December 2010 Writing Challenge -- TIE-BREAKER POLL

December Writing Challenge Tie-breaker -- Vote for your favorite story

  • HoopyFrood 15:13

    Votes: 16 42.1%

  • StormFeather Ho Ho Ho!

    Votes: 22 57.9%
  • Total voters
    38
  • Poll closed .
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Teresa Edgerton

Teresa Edgerton

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And we have a tie between (in alphabetical order) HoopyFrood and StormFeather. Only one can be the ultimate winner and choose next month's theme, however. So be sure to vote in this tie-breaker poll. You don't need to have entered a story, or voted in the regular poll to vote here.

Here are the stories:


HoopyFrood

15:13

My body was between him and the arrow. The moment it had left the bow, my feet moved to intervene.

Everyone has their role, my mother said. That was a year before she stayed to distract a manticore as her friends escaped.

He would go on. This was my end. I had known it all along, really.

But just when the going was getting good.

Screw that.

I stepped aside.

It’s my story now.



StormFeather

Ho Ho Ho!

Big jolly man, he brings festive cheer,
Entering houses one night every year.

Not quite the innocent man that he seems,
He visits your children to feed on their dreams.

He takes what he needs, his way to thrive,
Without their youth, he cannot survive.

Unknowingly given, a small sacrifice,
Stealing some moments off each of their lives.

He brings a trade, a sack filled with toys,
Delivering presents, to good girls and boys



Poll ends in two days.
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I don't really get Hoopy's. I think it's the title which throws me! I voted for SF in the main one, so voted the same again. Evil Santa = win.
 
That's confused me more. Something to do with the bible?!
 
Right. Then it started going on about Christians and Jews and Cyrus and the king of Armenia. :confused: Anyway, too late, and I stick with my original choice anyway! :)
 
I didn't get Hoop's title either. If she had said John 15:13 --- BINGO! I would have had it. But I voted for SF in the original go around and did now.

I do think it is rather interesting that both winning entries, cracker jack stories that they were, were about unwilling sacrifice, and in the end I think "unwilling sacrifice" is a complete oxymoron. Sacrifice on a human level is only sacrifice if it is willing, otherwise what we have is criminal. If I give up my dinner for a homeless person willingly, I have made a sacrifice (small as it might be), but if that same person pulls a knife on me and demands my dinner I will give it up, but I will have been robbed. I might have made a trade for my personal well being, but in my view it would not have been a sacrifice.

(It is with some frustration I note that I can now type sacrifice correctly every time. I learned that with my frustrating encounter with a failed acrostic. GRRR!)

Mouse wrote:
Right. Then it started going on about Christians and Jews and Cyrus and the king of Armenia. :confused: Anyway, too late, and I stick with my original choice anyway! :)
Click to expand...
What were you reading anyway? John 15 is the famous passage of Jesus where he talks about "I am the vine, you are the branches..." and he says about his disciples "I call you friends..." There is nothing there about Jews, Cyprus, or the king of Armenia.

.... What you quote sounds like it comes from Isaiah but I can't find a passage like you seem to have read because Isaiah would not speak about Christians so??? ....
 
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I thought Hoopy's title referred to episode 13 of season 15 of some TV series I've never watched. Or that it meant almost quarter past three in the afternoon.

Anyway, it was one of my three original choices, so my choosing's already been done. Both good though.
 
Mine's mostly about cliches and tropes in stories.

I thought about putting the John into the title, too, then decided to make it a little bit more obscure, especially as I found out that googling it brought the passage right up anyway. I'm so used to googling things that I'm unsure of, I guess I assume other people do. The google machine is my best friend, especially around here.

I think it's clear where my vote's going...awesome stuff, SF.
 
Parson said:
What were you reading anyway? John 15 is the famous passage of Jesus where he talks about "I am the vine, you are the branches..." and he says about his disciples "I call you friends..." There is nothing there about Jews, Cyprus, or the king of Armenia.

.... What you quote sounds like it comes from Isaiah but I can't find a passage like you seem to have read because Isaiah would not speak about Christians so??? ....
Click to expand...

I'm afraid Mouse + the Bible = glazed over eyes. :eek: So I've no idea, sorry!

I actually thought Hoops' story was about William Tell. Shows what I know!
 
I automatically assumed that 15:13 was a bible verse, but I hadn't bothered with going through looking for it or googling it. I didn't have any trouble understanding the story, or I would have probably looked for the verse to see if it helped in that case.
 
Well , Hoopy was in my original 3 , so I'll sick with that one.

Both worthy finalists , mind

Btw I thought 15:13 was a year, and that simeone sacrificed themselves in a battle - but this was an alternate reality where they didnt.
 
I had no clue what '15:13' referred to, and was going to ask once voting closed. Saved me the trouble.

StormFeather was in my top three, with Hoops just outside, so had to stick to my original weighting. But as PM has said, both worthy finalists!
 
Golly! Little lost for words. Thank you all who have voted for me. It's greatly appreciated and a wee bit terrifying. Although I've taken part in all but the first challenge, I'd never actually thought I'd come this close to winning it. And now I face the prospect of coming up with a suitable theme . . . . scary! :eek:

And if anyone is interested, the idea sprung from wondering how Santa keeps going every year - where he gets his energy from. That, and the fact that most children I know under the age of about 4 are petrified of him. As it's thought that young children can see truth in things, it made me wonder what they really see, and voila! A kind of benevolent-ish vampire . . . ;):D
 
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