Discussion -- 75 Word Challenge -- APRIL

[Mouse]

Oh! Oooooh! Yay! Ta ta ta.


(Apparently, votes make me nonsensical)

 

[choccoweeble]

Thanks so so much to Teresa for the shortlisting, it means so much to me :-D

Edit : Also just seen I have a vote Yay!! Thank you booksforlunch! Joins the vote conga...

 

[Abernovo]

Thank you for the listings, Teresa and stormcrow.

 

[Erin99]

Whoa! I am shocked to discover I have three votes AND I made three people's shortlists! Not bad for a ten-minute story that was more a character piece which forced the reader fill in the blanks from the hints.

Thank you!

As for my decision... I've got a shortlist but haven't narrowed it down yet:

Alchemist, Hex, Allmywires, Bowler1, Anthus, Terasa, Ursa, Digs, and The Judge.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Yay! *Steps in beside Choccoweeble in the conga line*


Thanks for the vote, Scott - my very first!

And thanks for the mention, Grizzgreen.

 

[chrispenycate]

Hehe well spotted HB! Yes I use a spreadsheet, all a bit geeky, though I would guess I'm not alone on it. The categories I have are also weighted and they are:

Overall - highest weighting (equal with Review)
Relevance - high weighting
Plot - medium weighting (a bit difficult to do in 75 words but if you do it get marks!)
Emotion - low weighting
Twist - low weighting
Humour - low weighting
Writing - high rating
Review - highest rating (equal with Overall) - only used on re-reading my shortlist

I should say that the emotion, twist and humour categories could be considered a bit questionable but I do try and apply them sensibly. So, for example, if a story has no humour in it and humour would be inappropriate then you get marks for not putting it in. The same goes for twist and emotion. Essentially the base score for them is 5 and if there is humour/emotion/twist and it is good you get more, if it's bad you get less.

As I say a bit geeky but it means I can keep up with things as they go along and makes it much easier at the end! Sad isn't it.

ps. I also put in the post number which makes reviewing my shortlist a lot easier!

pps. I had to add a lot of new rows this month!

Is your "relevance" about equivalent to my "sticking to subject"?

And, as to be expected, I have a negative only column for grammar…
As a guess, your "plot" is more or less my "is it a story (beginning, middle, end)?"

None of which changes the fact that three votes unbalances the system, and I haven't yet voted.

 

[Erin99]

Okay, so I narrowed my choice down to these:

Alchemist - Eek! So sad, and really pulled at my heartstrings. Well done!

Hex - Beautiful imagery and a great idea well executed. And so believable...

Bowler1 - Beautiful and heart-wrenching. The end was poignant and believable.

Ursa - So many synonyms for "money"...! From the (in my opinion) incongruous word "sterling" I knew what the story was about - but the fun of reading the rest of the hints made it a fantastically memorable story! And I laughed at the final line. Nice to see the Punning Bear is still going strong.

Digs - What can I say that hasn't been said? Tear-jerking, beautifully written, and I'm in awe of your line about the life-support machines feeding off the girl. (Why couldn't I think of a line that good for the coma scene in my novel???)


Now I know that Digs will get my vote... but who will get the other two? I'll sleep on it.

 

[Lilmizflashythang]

I don't get to join the vote conga yet. But, I did get two honorable mentions. Thanks Mouse and Highlander.

 

[Bowler1]

Leisha a great mention thank you, and a possible vote!

I just have to wait till tomorrow and see how I do, hmmmm, please Santa, I've been good.

 

[Glitch]

Great stories everyone. Makes the voting hard - as it should be

I've cast my votes....

Mouse
r_j_dando
HareBrain

 

[Phyrebrat]

In a challenge whose entries read like epitaphs on mankind’s gravestone, it has been a rather harrowing task to read, leaving me with a moody emotional landscape. But a little bit of happy first;


Thank you to the following for mentioning my entry;
Scott, TDZ, PM, Choccoweeble, DEO, Johnny Jet and to RJM Corbet for the vote

So, here are my shortlisted entries and vote-getters.

Reiver 33 – quite Aesop-ish, reminds me of a tenet of ritual magic; phrase what you ask for carefully because you get it. I love this kind of misery.


High Eight – I liked the idea of the benevolent ET, takes redemption to a galactic level. And I like the wryness.


Hex – Why do I like this? I just love the last line. I picture the fish as ugly but this is tempered by the fact that you characterised it as ‘hopeful’.


TacticalLoco – dehumanisation is the worst part of survival; to market, to market, to buy a fat hog…etc.


Scott R Forshaw – and here, the humanisation of the agents of death. I read this the second time as if it was performed by Monty Python (I hope that’s okay)

James Coote – What I like about this is that you’ve made the generation who grow up in a post-apocalyptic landscape so accepting. It makes me think, if all you’ve ever known is a flooded world, do you mourn the past? No, I think not, so this is an optimistic tale in my mind. Plus, there's something about water that makes a catastrophic end time seem so … clean.


Grizzgreen711 – another one with the spice of Aesop, it’s another self deprecating look at the Human Condition.


Slindeman – I was tied up in knots deciding who to vote for before I read we had been allocated three votes (and I had missed TJ’s post about it till well after it was common knowledge on the board) but then Slindeman posted this and it all became so simple. If we had one vote, mine would have gone here. I love it. Such a tidy, horrible little tale.

 

[Culhwch]

Many thanks to TEIN for a vote I wasn't expecting, and thanks also for the mentions and shortlists dotted throughout this overwhelmingly long thread! I was keeping track a couple pages back, but I lost it. I did note and very much appreciate them all, though!

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Thanks TDZ and Teresa for the shortlistings.

And thanks for the votes, Springs and Warren and Choccoweeble, , all of whom I've already thanked, but this damn flu is messing with my head...grrr.

 

[Ursa major]

Thanks for the mention and then the shortlisting, Leisha.


(You're obviously doing sterling work in the choice department. )

 

[Parson]

I don't think I would ever write Apocalyptic by choice. It's just too blasted depressing. I would write of hope by choice. So I suppose a good exercise. Really hard to pick among the stories, all in varying degrees of depression.

Special Mention: Perpetual Man, not a story, but the best answer of the lot.

Shortlist:
Mouse: Everybody's Dead Dave.
All My Wires: Til Death
Bob S. Sr. Easter Sunday
Grizzgreen: Unsuspecting Visitor
Anthers: Second Chance
Dr. Gorakk: Supper's Ready

Vote for
David Evil Overlord: The First Lawyer of Robotics
The Judge: Genesis 9:13
Culhwch: Gone Fishing

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Thank you, Parson.

 

[hopewrites]

internet hugs to everyone who has mentioned my story, much appreciated! I spent my lunch hour (and it took all of it) to get a first through shortlist scribbled out.
waiting for relatives to arrive so i got 14 down to 8. which still isnt three


oh!! the door!

Edit: bagh! not the door, movie. ran all the way up the stairs for nothing.
*sigh* ok back at the list between wandering around the forum then

 

[Perpetual Man]

Thanks for the special mention Parson.

I really should say thanks to the few others who mentioned my (very) little entry, I really should look back through the thread and thank you individually, but it's become such a big thread!

 

[nixie]

Thanks to Scott and Highlander for the short list and Johnny Jet for the vote. Now to go and decide who gets mine.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Thanks for the special mention Parson.

I really should say thanks to the few others who mentioned my (very) little entry, I really should look back through the thread and thank you individually, but it's become such a big thread!

I think you get away with it this month, PM.