re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- June & July
I can see the theme for the next challenge, should Chris win:
Write a story inspired by the chosen theme, in 75 words or less
There should be a witty, clever story, packed with express and implied description
The title may be up to 75 words but is not part of the word count -- or the story
One entry per person
Prose or poetry
Story may be science fiction or fantasy
Voters must submit a completed spreadsheet indicating the points earned by each story in decimal, hexadecimal and binary notations, for all twenty ratings criteria. You may only vote once.
Yes, I am aware that's not how it should be done, but so many stories, each with strengths, none (if I dare say it) bad enough that it can be discarded out of hand…
I've never resorted to anything like that for the photo challenge, but I could see no way round it here. And Pasrson, I can't attach .xls files, and if I put it down as an image it would be so teetzie-weenie that you couldn't read anything. Anyway, I've got a separate list with my categories and how many points I thought they were important, (which you would want to personalise, anyway) and just A, B, C… at the top of the columns; otherwise it would have been impossibly wide.
But it's just a standard Excel chart; anyone who is the slightest bit talented with these machines could do as well, or better.
But I am beginning to see why there are fewer people contributing votes than stories; it's harder work.
Now, does anyone remember who wrote the short story about a particularly nasty pervert who collected and killed little girls (drove an icecream truck) until the one he couldn't separate from her Teddybear, with the investigating policeman trying to explain away his death and dismemberment? I had it pegged as a Sturgeon, but I couldn't recognise it among his shorts. No, I don't need to read it again, I have it very nicely between my ears, and it isn't worth going to book search.
