Writing Challenge Discussion — MARCH 2011

[Allanon]

WOW!!! As if I got the first vote in!!!

 

[cornelius]

Oh No! I forgot to enter. Dagnammit!
I was so busy last night I forgot to post, that'll teach me to wait until the last moment.
I can't believe it, I've ruined my perfect record of entering everytime. I have loads of stories and one that I was ready to enter, and I've missed it.
Stupid, Stupid Moonbat!

Sorry you missed it. I hope we'll get to read some of those

Congrats Alchemist on getting the first vote. Still figuring out who to give mine to.

 

[The Judge]

Gosh. Voting's a bit slow, isn't it? I can never get my act together until the last day but we usually have loads of people quick off the mark! Where is everyone?

So, according to my calculations, we have 48 entries for March (shame about the other 3). How does this compare with other months?

It is almost exactly the average (or do I mean mean?). Entries for all 12 months are: 43; 42; 42; 47; 51; 47; 49; 49; 43; 57; 52; 48. They come to a total of 570. So the average (or mean) is 47.5. I think.


PS Thanks for the honourable mention, Allanon!

 

[crys]

Just voted for your good self, Judge. What a great story... Malleus Maleficorum. (wink wink)

 

[mosaix]

Well, I've got a short list of sorts:

StormFeather - Witness
Talysia - Sentenced To Life
Alchemist - Family
Arkose - The Last Straw
TDZ - What Goes Around Comes Around
Heck Tate - Woof!
UM - Seize The Day
Bob S. Sr - No Good Deed
Cul - Paid In Full
TJ - Nemesis

 

[Mouse]

Thanks, Allanon!

I've not read through again yet. But I remember liking No One's, TJ's and the SleepyDormouse's... There will be more.

But uh, pretend you haven't seen me. I'm supposed to be working from home today. Somehow I ended up here.

 

[cornelius]

My shortlist, after much consideration, has the following names:

- Perpetual Man
- Evelinn
- Nixie
- Mouse
- SleepyDormouse
- Gary Compton
- Lucky Lola
- No One
- The Judge
- Parson
- Chrispenycate
- The Imp

No vote yet.

 

[The Judge]

Thanks, crys! (I had to look up the significance of the "o"!)

Thanks, also, Mosaix, Cornelius and (an unseen) Mouse for the mentions.

 

[crys]

Oh, I meant to say earlier that I prefer the new format for the poll... great work!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Entries for all 12 months are: 43; 42; 42; 47; 51; 47; 49; 49; 43; 57; 52; 48. They come to a total of 570. So the average (or mean) is 47.5. I think.

The first month was 42. Which shouldn't throw your average (or your mean) off by more than the tiniest smidgeon, but worth mentioning for the consistency of the first three months.

And if I my mathematical terms and methods are correct (which is pretty unlikely) the median would be 49.5

 

[Lucky_Lola]

My humble thanks for counting me amongst your shortlist, cornelius! I'm off to re-read everything and try to narrow down my own list... I think it's going to take me a few days to pick just one, though.

 

[cornelius]

if my calculations and interpretations of the terms are correct...

the mean is 47,5 - the median is also 47,5- and the mode is 42

And you're welcome, Lucky Lola. A mention isn't as solid is a vote, but hey

 

[Lucky_Lola]

I've shortlisted my shortlist down to three, and now I'm stuck.

How do you folks manage to do this every month?! (dang, no interrobang )

 

[Heck Tate]

Thanks for the mention, Mosaix.

My own short list:
Nixie, Alchemist, Hoopy, Pyan, No One, Parson, Ursa, Culhwch, Mosaix, Boneman, The Judge.

Got a lot of re-reading to do.

 

[alchemist]

My winner comes this month just from the depth of emotion it evoked in me and how I would feel in that same situation, my vote goes to Alchemist, Well Done!!!

Thank'ee kindly, Allanon, and to the other voter, and mentioners. I'm in the lead? Time to unleash the virus and lockdown Chrons for a week.

My own vote is as yet very much up in the air. I haven't even read The Imp's yet.

 

[Parson]

Thanks for the mentions Heck Tate and Cornelius.

