Discussing the Writing Challenges -- November and December 2010
- Thread starter Teresa Edgerton
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HoopyFrood
It's me! Hurrah!
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
Gah, what a horribly long day.
Anyhoos, new challenge is posted. Enjoy!
Gah, what a horribly long day.
Anyhoos, new challenge is posted. Enjoy!
StormFeather
Just passing
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
Great theme Hoopy - my mind is already racing!!
Great theme Hoopy - my mind is already racing!!
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
Hoopy:
Trick or Treat?! My mind isn't racing; it's crashing!
I suppose you are looking for Zombies, ghouls, and the night of the living dead. This will be a very hard topic for a poor parson.
Hoopy:
Trick or Treat?! My mind isn't racing; it's crashing!
I suppose you are looking for Zombies, ghouls, and the night of the living dead. This will be a very hard topic for a poor parson.
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
Fine choice, Hoop de la Frood.
Methinks it's gonna take me a while to zero-in on something for this one...
...and that Ursa will choose "trick" and give us the "treat" of scratching our heads for the forthcoming month.
Fine choice, Hoop de la Frood.
Methinks it's gonna take me a while to zero-in on something for this one...
...and that Ursa will choose "trick" and give us the "treat" of scratching our heads for the forthcoming month.
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
eek... there was none of this trick or treating when I were a lass...
Bang goes any chance of stealing from Ovid, this month! I shall have to start picking some American brains... or delve into my pagan roots -- Samhain, anybody?
eek... there was none of this trick or treating when I were a lass...
Bang goes any chance of stealing from Ovid, this month! I shall have to start picking some American brains... or delve into my pagan roots -- Samhain, anybody?
HoopyFrood
It's me! Hurrah!
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
Hey, hey! None of these specifics! As with all themes, completely open to interpretation. Trick. Or Treat. Or trick and treat. Or something hallowe'eny. The theme is your oyster!
I suppose you are looking for Zombies, ghouls, and the night of the living dead. This will be a very hard topic for a poor parson.
Hey, hey! None of these specifics! As with all themes, completely open to interpretation. Trick. Or Treat. Or trick and treat. Or something hallowe'eny. The theme is your oyster!
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
Tricky. It'll need careful treatment.
(And the strength of will to avoid mentioning punpkins....)
Tricky. It'll need careful treatment.
(And the strength of will to avoid mentioning punpkins....)
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
Just as long as no one** wants to write a treatise...
And if we get too many punkins, it'll be a real squash...
** but not No One
Just as long as no one** wants to write a treatise...
And if we get too many punkins, it'll be a real squash...
** but not No One
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
I'd like to congratulate deathfrommassive on a clever idea which gave us all a lot of enjoyment. It was appropriate to the theme, too.
However, in the end this is a Writing Challenge. The horrid spectre of a long list of winners who had written clever titles without any stories to go with them raised its head ... and it wasn't even October yet, let alone Halloween! Not the season for spectres at all.
The original rules stated that the title was not part of the word count or the story. Somewhere along the line "or the story" accidentally disappeared when winners were posting the rules each month. So DFM's Sloth was entirely within the rules as they were posted in September. No harm, no foul, and we all enjoyed the joke.
But it did cause me to take another look at the way the rules have been posted during the last few months, which is when I discovered that something had been left out. I've put it back in. For the future, everyone please keep in mind that if the title is not part of the story and there is no story under the title ... it's not an entry in the Challenge.
We have fun with the titles (especially the ones with puzzles in them) and we don't want to make any rules that would discourage the kind of creative titles we have been seeing. But they aren't the story. If they were, we would have to include them in the word count, and that might discourage the creativity.
I'd like to congratulate deathfrommassive on a clever idea which gave us all a lot of enjoyment. It was appropriate to the theme, too.
However, in the end this is a Writing Challenge. The horrid spectre of a long list of winners who had written clever titles without any stories to go with them raised its head ... and it wasn't even October yet, let alone Halloween! Not the season for spectres at all.
The original rules stated that the title was not part of the word count or the story. Somewhere along the line "or the story" accidentally disappeared when winners were posting the rules each month. So DFM's Sloth was entirely within the rules as they were posted in September. No harm, no foul, and we all enjoyed the joke.
But it did cause me to take another look at the way the rules have been posted during the last few months, which is when I discovered that something had been left out. I've put it back in. For the future, everyone please keep in mind that if the title is not part of the story and there is no story under the title ... it's not an entry in the Challenge.
