Discussion -- 75 Word Challenge -- June

[TomS]

Should have put quotations around my final four words. Too late to tell everyone to merely imagine they are there?

 

[James Coote]

Next month, maybe I will learn patience... (I think this every month so far!)

Pfft, patience is overrated. Time waits for no one. Procrastination, sure, or rushing everything in a last minute...rush? Now that I can do!

 

[Phyrebrat]

I have posted my entry. I found the stimulus and genre this month quite difficult, not least because it has made me feel a little like an interloper here.

I was reading my old ones over the past year and I felt that my ideas used to come so easily (regardless of merit haha).

The three I wrote for May never made it to the contest because of my delay - and I can't put them up in the May discussion thread -so I thought I would get this one in soon.

<awkward foot shuffling>

so... yeah

pH

 

[James Coote]

I have posted my entry. I found the stimulus and genre this month quite difficult, not least because it has made me feel a little like an interloper here.

I was reading my old ones over the past year and I felt that my ideas used to come so easily (regardless of merit haha).

The three I wrote for May never made it to the contest because of my delay - and I can't put them up in the May discussion thread -so I thought I would get this one in soon.

<awkward foot shuffling>

so... yeah

pH

Maybe put the other stories up in a blog? I found some months just clicked and I felt really good about the story, whilst others, it all felt kinda forced.

Neither has any correlation to how well I do in the contest, which is influenced not solely by the stories, but also who wrote them

You don't have to feel like an interloper though. That always happens when you first join a forum and come across a bunch of people confidently stating their views with a bazillion post count to back it up.

Thing is, you'll eventually find the part of the forums where you're most comfortable posting. That's why I rarely venture outside of the Aspiring Writers section because quite aside from never having read any of their books, I don't even know (or care?) who Joe JRRGRRM Chinaville is, and the last time I studied English Literature was almost 10 years ago for my GCSE's. Hardly highbrow intellectual stuff. Out here though, I can happily post away unqualified opinion and call it 'personal experience'

 

[Boneman]

Now that I've posted, I can read the previous entries. I really like yours phyrebrat!

 

[TacticalLoco]

A new idea and mine is in for the month.
Liking the others as always.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Hey Boneman and James, thanks for your words.

Boneman, yours too! It had me wrongfooted as I was not expecting the punchline which made me laugh.

James, on re-reading my post above I seemed a bit navel-gaze-y, so I hope I didn't come across as all me, me, me . By interloper, I meant that my style is more supernatural fiction than sci-fi or fantasy. I find it a very real struggle to write either, and so I feel a bit like I'm in the wrong forum sometimes, let alone contest. Despite that, the people here are sincerely encouraging and genuine, and in the year or so I have been a member, I have learnt so much (why do I have a red-squiggle under 'learnt'?). And I don't want to leave. I've tried the American Horror Writer's forum and other more parochial sites but they are not as robust and helpful as here.

I'm not one for posting in every thread going so although I check out the site at least twice a day my profile seems low. I'll only post to a thread if I feel I can add to it in some way. Often I can't

I am a massive sci-fi fan though, but I'm not wired to write it; I think the details and hard science would elude me. Regarding fantasy - insofar as the fantasy I have read - it's not really my bag (please don't stone me, guys) altho' the ones I have loved reading have been Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Dark Tower collection.

One last thing; I doubt the thrust for any of us here is to win the competition, but to hone our writing and gain valuable feedback and to have a sense of participation is also important. Last month's discussion thread had me considering invoicing Alchemist for a new Mac keyboard for making me spray tea all over mine when I read his pigtails exuberance ('see how they twirl' hahah it is making me laugh now, too).

pH

 

[alchemist]

One last thing; I doubt the thrust for any of us here is to win the competition, but to hone our writing and gain valuable feedback and to have a sense of participation is also important. Last month's discussion thread had me considering invoicing Alchemist for a new Mac keyboard for making me spray tea all over mine when I read his pigtails exuberance ('see how they twirl' hahah it is making me laugh now, too).

pH

Sorry about the keyboard, ph. I blame others, who shall remain nameless, for egging me on. You know who you are

I had to laugh too, at James' "Joe JRRGRRM Chinaville". I feel like that too at times; the AW section can be a safe haven from the more serious discussion.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I have a halo, somewhere....

I love the way the stories bring different writers and styles together. I'm not sure I ever vote for people - I try very hard not to - but there's no doubt there are some styles we all like better.

This month is producing some really intriguing ones....

 

[Perpetual Man]

And a few more...

I've actually managed to get mine written, a bit of fine tuning, or maybe another idea...


PM – Yet another powerful poem. Not much more I can say about this other than it has all the power that it needs; what could be more true than a mother looking at the senseless death of her children and asking why? Matched with the incredible rhyming, PM is making it look too easy.

Cmharrogate – A grim and terrible tale, with a conclusion that wrenches at the emotions like... well like a bomb going off. The thought of being slightly disgruntled with a child and the realisation that this is the end seconds later is more horrendous than little more I could think of.

Hammerhand – Uhhh, I really don’t know what to say about this one, other than it feels like the opening teaser to a TV drama, and it just leaves it all up in the air. Quite a clever story that leaves the reader wondering what happens next. Guilty or innocent? Loved it.

Hope – What on Earth did Hope throw the flyer away for. Can I have it? A lovely little bit of word play, (might interfere with what I was working on!), but the idea is a great one, totally fantastical, but with the stroke of realism thrown in – how many people just throw away the flyers that are handed?

