Writing Challenge Discussion -- FEBRUARY 2011

[Ursa major]

* Expects one of Cul's leg-endery last-minute challenge entries. *

 

[Chel]

Teresa, Chris, and all others of course:

I will post tomorrow! I've been meaning to write something for weeks (duh) but... ah well, no excuses, I've just not taken the time, and then I somehow haven't realised I'm running out of said time.

At least I haven't forgotten the idea I had at the start of the month.

 

[chrispenycate]

Teresa, Chris, and all others of course:

I will post tomorrow! I've been meaning to write something for weeks (duh) but... ah well, no excuses, I've just not taken the time, and then I somehow haven't realised I'm running out of said time.

At least I haven't forgotten the idea I had at the start of the month.

We'd miss you if you didn't.

Not that I'm trying to exert any pressure, of course (well, as long as you vote, that is). This is supposed to be fun, not an obligation.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

*Wally sharpens teeth* Sorry Cul I've managed to make him agree to not bite above the knee but.............

Do remind him not to bite anything (except his morning bowl of alligator-kibble, of course) until after Culhwch posts a link to the poll.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

We'd miss you if you didn't.

Not that I'm trying to exert any pressure, of course (well, as long as you vote, that is). This is supposed to be fun, not an obligation.

Nonesense Chris. Lets pile the guilt on to make him stick something up.

I mean, come on a quick title. A few lines of text. No broken limbs for excuses.

Bird

Well I woke up this morning.

A pigeon cooing in ma 'ed.

Yeah I woke up this morning.

An I ain't got, any bread

That old pigeon gonna break me.

Man, I wish that, I wus dead.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I find that intensely moving, TEIN. It made me want to weep. Really.


So now we have 49 entries, thanks to new member Gwynnever, who posted a lovely story and then disappeared.

It doesn't even look like she came to us courtesy of the usual press gang.

(Cue the Bosun's whistle. Sounds of hearty laughter and sailors dancing a hornpipe in background.)

Full many a likely lad (or lass) has perished at sea (Chorus: Yo ho! Yo ho!), all for accepting of Her Honor's shilling. A wee sip of ale and a club on the noddle (Chorus in a minor key: Beware! O Beware!), then you'll wake in the bilge with your head in a puddle ...

No. No. Inspiration fails me.

 

[J Riff]

hadn't seen noddle before.
noddle - n. bean,belfry,brain,brow,conk,crown,dome,encephalon

don't strain your elephantine encephalon, Edward.

 

[Chel]

Pheeewwww... it's never taken me this long to write my entry! But now it's done, checked and posted, with hours to spare. Hope you guys enjoy it!

 

[Perpetual Man]

Pheeewwww... it's never taken me this long to write my entry! But now it's done, checked and posted, with hours to spare. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Most definitely. Another absolute stunner to add to this phenomenal month.

(I'll update my individual comments at the end of the writing period, don't want to leave anyone out, and there should be a few more entries)

 

[AdamCollings]

Wow - trying to write something in just 75 words is HARD. Good challenge though.

 

[Parson]

No it isn't hard to write a seventy-five word story.
No it isn't hard to write a seventy-five word story.
No it isn't hard to write a seventy-five word story.
No it isn't hard to write a seventy-five word story.
No it isn't hard to write a seventy-five word story.
No it isn't hard to write a seventy-five word story.
No it isn't hard to write a seventy-five word story.

Hard to give it meaning.

-------------

See?

-------------

Enough silliness. Chel, I liked your story a lot.

 

[J-WO]

A friend once told me that the shortest story he'd ever read was-

The last person on earth heard a knock at the door.

I still think that's pretty good.

 

[mosaix]

J-Wo I believe it to be:

For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.

By Ernest Hemingway.

 

[Perpetual Man]

J-Wo I believe it to be:

For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.

By Ernest Hemingway.

I was about to say the same as Mosaix.

Apparently there is an annual competition to write a full story in six words, based on the above.

 

[AdamCollings]

Ok - good point Parson.
My problem is once I came up with an idea I wanted to go on for pages.

That one-sentance story is brilliant - but I wanna know what happens next

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Less than two hours to go. I wonder if Culhwch is madly scribbling, or is still feeling too brain-bludgeoned by real life?

In any case, if anyone has lost track of the time, the hour approaches.

 

[J Riff]

Knock, by Fredric Brown. 1948. which starts:
There is a sweet little horror story that is only two sentences long:
"The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door..."
Two sentences and an ellipsis of three dots. The horror isn't in the two sentences at all; it's in the ellipsis, the implication: What knocked at the door? Faced with the unknown, the human mind supplies something vaguely horrible.
Seven or eight pages later we find out what knocked.

 

[No One]

A friend once told me that the shortest story he'd ever read was-

The last person on earth heard a knock at the door.

I still think that's pretty good.

Despite being longer (by a mammoth five words) I think I prefer this one to Hemingway. Very nice.

And I think this is all part of Cul's creative ritual - thriving under pressure. If that's the case, then we can expect a gem anytime soon.

And perhaps Teresa is just too modest to mention it, but didn't she write a story with a broken arm?...

*thanks - I was going to ask where that might've come from. Very psychic of you, J-Riff.

 

[HareBrain]

"The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door..."

Two sentences and an ellipsis of three dots. The horror isn't in the two sentences at all; it's in the ellipsis, the implication: What knocked at the door?

His wife?

 

[No One]

His wife?

Ooh, that's good.