Discussion Thread - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE March 2013

[stormcrow]

Thank you for the shortlisting Hex!

Am pleased you liked it - you're the mistress of creepy after all!

 

[Parson]

Boneman and Parson But do post your entries somewhere else so we can see?

I will post mine here after the voting ends. It's where sometimes we post an extra story. (Something I've had exactly once in the three years or so we've been doing this.)

 

[Juliana]

I will post mine here after the voting ends.

Great!

Thank you Azzagorn and TL for the mentions!

 

[barlennan]

Juliana, Jastia Starburst and Talysia: really classy stories and each one I read thinking " no THIS is the one I should vote for!"

Grizzgreen: my runner-up, very impressive premise, characterisation and moral, slightly irked by the title.

Hypocritically, I voted for stormcrow's ambivalent and mysterious jack-in-the-green, despite not liking the title of that one either.

 

[Anne Martin]

For me, the choice was simple. No short list. Balance by Victoria Silverwolf ticked all my boxes. I agree that there were a lot of stories that didn't get the genre right (not contemporary, not-fantasy (some were SF), or the connection to hero and villain was unclear). It was a difficult task to fit the genre into 75 words, but I think Victoria balanced it just right.

 

[Ursa major]

Thanks for the mentions, Talysia and Grizzgreen711.

 

[Lenny]

Hokey dokey: shortlist, shorter list, vote.

kromanjon
AMB
BigJ
Glisterspeck
AlcubierreWarp
Dead Seed
Brev
Bob Senior

And I'd like to give honourable mentions to: Juliana, Tal, DEO, jastius, and TDZ.

---

Thanks to Grizz for the mention, and special thanks to prizzley and Bowler for the (stealth) votes!

 

[hopewrites]

Thanks Grizz for the vote, someone texted me earlier today to let me know and I have been properly giddy ever since. bought pudding to celebrate.

still havent got round to reading, I've got a project landed in my lap last night I'm working out kinks on before starting to set down and do. *throws hands over mouth and giggles* but dont say so, its a secret wip.

 

[Talysia]

Many thanks for the mentions, Barlennan and Lenny!

 

[Juliana]

Thank you for the mentions, Balennan and Lenny.

 

[stormcrow]

Thank You for your vote & comments Barlennan! You've made my morning!

It's funny - I had considered a slightly different title but my other idea seemed to serve the story too much.

 

[johnnyjet]

Lots of great writing & great ideas again. Always a pleasure to read these challenges & always difficult to narrow down my favorites. But finally, here it goes:

Short List, Shorter List, and my *** Favorite ***:

1.Abernovo
2.Victoria Silverwolf
3.Talysia
4. *** AlcubierreWarp ***
5.David Evil Overlord
6.Dead Seed
7.stormcrow
8.nixie
9.Perpetual Man
10.TacticalLoco
11.reiver33
12.Brev
13.J Riff
14.Anne Martin
15.The DustyZebra
16.Bob Senior

 

[Christopher Lee]

Thanks for me the mention barlennan! I'm happy to have just gotten that. my titles are never any good.
Your welcome, hopewrites. It was just all around the best this month for me. Enjoy your pudding!

 

[ratsy]

Thanks for the listing Talysia.

 

[Talysia]

Many thanks for the shortlisting, johhnyjet.

 

[TacticalLoco]

...and lo, two votes!! And some lovely words from TL.
Well, I'm all warm and fluffy now. Thanks.

Very welcome and very well deserved.

 

[TacticalLoco]

Many thanks to Talysia and johnny jet for the mentions.

 

[Anne Martin]

Thanks for the "shorter"-listing JohnnyJet!

 

[Perpetual Man]

Cul – It seems one of the great themes (obviously) is good versus evil, but what happens when one of the two gets tired of fighting, gives up and leaves the way open for the other to run wild? Well complete destruction for those they play with I guess. What is particularly good about this one is the confidence shown by the victor, the fact that he was in no doubt of the outcome.

J Riff – The opening word was enough to make me smile, the rest was chuckle worthy. It is an amusing take on the challenge, one that deserves a mention simply because it addresses one of the main issues of superheroes, the fact that they do not seem to age. Here we see what would happen if they did...

Anne Martin – There is the feeling of an epic slipped into the space of 75 words. A desperate quest to hunt down and kill the evil, but the discovery that the every thing you are meant to eradicate is totally the opposite of what you believed it to be. Perhaps this could slow even the greatest of resolves, but it does not change the fact that the evil is any less evil, and perhaps more effective to fall before.

TDZ – A story to make me chuckle. A good way to end the day I reckon. A classic updated for the modern world, or so it seems at first, but then it turns things on there head and gives us a twist ending that is as amusing as it is entertaining. That is to say a lot..

Hope – A great reworking of another classic, but of a totally different type. Once you get the tune running through your head this story works like a dream. At the same time it is a well thought out study of the relationship between nemeses. When they fight one another again and again, it is likely that some form of relationship will develop, that makes things more complicated almost intimate in their rivalry. Great idea.

Ursa – There is so much crammed into this story that it is hard to know just where to begin. A simple advertising poster that says so much is only enhanced by what is said at the beginning and the end. The idea of vermin exterminators being cats – talking cats – is great, but their interaction just fills out the story delightfully. How can one not smile?

TJ – The classic god Janus had two faces, and this story catches that perfectly. A particular examination of how such things could be perceived. Interesting how people would see him as a good god when things went their way, evil when they went the other. Perhaps more importantly is the way that they would escape their own failings by blaming on a god. No wonder it seems to hint that he walks away and leaves them to their own devices.

Bob – There have been quite a few excellent funny stories this month, and here we have another. This one made me laugh out loud, I just loved the line when the hero is offered that little bit more to let his foe go and is bought. Genius! The ending itself is an excellent twist, and almost gives the whole thing a truth, a human reaction perhaps to giving into to greed and all to human failings.

 

[nixie]

Thanks Johnny