It will be a while before I get a chance to vote and make a short list. As spring winds toward Easter my schedule gets fuller (Imagine that?! I can't find the interrobang either.)

 

[No One]

Given that I'm reading King's Dark Tower I thought it was amusing that my short (short) list came to 19, but darnit if Imp's entry is too good an idea not to include, so that's ruined it.

It's a shame we're not seeing more regular entries from Leisha and Sephiroth (and sorry to see Oxman didn't enter) but the standard remains sky-high and voting stupidly hard. In no particular order are my many usual suspects plus a few excellent entries from new faces:

GreenKidx - The Zealot
Alchemist - Family
Teresa E - Völuspá – In the Wolf Age
TDZ - What goes around, comes around
Pyan - Curtal Sonnet - c. 1240 BC
Digs - Thief
Heck Tate - Woof!
Aun Doorback - Karma
Ursa - Seize the Day
TEIN - Reflections
Chel - Justified Science
Boneman - Reflections
TJ - Nemesis... and the Death of Matthew Hopkins
J-Wo - Diary of a citizen who can still hold a pen
Stormfeather - Witness
SleepyDormouse - The Last Biscuit
The Imp - The Icy gutter

And it came down to these three:

HoopyFrood - Heaven's Winged Hound
Harebrain - GAIA 3000
Mosaix - Haunted

So another impossible task of choosing between Hoopy's excellent double-take of the theme, Harebrain's sample of blinding truth, and Mosaix' superbly, well, haunting piece.

Despite being harsh on the Buddhists, I'm going for Harebrain by a whisker over the other two (and if I don't do this now I know I'll be pondering my choice all over again).

Also - to Heck Tate, Cornelius, and Mouse: you're all mad, but thank you for the mentions.

 

[Talysia]

First of all, I want to thank Perpetual Man for his comment about my story earlier in the month, and to everyone else who has honourably mentioned me. It's always a treat, so thank you!

Ok, on to the voting. Another great month, and another difficult choice to make. My shortlist, as usual, is far from short:

StormFeather - Witness
Wickedness and What For - Mouse
alchemist - Family
SleepyDormouse - The Last Biscuit
Hoopy - Heaven's Winged Hound
Seize the Day - Ursa Major
chrispenycate - Incarceration
Chel - Justified Science
mosaix - Haunted
The Judge - Nemesis... And the Death of Matthew Hopkins

Narrowing it down to those ten was difficult enough, but I eventually whittled it down to three: alchemist, Hoopy, and chrispenycate. After much pondering, my vote goes to Hoopy.

 

[Lucky_Lola]

OK, so I've let it brew for a bit. My final three were Hoopy, Culhwch and Ursa. Wish I could vote for you all! For what it's worth, I thought I'd jot down here why I loved your stories so much.

Hoopy - I'm a big Greek myth fan, so your take on the theme resonated with me immediately. I loved seeing it presented from the point of view of the eagle. LOVE the last sentence - short and punchy with an almost macabre touch of humour.

Culhwch - I loved the tone, the voice of the character; he had a depth to him that made me want to know more. Again, a brilliant end that stuck in my head and caught my eye every time I scanned over the entries.

But my vote has to go to Ursa. I feel like the more I dig the more I find, and the more my poor little brain screams in protest. It's not helped by the fact that I'm sure there's an allusion in there somewhere to something I should know and it's teasing me something chronic!

Beautiful work, such a hard choice. Congratulations everyone, I'm humbled by the talent on these boards.

 

[nixie]

OH someone must have hit the wrong button, I got a vote Thank you

My short list

The Russian - Perpetual Man
Wickedness and What For - Mouse
The Last Biscuit - SleepyDormouse
Völuspá – In the Wolf Age - Teresa Edgerton
Heaven's Winged Hound - HoopyFrood
A Child of God - Parson
Gaia 3000 - HareBrain
Haunted - mosaix
Nemesis... and the Death of Matthew Hopkins - The Judge

I know Pep, isn't happy with his this month but when I've been mulling over this month's entries I can remember his word for word nearly. So its made my short list.