiting Dawn by author Terra Babcock @terrawrites.bsky.social

writingbattle.com/past-winners...

Total No Redraw and submitted story: 844
Total No Redraw and did not submit story: 265
Total Burned through all Draws and submitted story: 333
Total Burned though all Draws and did not submit story: 93

Cozy Mystery
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 106
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 118
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 52
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 62
Number of houses: 5
Total Stories: 170

Swashbuckler
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 77
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 94
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 75
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 61
Number of houses: 5
Total Stories: 169

Biopunk
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 88
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 119
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 76
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 49
Number of houses: 5
Total Stories: 195

Time Travel
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 75
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 210
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 100
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 88
Number of houses: 8
Total Stories: 310

Space Farce
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 127
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 96
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 56
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 51
Number of houses: 4
Total Stories: 152

Underdog Story
Initially received this Genre but then nope'd out: 95
Stayed with Genre and submitted a story: 171
Landed on this after a redraw and submitted a story: 63
Held this Genre card at the end and did not submit story: 56
Number of houses: 6
Total Stories: 234