TomS – This is one of those that I find hard to truly pin down, but there is a momentous feel to it, as though events are turning and major things are happening. There is the feeling that we (as a race) are viewed as nothing, that we are beyond hope, lost of any hope of innocence, that even the smallest chance is lost in the multitude.

Highlander – There is something very worrying about this one. Is it just a simulation or are we really that simulation and we’ve just had the plug pulled? A clever idea, well presented and rather unusually it can be either funny or horrific depending which way you read it. (Also have to admit I misread the title first time, the ‘r’ in throngs slipped me by....)

 

[r_j_dando]

(Also have to admit I misread the title first time, the ‘r’ in throngs slipped me by....)

Not just me, then...!

 

[James Coote]

By interloper, I meant that my style is more supernatural fiction than sci-fi or fantasy. I find it a very real struggle to write either, and so I feel a bit like I'm in the wrong forum sometimes, let alone contest.

I think genre is less important for these competitions. I keep seeing fantasy stories pop up when the genre is science fiction, and for me, that is a negative, but not enough to put them out of the competition. My own story this month could be any one of a number of genres quite aside from the prescribed science fiction or fantasy. There isn't really enough to go on in 75 words unless you throw in "laser rocket ships" or "magic runes"

I draw a lot of inspiration from anime and manga, and much of that straddles the line between sci-fi and supernatural (and really for a scientist, what could be more alluring than something that defies explanation?).

Is spiderman sci-fi? I don't think the authors would have written it how they did if they had slowed down to think about what genre it was

 

[RcGrant]

I wrote one, but I think it probably crosses the line into explicit imagery (even if there are no actions).

 

[Highlander]

Highlander – There is something very worrying about this one. Is it just a simulation or are we really that simulation and we’ve just had the plug pulled? A clever idea, well presented and rather unusually it can be either funny or horrific depending which way you read it. (Also have to admit I misread the title first time, the ‘r’ in throngs slipped me by....)

Thanks for the crit Perp! - spot on as usual! (I have been reading Game of Thrones book 1 so that is indeed where the title came from - not a typo either!) I tried to convey the innocence of youth with utter devastation and hope that I wasn't too far away.

 

[alchemist]

I wrote one, but I think it probably crosses the line into explicit imagery (even if there are no actions).

You taunt us, madame.

 

[The Judge]

Neither has any correlation to how well I do in the contest, which is influenced not solely by the stories, but also who wrote them

Not quite sure what you're saying here, James, but just in case it needs pointing out for those who are relatively new -- there is no sort of clique here, whereby members with post counts of over 1,000 only vote for members with similar counts, or those who have been here years won't look at work by newbies, or some such. A long while ago someone made an allegation of that kind, and I was able to show that in that very month one new member had received more votes than several other members combined -- and those other members were all previous winners or runners-up in past Challenges. While it's true that one person's style will undoubtedly resonate more than another's, what matters is the story and how well it is told.

By interloper, I meant that my style is more supernatural fiction than sci-fi or fantasy. I find it a very real struggle to write either, and so I feel a bit like I'm in the wrong forum sometimes, let alone contest.

Don't be so narrow in your definition of fantasy!! If it can include Greek myth -- which I wrote a lot of in the first year -- it can certainly include supernatural things of a different ilk.

(why do I have a red-squiggle under 'learnt'?)

US spell checker?

I think genre is less important for these competitions. I keep seeing fantasy stories pop up when the genre is science fiction, and for me, that is a negative, but not enough to put them out of the competition.

Er... well... we have raised this in the Improving our Stories thread, and we shall be repeating it. The genre IS important. The challenge is not simply to write to a theme, but to genre as well. If it wasn't important they'd be no reason to have it there and the Challenges would be complete free-for-alls.

We would ask every voter to pay attention to the theme and genre when it comes to voting. Personally if I think a story, no matter how well written, misses either, then it's pushed aside. Of course, our individual definitions of what is and isn't included in a genre will vary, as will our assessment of how well a piece fits in, but to discount it is rather to miss the whole point of the Challenges.

 

[Gary Compton]

Even if the accusation that people with 1000's of posts regularly win the challenges was true. (It's not cos I would've won)

In my opinion its a simple fact - if you soak in the knowledge that is available here from 1 to 1000 posts. Your writing will undoubtedly be better, now, than the day you joined.

So clearly you have more chance of winning because of the experience.

You don't have apprentice footballers winning the Champions League do you?

 

[Brev]

We would ask every voter to pay attention to the theme and genre when it comes to voting. Personally if I think a story, no matter how well written, misses either, then it's pushed aside. Of course, our individual definitions of what is and isn't included in a genre will vary, as will our assessment of how well a piece fits in, but to discount it is rather to miss the whole point of the Challenges.

well put...

Even if the accusation that people with 1000's of posts regularly win the challenges was true. (It's not cos I would've won)

In my opinion its a simple fact - if you soak in the knowledge that is available here from 1 to 1000 posts. Your writing will undoubtedly be better, now, than the day you joined.

So clearly you have more chance of winning because of the experience.

You don't have apprentice footballers winning the Champions League do you?

and well put again...

It's the 75 word 'Challenge' - The challenge (imho) is to best combine both the theme and the genre. (although admittedly an excellent story could win, and has won, without quite ticking both boxes.)

 

[mosaix]

One last thing; I doubt the thrust for any of us here is to win the competition,

If you believe that pH...

Having received the congratulations from some very accomplished writers here on the Chrons for having had the most votes I have to tell you pH that I would most sincerely like to repeat the experience.

However if I have to improve as a writer in order to do so, then so be it.

 

[Gary Compton]

well put...

and well put again...

Well put put!