Discussion - February 2011 - 75 Word Challenge

[crystal haven]

Thank you, TacticalLoco, for mentioning my story - you've made my day!

And thank you, Perpetual Man. And I think it is wonderful that you spend so much of your time doing this.

 

[Phoenixthewriter]

Glen, that could be one of the best I've read from these entries. Hilarious! I don't know if it would have had the same appeal if I hadn't read your earlier post here about what it was you were supposed to write.

Nontheless, I like.

 

[nixie]

Nixie – This has to be one of the saddest things I've read in a long while. It certainly tugs on the heartstrings, possibly because it feels so real; it is the kind of thing you can almost imagine happening, and it is an excellent way of showing the theme in an almost perfect manner. I did have to wonder though whether the friend really might return...

Thanks Pep, and if you think about it you'll know what it is based on.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

PM you are so tempting me. Yet again I read what you wrote about mine and went scuttling back to remind myself had i written it lol

I will be strong and read them all together at the end though.

 

[Boneman]

Boneman – What could sum up the theme more than a man prepared to give his life in the place of the woman he loves? This is the way this tale comes across. Someone has been shot, and a suspect has been found guilty, although we know he did not do it. The last line saying that he did took the blame not only because he did not want the woman to die, but because he could not live without her is what raises the story to another level. (But you have to wonder if the woman could live without him?)

If only I'd had another ten words, we'd have found out! Many thanks for the great review as always, Perp. How's the voice recognition stuff going? How do you put in speech marks? Does it give you a semi-colon when you want one?

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Glen, that could be one of the best I've read from these entries. Hilarious! I don't know if it would have had the same appeal if I hadn't read your earlier post here about what it was you were supposed to write.

Nontheless, I like.

It probably would -- I read them the other way around, and it still worked just fine!

 

[TacticalLoco]

PM your reviews are one my favorite things about Chrons. You always point out subtle things I've missed in some of the stories. Thanks for the nice write up.

Pairing that one down to 75 words was tough work. I think I may go the other way and try to expand it into a short horror story.

 

[Warren_Paul]

That was brilliant Glen, laughed so much.


EDIT: BTW, 100 posts, I have been busy! (does it show I'm addicted to this forum? )

 

[Jo Zebedee]

EDIT: BTW, 100 posts, I have been busy! (does it show I'm addicted to this forum? )

Probably. But you're in good company

Glen, very funny.

 

[Perpetual Man]

And thank you, Perpetual Man. And I think it is wonderful that you spend so much of your time doing this.

My pleasure, everyone seems to enjoy them so it's become quite hard to stop.

Thanks Pep, and if you think about it you'll know what it is based on.

Oh I think I know... Bobby?

If only I'd had another ten words, we'd have found out! Many thanks for the great review as always, Perp. How's the voice recognition stuff going? How do you put in speech marks? Does it give you a semi-colon when you want one?

As always a pleasure BM. The voice recognition software is going quite well, it is a lot more accurate than when I tried it years ago. I still have to correct certain things, and there is the annoying wrong word syndrome, and a few of the commands you can use can cause problems. (Saying delete, sometimes cause it to try and Tweet what you are writing...). It recognises most punctuation - if you say full stop it'll put one in - of course if you actually wanted to write the words full stop... All in all it seems to work really well, but there is an awful lot to learn and remember!

PM your reviews are one my favorite things about Chrons. You always point out subtle things I've missed in some of the stories. Thanks for the nice write up.

Thanks! I'm blushing!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I've written a story. The problem is that it's so short! I keep on thinking I can make it better if I make it longer, but maybe it works the way it is.

I'll give it another day before I post it. (Unless someone gets in with something too similar first.)

 

[Phoenixthewriter]

I actually really want to check out some of those Voice Recognition programs. I remember watching the awful Neverending Story 3 and the wizard spoke right onto the page. I'd love to have the option of writing as the words come out of my mouth.

Oh, and thanks for the review. I have a terrible time with these 75 worders, that they often come out far less amazing than I hoped. This is probably one of my better ones.

 

[alchemist]

Alchemist (as usual) that was an evil laugh.

Ah shucks *blushing* Thanks, TL.

While browsing, I just noticed that mine is in a different font depending on which browser I use. It's in Fixedsys (as intended) in Internet Explorer and in some other more prosaic font in Chrome.

I'd already noticed that if I paste something in Chrome, I lose formatting such as italics, but this is something new.

 

[juelz4sure]

Juelz4sure – Elves eh? Who would really want to trust them? There were quite a few things I really enjoyed about this story, the idea that the so called perfect folk could achieve their immortality with such a cruel practice was a good idea, but the small print made the story work perfectly. I’m not sure I would want to think about it too much, but thoroughly entertaining. The old elf got what he deserved!

Thanks perp for the comment, I wasn't quite sure how the fine print ending would work out. I guess it wasn't to bad. This month is going to be hard deciding who gets my vote, thats all I know.

 

[Kaladan]

75 words is harder than it sounds~!

 

[juelz4sure]

My short list thus far
AMB: absolutely enjoyable story, just wish I could hear the great sage had to say.
Scott: at first i didn't know where this was going at all but your ending tied everything together.
Alc: making something so normal, so alien.
Springs: The imagery is beyond me especially in only 75 words.
still a lot to read through a second time.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

David Evil Overlord – One of the things I really enjoy in a post apocalyptic tale is the fact that things that might seem common place to us would be totally different to survivors. And this is done with style here, simple and clever at the same time, it would be so easy to believe some ornate building could well have been a temple or place of worship. And of course if something ‘forgotten’ was found beneath the structure how easy it would be to use it to consolidate a powerbase!

Thanks, PM. My first attempt at squeezing a story into a mere 75 words. I've had the beginnings of a short story for ages, but beyond the image of a Goddess wearing night-vision goggles and cradling her sniper rifle, I had no idea where to go next. Writing this seems to have awakened the Muse.

I got the idea for turning a courthouse into a temple from my trip to Italy last May. When the Roman Empire fell (post-apocalyptic times for the Romans?), the early Christians built their churches in the style of the old Roman basilicas, which, according to our guide, were actually courthouses.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Thanks Juelz4sure: I've kind of lost track, there were just so many good ones coming in over the last day or two and I've been doing a fair bit of work, so I think I'm joining the ranks of a large cup of tea and a readthrough them all at the end of the month! Who needs to buy books!

 

[mosaix]

75 words is harder than it sounds~!

Very, true. Just what you've posted there is almost 10% of your allowance.

 

[Kaladan]

While writing I got to 16 words and immediately thought, "s***, that's almost a quarter of it." Then started again

You guys can cram a LOT into 75 words. And I don't mean that in a bad way at all.