We have fun with the titles (especially the ones with puzzles in them) and we don't want to make any rules that would discourage the kind of creative titles we have been seeing. But they aren't the story. If they were, we would have to include them in the word count, and that might discourage the creativity.
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
I'd just like to point out that it was my identical twin brother who posted the above nonsense.
I'd just like to point out that it was my identical twin brother who posted the above nonsense.
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
Teresa, it does say in the September rules that the title is not part of the word count. I remember looking at it again after DFM's entry... which reminded me of TEIN's joke 'Time' one, in this thread. (Where all the story was in the footnotes!)
HareBrain! Super quick! And a good'n too.
edit: I missed the 'or the story' bit. D'oh.
Teresa, it does say in the September rules that the title is not part of the word count. I remember looking at it again after DFM's entry... which reminded me of TEIN's joke 'Time' one, in this thread. (Where all the story was in the footnotes!)
HareBrain! Super quick! And a good'n too.
edit: I missed the 'or the story' bit. D'oh.
Last edited:
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
So which one are you, the one on the left or the one on the... er... write...?
So which one are you, the one on the left or the one on the... er... write...?
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
You think? Still works out about two minutes a word.
About the same as my novel
You think? Still works out about two minutes a word.
About the same as my novel
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
Right, but the September rules do not (as used to be the case) clarify that it is not part of the story. That phrase probably slipped someone's mind as they were typing, and the mistake was repeated. No one noticed, because it seems like "not part of the word count" covers it and to say more is redundant.
But I suspect that our resident legal mind will tell us that it is virtually impossible to repeat something too many times or state it in too many different ways. (Of course our resident legal mind is also a writer, who abhors tautologies. The resident legal mind probably has interesting and eloquent arguments with itself.)
HareBrain, I love your story! It sets the bar very high indeed for the rest of us.
edit -- And while I was composing this lengthy screed, Mouse edited her post, making much of this one redundant. Ironic, really.
Right, but the September rules do not (as used to be the case) clarify that it is not part of the story. That phrase probably slipped someone's mind as they were typing, and the mistake was repeated. No one noticed, because it seems like "not part of the word count" covers it and to say more is redundant.
But I suspect that our resident legal mind will tell us that it is virtually impossible to repeat something too many times or state it in too many different ways. (Of course our resident legal mind is also a writer, who abhors tautologies. The resident legal mind probably has interesting and eloquent arguments with itself.)
HareBrain, I love your story! It sets the bar very high indeed for the rest of us.
edit -- And while I was composing this lengthy screed, Mouse edited her post, making much of this one redundant. Ironic, really.
Mag the Mighty
Active Member
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2010
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re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
Hmmm... Hmmm... Trick or Treat...
Well, I think that's going to take some thought. I'll see what I come up with.
Impressively fast from HareBrain, and well, just impressive. Really captured that sort of pagan dark fantasy stuff that's at the heart of the whole Halloween thing even if it's mostly subsumed in plastic pumpkins nowadays (which isn't necessarily a bad thing I hasten to add).
Hmmm... Hmmm... Trick or Treat...
Well, I think that's going to take some thought. I'll see what I come up with.
Impressively fast from HareBrain, and well, just impressive. Really captured that sort of pagan dark fantasy stuff that's at the heart of the whole Halloween thing even if it's mostly subsumed in plastic pumpkins nowadays (which isn't necessarily a bad thing I hasten to add).
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
Thanks for the comments. I confess the speed was partly a tactical thing -- having roughed out the idea, I wanted to get it in there before someone posted something too similar. And yes, I love the "old" sense of Halloween too, the nights drawing in, the rain and wind and blowing leaves, the old religions stirring and colliding. Good choice, Hoops. Makes me want to get my old copy of the Halloween Tree out again.
I'm glad the issue with the titles has been clarified too. It did strike me after voting that DFM last month had not really posted an entry at all! (Still a funny idea though.)
Thanks for the comments. I confess the speed was partly a tactical thing -- having roughed out the idea, I wanted to get it in there before someone posted something too similar. And yes, I love the "old" sense of Halloween too, the nights drawing in, the rain and wind and blowing leaves, the old religions stirring and colliding. Good choice, Hoops. Makes me want to get my old copy of the Halloween Tree out again.
I'm glad the issue with the titles has been clarified too. It did strike me after voting that DFM last month had not really posted an entry at all! (Still a funny idea though.)
re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October
Is it because they're big and orange, Mouse?
(And HB's speed of posting was obviously an attempt to win Karn's vote.)
Is it because they're big and orange, Mouse?
(And HB's speed of posting was obviously an attempt to win Karn's vote.
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