Discussion -- 300 Word Challenge #6

[Mouse]

My last 75 worder's title came from Red Dwarf but nobody mentioned it. I like the puzzles and whatnot too, even if I never get them!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Cheers, Stillearning.

Teresa, I just asked Mr. Springs who is a big Eliot fan, and he knew the reference straight away... J.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I've only ever watched one episode of Red Dwarf, Mouse, so that would explain why I didn't get your title (I miss most pop culture references, too, because I live in a time warp, and it's not located in the UK) but I know there are a lot of fans of the show on the forum, so it is surprising that no one mentioned it.

springs -- Yay! At least someone recognized it.

 

[The Judge]

Ah --I shan't kick myself then. I only know a few bits of The Wasteland, and I've never been able to get into it. (I'll annoy myself puzzling over the lilies now, though...)

The puzzle-story that didn't get votes for me was one that no one but me would remember, as it sunk without trace -- Time Thieves, where I had the 3 characters all stealing time in one definition or another, and also used 3 different anagrams of time in the story (item, emit, mite). It made for a rather stilted piece, as I was more interested in fitting everything together than actually telling a story. I enjoyed working on it though -- like doing a crossword puzzle in reverse!

I remember Mouse's flaming anagram -- took me hours to get that!



EDIT: Just checked, Mouse -- I did recognise it at the time but forgot to mention it! (And why have you gone AWOL in the Challenges the last few months?)

 

[Ursa major]

Because we aren't allowing people much latitude in talking about their stories these days, everyone may feel uncomfortable, while the challenge is running, hinting at any secrets or references they've included, and since that is the time where people are most interested in the stories and most eager to solve the puzzles, that may discourage the writers from using them. Which is too bad.

If people had kept putting in secret references - which could be mentioned once the voting was over - most people (save for new members) would expect them to be there and would look for them without much if any prompting.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

You are probably right, Ursa. And of course, if anyone other than the author of the piece mentions that they found a puzzle or reference in the story, that's well within the rules.

Maybe next month in the 75 we'll find a lot of entries inspired by this conversation.

TJ, are you referring to Mouse's Face Mogul (camouflage)? I always cheated with the anagrams, if I knew to look for them, by using an online anagram solver. Otherwise, I tend to be hopeless with them.

Thinking of your entry this month (where I recognized all the references to the poem by Blake but no one else commented), do you think maybe the fact that the poem is also a hymn in the UK might have made it so familiar that nobody else thought it worth mentioning?

 

[David Evil Overlord]

If people had kept putting in secret references - which could be mentioned once the voting was over - most people (save for new members) would expect them to be there and would look for them without much if any prompting.

A project worthy of an evil overlord, my good bear. I will plant a hidden message in my next story, telling readers to look for the hidden message that tells them to look for the hidden message, that tells them...

I'm wondering who (apart from Her Honour) got the origin of my 300 worder title?

 

[Perpetual Man]

When I am writing my comments I have to think fast, but sometimes think I spot references or little hidden gems, start to reference them then wonder whether I'm seeing something that isn't there, or that I am misunderstanding it and will look silly and drop all references!

TJ - I got the Blake stuff - I work with the hymn version so much that it is hard to miss it when I see it - and for the very same reason just neglect to mention it.

(It's also one of those poem I just love the words to.)

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I'm wondering who (apart from Her Honour) got the origin of my 300 worder title?

I'd seen the phrase before, often enough for it to be very familiar, so I assumed it was something in common usage, something dating, perhaps, from one of the World Wars.

Looking it up, I see it's much older than that ...

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I knew where the phrase came from, DEO. I just googled Silsbury and Ravensdale in case I'd missed somewhere there and you are the first result. Fame! At last... an obscure google term is yours. From here, the world.

I'm not good at hidden meanings, but I like to make it quite accurate. So, in Sobibor they did refer to the path to the gas chambers as the Road to Heaven. The camp was the scene of a mass breakout by the prisoners - the largest of wwII - and, although less well known than eg. Treblinka, the very nature of the escape, how it gave each person their own chance, made me base it there rather than in a camp that had simply been liberated.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I did wonder if some of the details might be real in your story, springs, because it was all so convincing.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I knew the history of the camp, but spent an hour or two researching what was left, and checking some of the details. I remember thinking at the time that the Chrons had sent me slightly daft if I was now worried about the accuracy of a 300 word tale.

But, your comments are a reminder of how important it is to get that accuracy. Also, in this case, given the historical context, I thought it was important to try to get it right(ish), so relationships did happen in camp 1 and 2, and they tended to be in the evenings, and there was music and whatnot. (actually I'm glad I was able to stick this up because I was worried that aspect might have seemed to be trivualising the subject matter).

