The winning story was excellent.

Why play with AI for the cover image when you could use it to write the whole story? I asked ChatGPT to write a competition entry, giving it almost identical instructions to the last competition.

The French name Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday … Mardi Gras is your theme. What does it make you think of, adventurous times, party after party, scary masks, and what lies beneath?  Please write a story in under 1000 words.

It came up with this, which is pretty scary:

The streets were alive with color and energy. The air was thick with the sound of music, laughter, and the occasional scream from a brave soul on a daring ride. It was Mardi Gras, and everyone was letting loose.

As the parade marched down the main street, I found myself swept up in the crowd. People were dancing, throwing beads, and shouting at the top of their lungs. I had never seen anything like it before. It was like the entire city had come alive.

I weaved my way through the crowd, admiring the intricate masks and costumes on display. There were feathers, sequins, and glitter everywhere. It was as if the entire city had been sprinkled with fairy dust.

But as the night went on, I started to notice something beneath the surface. Behind the masks and the costumes, there were real people with real problems. Some were escaping heartbreak, others were running from their responsibilities, and some were just looking for a good time.

I saw a woman in a purple and gold dress, her face obscured by a mask of feathers, crying on the side of the road. She looked like she was in her mid-twenties, and she was absolutely stunning. But something about her sadness tugged at my heartstrings.

I approached her cautiously, not wanting to intrude on her privacy. She looked up as I drew closer, and I could see the tears streaming down her face.

"Are you okay?" I asked, reaching out a hand to touch her shoulder.

She shrugged me off, pulling away from my touch. "I'm fine," she said, her voice thick with emotion.

I could tell she was lying. "Do you want to talk about it?" I asked softly.

She looked up at me, her eyes searching mine. For a moment, it felt like we were the only two people in the world. Then she shook her head and looked away.

"I don't even know you," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

I took a step back, giving her some space. "That's true. But sometimes it's easier to talk to a stranger than to someone you know."

She looked at me again, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Maybe you're right," she said.

We sat on the side of the road, surrounded by revelers and the sound of music. She told me about her breakup, about how she thought she had found the one and then he had broken her heart. She talked about how lost she felt, how unsure of herself.

As she spoke, I could see the weight lifting from her shoulders. By the time she was finished, she was smiling again.

"Thank you," she said, hugging me tightly. "I don't know what I would have done without you."

I hugged her back, feeling grateful for the unexpected connection. It was then that I realized that Mardi Gras wasn't just about the parties and the parades. It was about connection, about being there for each other in our most vulnerable moments.

As the night wore on, I lost track of her in the crowd. But I knew that I would never forget the woman in the purple and gold dress, and the unexpected friendship we had forged on that magical night.

Thanks for the kind comments. I was very surprised to win; I was just proud of myself for being on that list because because 12 hours before the deadline I only had a couple of paragraphs of a drab story.

I didn't know anything (still don't) about Mardi Gras, but I wanted to write for the competition because I like the challenge of writing about a subject I know nothing about, with a clear guide about what it should involve.

I had clichéd themes in mind (the tradition of gathering ingredients ahead of Lent, and a parade) and I thought of combining them. I wasn't sure to what end - but often ideas come as I write, so I started from the perspective of a neighbour and hoped for the best. For a long time, this is all I had:

Esme lived next door to Daphne and Ed. She had long been conscious of Daphne’s religious bearing. One morning – this was at the start of the week leading up to Lent – Esme heard noises next door, banging cupboards, that sort of thing.

That’ll be Daphne clearing out her cupboards to make pancakes, she thought.

The noise continued for some while and eventually curiosity drove Esme to visit her neighbour. The front door was open and Esme could see the silhouette of Daphne in her kitchen. Sure enough she was dragging things out of cupboards.

She was doing so with surprising intent.

It sat as flat as that for two weeks and I had no enthusiasm for ending it. I tried to write more the evening before the deadline, if only to prove that I could finish something. I have a lot of trouble applying myself to write. So I wanted to push myself that I didn't matter how bad the story was, I had to take part.

Early next morning, half-asleep, a subconscious sentence came to me ("When they think of me they think of food.") and there it was: Daphne's unhappiness. So at about 7am I began to rewrite in the first person and from that one sentence I knew her voice, and from that I knew her character and the point of the story, which turned out to be about her insecurity.

I don't recommend writing stories in a rush, but the most important thing to me was to take part. I hope that everyone who entered feels the same way, even if they didn't do as well as they expected. I hope my experience encourages anyone who has struggled to finish a story: it's worth persevering - just try to find a different angle or just sleep on it. I hope it encourages more writers to enter competitions like these full stop. And thank you especially to the judges and moderators, first for arranging this competition, and most definitely for allowing entries right up to the wire!

I can enjoy reading the other stories now (the one I did read was really well written and I can't even see it on the list of winners).