Sekrit Santa - the guessing thread

[Mouse]

If Andrej Pejić was dark haired, he'd almost be as beautiful as Ben Barnes.

I've not read the story yet, Victoria, but I plan to as soon as I've walked the dog. And I'll add mine to the thread later too.

 

[Hex]

I got a fabulous story from TDZ -- thank you so much. It made me cry.

Hopeless at guessing but clearly I was Guessed (and very flattered to be confused with kmq's!).

 

[TacticalLoco]

Just read your story Victoria, which downloaded and opened perfectly.
It is sexy, sweet and touching, plus wonderfully well written.
"Martian wondered what secrets were shared with the reflection." Great line in several ways!

I would love a chance to something like this every three months. One thing I see as I continue writing is that my ability to sustain an idea gets longer. The 300 worder does not challenge or satisfy like it once did.
Sorry of that sounds snobby. I truly mean it more as an expression of my need for help in extending the length of my stories.
Chrons (you all) have been such an inspiration so far.

 

[hopewrites]

November is out for me, and if I did August I'd move it to September. So I'd better sign up for February.

Are the listed months the start of each set or the months we write in? Because if its the months we write in I could do August as the set up would be in July and the wind up in September.
Did we want a month for sign ups again or do we think two weeks would be enough?

Sorry I'm half asleep and thinking logistics. Going to snach a quick nap and be right back.

 

[Mouse]

Victoria, that was brilliant. Loved it! Could've done with it being a bit longer. As to the gender: I didn't see Shadow as male or female.

Here's mine attached then. I had to change the names for the guessing as a couple of the guys here have read the characters in a different story. Names are back to their originals in the doc.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

November is out for me, and if I did August I'd move it to September. So I'd better sign up for February.

Are the listed months the start of each set or the months we write in? Because if its the months we write in I could do August as the set up would be in July and the wind up in September.
Did we want a month for sign ups again or do we think two weeks would be enough?

Sorry I'm half asleep and thinking logistics. Going to snach a quick nap and be right back.

Based on our previous experience with this thing, I'd suggest this:


Announce new round of story exchanges in July (exact day not critical, but at least a couple of weeks.) Send out assignments August 1. All entries completed by September 1. Guessing, discussion, etc., in September. Announce next round in October. Assignments November 1. Completed by December 1. And so on. Of course, this schedule would not have to be absolutely rigid, to allow for life events.

Does this make sense?

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Here's mine attached then. I had to change the names for the guessing as a couple of the guys here have read the characters in a different story. Names are back to their originals in the doc.

I printed this out and took it with me on my break here at work, so I could read it carefully. Very nicely done, with a light touch that is enviable. Good characterization, particularly Athanasia. Nifty aliens. Overall, a charming love story.

Am I correct in assuming that this story was written in response to the request from alchemist?

I'd like mine set in space and involving conflict. Any level of consensual smut is acceptable, although not necessary.

 

[alchemist]

It was indeed for me.

That was a beautiful story, Victoria. I almost found myself taking notes!

It's good that this will process will continue, although I'm not sure of the frequency of three months. Knocking out a 1000+ word story that regularly would probably eat into the other writing time quite a lot. Still, I'll see how I'm set when the time comes.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I got a fabulous story from TDZ -- thank you so much. It made me cry.

It did? Wow! And here I keep thinking I should apologize some more for the rushed finish -- it's really supposed to be much longer, but I ran out of time. I should post the beginnings that I came up with before I found the one that would let me keep going. Fortunately (or un-), I did delete a number of them as I went. It kept trying to be first-person, present tense, and it kept starting in a different place. It was only when I started in the prison camp that it would go on.

It also occurs to me that I never actually said what a great story I got from Hope. Multi-layered, engaging, with each new facet revealing something new about what's going on -- the opening you saw doesn't even begin to reveal anything about the plot! I particularly liked the addition of the "Meanwhile, in space" section.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Mouse, as ever, fab. I am happy to take each one as it comes, I can usually knock something up but I have a lot on at the mo and definitely couldn't take on running one.

 

[Glisterspeck]

So, with Mouse's story, that makes two strong, alternative romances. Mine was a romance too, or at least, I tried to make it one, which may not have helped. It's also a bit too traditional too, I'm afraid.

Here it is:

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Oh, a nice long story! I will print it out and save it for a time when I can give it my full attention.

I can't yet figure out which request this was written for. Maybe the one for "something furry?"

 

[Glisterspeck]

Yep, it was for Hope. A furry moonlit romance. And I knew what moonlight was, so I wasn't starting with a completely blank slate.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Glisterspeck, that's a great story!

I'm sure this sounds stupid, but my favorite line was:

Nadia scraped the wooden spoon with her teeth and let the porridge fall against her tongue.

Somehow it brings me into the story more than anything else, though the imagery of the rest is vivid as well. I just stopped and admired that line, which really sounds like it pulled me out of the story, but that's not what I mean. Like I said, it sounds stupid when I say it.

 

[Glisterspeck]

Glisterspeck, that's a great story!

I'm sure this sounds stupid, but my favorite line was:

Nadia scraped the wooden spoon with her teeth and let the porridge fall against her tongue.

Somehow it brings me into the story more than anything else, though the imagery of the rest is vivid as well. I just stopped and admired that line, which really sounds like it pulled me out of the story, but that's not what I mean. Like I said, it sounds stupid when I say it.

Thanks! It's funny how lines can strike us. A story Cosmic Geoff recently had critiqued has two sentences following the main action: "They got back into the boat. The air was cooler over the water." The second sentence blew me away.

I've made a few edits since I turned this in, but wanted to put up the same version I wrote for the experiment. Spoilers: Mostly I changed any reference to sexual desire on Artur's part. The gaze full of manly wants stuff I cut, leaving just the knowing look and the wanting to help. In fact, I was thinking about making him a she-bear, but Artur means bear, and as such, his name is one of the requested puns. (All the names included are language puns. Nadia, for example, is Ukrainian for Hope, and Hope requested the story.)

 

[hopewrites]

Nether of the stories I wrote knew when to quit. The second one tried to cover two requests at once so that it would be versatile since I had no clues as to who wasnt getting a story (aside from the original I wrote which ended up being redirected as well).

Thank you TDZ, that was my favorite line as well. I came up with it months ago and have been just waiting for a story to come along that would use it. Of course when I put it in I had planned on having it be a lie later in the story. But I ended up having my robots be dragon toys with solar paneled parasols rather than alien invaders who wanted to torture a poor dragon's dreams.

Though I am glad my drive by chicken made it into the samples. It happens to be the moment I'm most proud of. Oddly enough.


Haven't changed the titles I gave them. Sorry for the spoilers there.

and yes, I do plan on keeping them to fiddle with later. They were too much fun not to continue enjoying them.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I just read my story that I sent to Hex again, and realized that it is so different from any version that I might be inclined to submit anywhere in the future that I might as well post it here!

 

[Mouse]

I printed this out and took it with me on my break here at work, so I could read it carefully. Very nicely done, with a light touch that is enviable. Good characterization, particularly Athanasia. Nifty aliens. Overall, a charming love story.

Thanks. A 'light touch' sounds so much nicer - I always say my style's 'sparse.'

Am I correct in assuming that this story was written in response to the request from alchemist?

I kinda went for personal conflict instead of fighting type conflict, which I'm not sure was what alc was after, but he says he liked it so job done!



I'll read these others when I get time!

 

[ratsy]

Thanks Hopewrites for writing a back up. It was cool. It felt like an excerpt from a larger strory. Did you just whip it up for this exercise?

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Oh, boy! Lots of stuff to read today! Thanks!