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Springs, you didn't trivialize anything. As for naming my zombie factory, I just Googled English surnames until I had a couple that sounded right.

Teresa, I had to look it up, too. I had the phrase all ready to use, checked it for accuracy, and discovered the phrase lurking in my brain wasn't the same as the oft-quoted line. So I cut the quote down to the three most important words, and it worked.

P.S. The first draft was written from the POV of one of the factory owners. I didn't like it, so I changed the POV character to one of the factory hands. Which meant putting "was" where "were" was, and "were" where "was" ...um was. Of course I missed one.

 

[Mouse]

Time Thieves, where I had the 3 characters all stealing time in one definition or another, and also used 3 different anagrams of time in the story (item, emit, mite). It made for a rather stilted piece, as I was more interested in fitting everything together than actually telling a story. I enjoyed working on it though -- like doing a crossword puzzle in reverse!

No, I remember that because I tried to work it out and failed! I think a few people were too busy trying to work out how I'd done my mouse's tail that month!

EDIT: Just checked, Mouse -- I did recognise it at the time but forgot to mention it! (And why have you gone AWOL in the Challenges the last few months?)

Cos I've gone a bit mad in the head space area.

I figured people would've recognised it but just didn't mention it.

TJ, are you referring to Mouse's Face Mogul (camouflage)? I always cheated with the anagrams, if I knew to look for them, by using an online anagram solver. Otherwise, I tend to be hopeless with them.

Blimey, I'd forgotten that one! Think it got no votes.

 

[The Judge]

You are probably right, Ursa. And of course, if anyone other than the author of the piece mentions that they found a puzzle or reference in the story, that's well within the rules.

I think it would be OK to mention there is a puzzle and/or reference, wouldn't it? Just no explanations of either until after voting.

TJ, are you referring to Mouse's Face Mogul (camouflage)?

That was the one! I was all for sending it out to GCHQ for de-crypting...

Thinking of your entry this month (where I recognized all the references to the poem by Blake but no one else commented), do you think maybe the fact that the poem is also a hymn in the UK might have made it so familiar that nobody else thought it worth mentioning?

Very possibly -- in the same way I recognised Mouse's "Everyone's Dead, Dave" but didn't say anything. It's nice to know when people get something, though.

I'm wondering who (apart from Her Honour) got the origin of my 300 worder title?

Ah, well, when you've had a classical education like wot I've had... My other half did Henry V at school and had to learn great chunks of it which come out every so often, and I've watched both the Olivier and Branagh versions too often to count, and the irony of closing the wall with the dead and breaching the wall/fence by the dead appealed, plus, as Teresa says, it has the feel of a WWI poem which added to the whole thing.

 

[Gary Compton]

My other half did Henry V at school

What, he gave'im a good hiding?

 

[Ursa major]

Perhaps. Though it wasn't likely to be in the form of six of the best.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

If there were any issues to mine, as to like who was narrating, I can clear some up. The narrator was of a foreign race, one from a distant planet that had watched the downfall of humans. As to what the phrases it used was, though they were technologically advanced, they had eliminated all lawlessness and chaos within their race, and as such, had no ruling government. They still had "councils" that got together to decide on certain important issues, ones that were simply grouped together all across the planet, but had no concept of war, rank, or law, until they started watching Earth.

The rest should have been pretty straight forward. I only wish I could have included this backstory to it. Or is it too much?

 

[Luiglin]

To add my two penneth for Rust it was a mix of two ideas. One was the simple idea of a single step leading elsewhere. The second was the idea of what would a sidhe think if they came into our world now after not seeing it since before the industrial revolution. How would such a species cope with their bane of iron seeing how the blood metal is all prevalent.
Unfortunately I don't believe the end result did either two ideas any justice.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Well, I don't know, Luiglin. I was impressed with your story and all the other stories this month. Just because so many stories were crushed underfoot during Hex's triumphal march to victory (and the ones that Hex didn't mash into the ground, fell under the wheels of DEO's chariot), and consequently didn't get the votes they might have under different circumstances, it doesn't mean that the writers failed in some way.

Of course with a 300 word story, it is so easy, as readers, to fill in the blanks with a completely different story the writer never meant, or to miss things he/she did intend, so it's hard to tell how much justice everyone does to their original ideas. Still, if the writer creates something moving or funny or frightening, then maybe it doesn't matter.

And the result was a month of excellent stories and I enjoyed reading every one.

It does add to the enjoyment, though, to read about the things I missed.


.
.