Discussing the Writing Challenges -- November and December 2010

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I just voted in the Photo Challenge. Those of you have already voted here, might go take a look at the entries over there.

Oh, my three votes here? I forgot to mention those at the time. HareBrain, Parson, and No One.
 
Ok, I made it. Chrispy's right, it's not any easier with 3 votes! All that changes is that the agonizing is over who gets left out at 4th place instead of 2nd. Oh well, it's still nice!

The short list: Harebrain, Oxman, Hoopy, Nixie, Ursa, Mouse, Chrispy, Reiver33, Precise Calibre, Mosaix, TEIN, Parson, Jude, and

the honorable mentions of voting agony: Bookstop, Xelah, and

the votes: Stormfeather, Moonbat, and Alchemist.
 
Numerous mentions and - a record for me - four votes! Thank you one and all! Of course I'm not kidding myself that I'd have got as many votes (if any) if we hadn't bumped the votes, but still, it's very nice!
 
Indeed, one of the nicest things about 3 votes isn't that it is easier! It IS NOT EASIER, but to see more people with at least a vote makes this whole thing a bit more fun.

Thanks Teresa for the vote, and Perpetual Man I was so taken by your story I lost my manners and forgot to thank you for the mention. Thanks so much.


------

The vote is very close. Be sure to make a last minute vote if you haven't.
 
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The vote is indeed close, and by my rather confused calculations (the number of votes per person and the fact that not everyone who entered voted makes it hard to tell) several people who entered stories have not voted yet.

Less than four hours remain.
 
Oof. That was difficult. (As always.)

A shortlist of seven, after very ruthless pruning -- sometimes on the basis of a mis-spelled word.

alchemist -- Desperate Measures -- for making me laugh
chrispenycate -- Tribute Maiden -- for turning an old story on its head
Culhwch -- The Tithe -- though I'd like to know whether the children survive with their mother dead...
Dubrech -- The Failed Apprentice -- for reminding us that Cyril Connolly's enemy ("the pram in the hall") can be a price worth paying
HareBrain -- On a Long Road -- thought-provoking (and no underwear in sight...)
reiver33 -- Fade Out -- I'm not sure I understood it, but I loved the poetic feel
Teresa -- s.a.c.r.i.f.i.c.e -- for being elegant and deeply felt

With muttered imprecations and much sacrificing of chickens, I voted for alchemist, Dubrech and reiver, but by the very narrowest of margins from the others.

Well done everybody.
 
Many, many thanks to harebrain, nixie, The Judge, TDZ, chel, oxman, and anonymous, for the votes. Thanks to folks for the mentions too, and nice comments. It's all very warming at this time of year.
 
Just as I did with my story, I've left voting to the next to last minute!

I'm glad to have three votes this month, it would have been hard to pick a winner. My top three, in order of posting, were Talysia, StormFeather and Teresa. Three quite different entries, but all all three are brilliant entries. Close behind them were Mouse, No One, HJ, Hoops and TJ. A great month for entires, truly.
 
Well I voted for Oxman, Alchemist and JunkMonkey this month, with StormFeather a close 4th.

Some excellent stories this month, I thought Oxman's was particularly well done.
 
Great run-in Stormfeather!

Thanks to HB and Cul for the mentions and an obscene amount more to Digs and Teresa for the votes.
 
I’m extremely ashamed to admit that I didn’t vote. :eek:


Anytime I’ve been near the computer over the last few days I’ve been shouted at by various members of family who’ve been staying with us. They finally left yesterday, and I was all set to settle down and make my decision over a large glass of something last night.

However, Mr SF sprung a surprise night out on me, having booked a babysitter a couple of weeks ago. By the time we got home, I’d missed the deadline. It’s the first vote I’ve missed since entering the challenge

Am especially embarrassed to log on this morning to find that I’m in a tiebreak with Hoopy's excellent entry :eek:

I’m very grateful to all who voted for me, and for the lovely comments and mentions too, and I can only apologise for not getting to vote. At least I could vote this morning.

And if this appears to be a bit rambling – I’m not feeling 100% this morning and am remembering why I don’t go out very often. Am now off to crawl into a corner and wait for the hangover to wear off whilst I look after the kids . . . ugh!
 
