Writing Challenge Discussion — MARCH 2011

[onebigpotato]

Let's keep a short list short

Chel - Got the vote
HB
No One

Thanks Allanon for the menty mench.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Here is my long list. I should mention that there were a lot more stories that almost made it on to the list. (I mean that the hand holding the pen was actually hovering over the paper to write them down, when I decided not to. In many cases it came that close.):

Karn
TacticalLoco
OBP
Brev
Paranoid Marvin
Lucky_Lola
Precise Calibre
pyan
digs
Parson
HareBrain
Aun Doorback
The Judge
Ursa Major
Culhwch
TEIN
Chel
mad_iguana
J-WO


My short list:

Brev
Lucky_Lola
Precise Calibre
Aun Doorback
TEIN
Chel
pyan
Parson
J-WO

How I am going to get it down to a shorter list and then choose the one I vote for, I really don't know.

Thank you to everyone who short listed my story, and especially to HareBrain and the other person who voted for it.

 

[Precise Calibre]

You know, just being in Teresa's shortlist alone makes the challenge worth-while for me to enter.

As for my own short-list, I've been too busy to whittle it down yet, but I'll get around to it over the weekend. It's been a hard month to decide on.

Very good entries from our Chronites, very good indeed.

 

[Chel]

Thanks for the mentions, and thanks OBP for the vote!

I'm hoping those who enjoyed my story did so because it sent chills down their spines and not because they think it would be a good idea to punish the clones of dead criminals.

...and looking at that last sentence I think I need my coffee.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

First a thank you to all who mentioned me in their shortlist.

A special thanks to Perp for his summary.

PC: I had the same thoughts myself.

Now to my list.

It was brutal, which befit the topic this month. I narrowed it down to the following

TacticalLoco: Seems to me to be a workable system. That'll teach all those goody goody two shoes kids.

GreenKidx: Harsh, but a fair final judgement.

Nixie: Very tasteful; a feast indeed.

Mouse: The saga continues.

Arkose: Nice unexpected ending.

HB: For it's pure callousness.

My vote went to Stormfeather. There was a resonance as soon as I read it.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Whittled it down to 4, so my final shortlist went to:

Alchemist
Sleepydormouse*
Mosaix
The Judge

The decision then had to come down to the smallest of small things, but I went with Mosaix, on the grounds that his hit me hard the first time I read it.

It was just as hard to make my mind up as it always is... now I can have the rest of the month of.

*Sleepyd. - How could this one not make my short list? Master of the biscuit barrel and all...

 

[The Judge]

Thanks for the vote, Aun Doorback! And yes, it's just like the Oscars, only without the tears and back-stabbing and poorly-scripted commentary from second-rate comedians. However, we do get to wear beautiful frocks while we're posting. (NB This bit is compulsory, so dig out the Dior and the Valentino...)

Thanks for the write-up, Perpetual Man, and for the short-listing. Thanks also to Talysia, Teresa, alchemist and Arkose for the mentions. I think this is actually my best month for mentions, so I'm really chuffed.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Thanks for the vote, Aun Doorback! And yes, it's just like the Oscars, only without the tears and back-stabbing and poorly-scripted commentary from second-rate comedians. However, we do get to wear beautiful frocks while we're posting. (NB This bit is compulsory, so dig out the Dior and the Valentino...)

Thanks for the write-up, Perpetual Man, and for the short-listing. Thanks also to Talysia, Teresa, alchemist and Arkose for the mentions. I think this is actually my best month for mentions, so I'm really chuffed.

Now that's what I call laying down the law

 

[STING]

My Long list (10)


Mouse
alchemist
Teresa
digs
HareBrain
Bob S. Sr
mosaix
Aun Doorback
Pyan
RoninJedi84


Short List (5)


alchemist
HareBrain
Teresa
mosaix
digs


Shorter List


alchemist
HareBrain
Teresa

Shortest List


alchemist


Congratulations alchemist on the story that touched my heart. It pinched my coronary arteries. HareBrain and Teresa lose my vote by one-tenth of the breadth of my hair which isn't very thick, unlike my skin.

 

[goldenapples]

My vote goes to Golden Apples. For some reason this story stuck with from the beginning. (I would have voted for my dad's story, but that seems too much like nepotism. I may have to come up with a way of reading all the entries without seeing the authors)

I nearly fell off my seat. A million thank yous. I'm gushing now

 

[Parson]

Nixie et al. The name of the Heroine is Corrie Ten Boom. Here's a couple of sites Het Corrie ten Boom Museum - "De Schuilplaats" and the obligatory WIKI Corrie ten Boom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Perpetual Man and Teresa thanks a million for the mentions --- Can't let Goldenapples out thank me.

 

[nixie]

Thanks Parson, I really should have know that. There was a Jewish survivor of the concentration camps lived on my gran's street and he told us the story of Corrie ten Boom.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

The name of the Heroine is Corrie Ten Boom. Here's a couple of sites Het Corrie ten Boom Museum - "De Schuilplaats" and the obligatory WIKI Corrie ten Boom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What an amazing woman.

I worked on reducing my short list, but somehow in the process of reading all of the stories again, some of the stories from my long list muscled their way in. So my shorter list is only one story shorter, and I dread to think what will happen if I read through the stories again.

 

[Ursa major]

Boneman will suggest that we ought to have 42 votes each...?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Unfortunately, it appears that it is impossible to gratify Boneman now that the polls are on-site.

Edit -- Well, actually we could, but it would be a pain, and involve making who votes for which story public.

Besides, if we give Boneman 42 votes, the next thing you know, he'll be wanting 48.
.
.
.

 

[mosaix]

Many thanks for the votes, alchemist and PM. I was beginning to think that the mentions and short lists wouldn't actually convert into any votes.

Now to do some more work on my own short list.

 

[Boneman]

Unfortunately, it appears that it is impossible to gratify Boneman now that the polls are on-site.

Edit -- Well, actually we could, but it would be a pain, and involve making who votes for which story public.

Besides, if we give Boneman 42 votes, the next thing you know, he'll be wanting 48.
.
.
.

Today 3 votes... tomorrow the wold! (English joke, not a misspelling...)

 

[cornelius]

Thanks to RSliwinski for the mention. I already started thinking I wouldn't get a single one of those.

 

[Brev]

Still trying to narrow things down .. but there are too many I like.

Thankyou for the mention Teresa. (I made it through the first 'cut' too, yay me..)

 

[GreenKidx]

Hey Parson, she was actually my guess. However I figured it couldn't be her because (to my knowledge ) her whole family wasn't killed in camps/by the nazi party. Always a good day when you learn something new! Well, great story about an amazing woman!

Thanks so much for the mentions! I love the "Oscars" analogy. It fits so well! I think this challenge is also a really good tool to help me learn to appreciate small 'wins' and weather disappointment. Last month was really good for me as far as mentions and I even got a vote! But now it seems I feel/felt that anything less is a failure. Not a healthy way to think and regardless of what happens its not true. I completed the story and entered it, so that makes it not a failure.