Re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October

Congratulations, Stormfeather and Hoopy. Good luck to both of you in the tie-break.


And while we wait for the two of them to slug it out, here are the monthly figures for which you have all been waiting...

New entrants this month: 6 (all of whom got at least one vote -- the first time this has happened!)
Total entrants now: 116
Total entries: 413

We lost a few more of our regulars in December: still 18 of us have done every month, but now only 4 have missed only one. A little disappointingly only 2 of the 9 new entrants who joined us last month have stayed (hello, Xelah and Perpetual Man!)

Some changes in the leader board. HareBrain is hanging onto the lead by the skin of his underpants at 32. Hoopy has o'erleaped Mouse into second place with 31, Mouse herself has 26 and Teresa continues her assault on the leaders with 22.

The number of those with 10 or more votes has increased to 18, with Stormfeather and alchemist jumping straight in to equal 6th and 12th places respectively (with 18 and 13 votes) and Cul and Mag the Mighty also scrambling inside, with Oxman and Talysia baying at their heels just over the border on 9.

Total voting on the 9 challenges has received something of a fillip with this month's pressie of 3 votes apiece, even if not all of us used them (or any of them in some cases...) and the total now stands at 458.


So the tension is really mounting. Can Hoopy continue to kick the furry creatures aside and march into the lead? Can Mouse scurry forward again? Will we be seeing more changes at the top? Wo knows what the New Year will bring...?
 
Congratulations to you both, Hoopy and StormFeather!

Thanks to Allanon and Chel for the mentions, and to Cul for the vote. After a bad night, seeing that really cheered me up.)
 
Re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October

The Judge said:
HareBrain is hanging onto the lead by the skin of his underpants at 32.
Click to expand...
Ooh, those must be the new 'skunderpants' I've been hearing so much about.
 
Re: Discussing the Writing Challenges -- September and October

Congrats to SF and Hoopy! My three votes went to Oxman, Hoopy and... I can't remember the third, though looking back through the stories, I think I gave it to paranoid marvin. And despite the confusion over my entry, I got a couple of mentions! Thanks. :D

A couple of people have asked me what on earth I was going for so, whilst I remember, I'll try and explain it:

Never Trust Little Birds

When the Agency called, he took up their offer immediately. A few years of his life helping the greater good didn’t sound too bad, really.

But the war was tough and he was used as bait; the flames were almost too strong, but he survived.

The enemy captured him and took his soul, then sent him back onto the field, defeated, as a weapon against his own side.

@monkeyfunk "you're" not "your", learn to english
Click to expand...

Sacrifice - the fella giving a few years of life for the greater good, and him being used as bait (a piece sacrificed for tactical purposes).

I thought more people might have understood the final line, but it seems I was wrong - it's a tweet to a fictional person with the handle "monkeyfunk" who, as implied by the line before it, is on the side our protagonist was on before being captured. The bit about his soul being taken away is a personal joke, which I'm sure I've used many times, about selling your soul and signing up to Twitter* - I didn't expect many, if any, people to get that, but I put it in anyway.

So, this "greater good" is obviously a war of two sides. Now this is the abstract leap which I think confused people - the comment to "monkeyfunk" is a classic example of what is called trolling (making incorrect or offensive remarks to get an emotional rise out of your target - in this case, calling out their bad grammar with a sentence that itself breaks many rules of the language). The war, then? Why, it's the legendary Flame War!

Can you blame me? I'm a CompSci who lives on the Internet - I'll take whatever inspiration I can get! :rolleyes:

Hope that clears it up for people.


*The title, by the way, is a reference to the logo of Twitter - a small, blue bird. Some of you might know the saying, "You can never trust what you read on the Internet". Put them together, et voilà.
 
Congratulations to hoopy and stormfeather!

And thank you to whomever voted for me - as soon as I posted it, I realised it wasn't really fantasy or scifi... Wonder if any slimming magazines would like it...?

Happy New Year, everyone, in case I don't get back here before then. World of warcraft 10 day free trial is calling.... callling.... calling...:eek:
 
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