Sekrit santa ii -- guessing thread

[Phyrebrat]

Sorry to be so late to the party. Same ol; [job x half term soon] + [RAD coverwork + gas cut off] = Hell on toast. At least I'm not running gang kids to A&E

So....I don't know how you all do it. I think I could identify Mouse's stuff because I think she has a similar element of misanthropy in her work as I do, but the rest....I dunno... I thought I would be able to identify Stormcrow's at fifty paces but I'm not so sure.... (love your new sig under your name BTW it made me smile)

So, the ones I think I can identify are as follows;

10 MR. MCKINLEY'S WORKSHOP - HEX or TDZ

3 WHERE ONE LIFE ENDS, ANOTHER BEGINS - HOPEWRITES

2 BOYS WILL BE BOYS - SPRINGS

6 [UNTITLED] - MOUSE

1 THE FIRE INSIDE - VICTORIA SILVERWOLF

7 THE LAW - PERPETUAL MAN

4 THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE - STORMCROW

8 - THE DUSTY ZEBRA or TDZ


I haven't got a clue about Ratsy or Sinister and I've never heard of someone called Phyrebrat but he sounds like a right ol tosser

So, how did I do?

pH

 

[Perpetual Man]

One person has got mine right so far

As to who, well that is another question, or perhaps I'm just leading you all down the garden path.

(It's all an excuse to stop me making my choices)

 

[Mouse]

I think I could identify Mouse's stuff because I think she has a similar element of misanthropy in her work as I do...

That made me grin so much.

edit: Changing my guess for TDZ to 8.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

One person has got mine right so far

As to who, well that is another question, or perhaps I'm just leading you all down the garden path.

(It's all an excuse to stop me making my choices)

That can't be right, because I have two people on each of the possible guesses for you. True, if two people have guessed the right one, then obviously one has. That one, and ...err... the other one.

Maybe I am 7 and that was a trick I played..."then clearly it couldn't be in the glass in front of me!"

Maybe you've built up an immunity to 7.

 

[ratsy]

Maybe you've built up an immunity to 7.

It took years of training...and I am not left handed

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I am not left-handed, either.

But I still don't have you on 7, immunity or no.

I see that Perp and sinister have not yet weighed in, and the rest of us continue to run in ever-widening circles of second-guessing.

So far, we have near-unanimity on hope (six votes) for #3 and Victoria (five votes) for #1, four votes for springs on #2 and Phyrebrat on #5, three votes for Mouse on #6, Perp on #11, me on #8, and stormcrow on #10, and miscellaneous other scattered opinions on all.

 

[stormcrow]

This challenge is brilliant and bonkers.

I'd thought "come back and post your final choices now storm-drain", then read the recent posts and thought...TDZ is very thorough!


Phyrebrat - Here - have some virtual absinthe to wash away the taste of that hell-on-toast! Glad you smiled...that's good. You do the Highland games then?

To business:


Sinister 42 - 1
Hopewrites - 2
Ratsy - 3
springs - 4
Phyrebrat - 5
Mouse - 6
Stormcrow - 7
Hex - 8
Victoria Silverwolf - 9
Perpetual Man -10
TDZ - 11

I hope.

>/=1 participant has me right! Impressive!

 

[TheDustyZebra]

then read the recent posts and thought...TDZ is very thorough!

Oh, you have no idea! I used to do the Challenge charts like Chrispy and TJ keep, but I fell behind due to actual writing about two years in, and then it seemed like too much work to catch up, so I've let it go. But it still sits there, bugging me to go back and work on it some more. I make charts of everything -- it's how I process the world.

Actually, I should put up all the guesses here -- even if three or four of us think something, that doesn't mean it's right, after all!

So:

Hex -- hope says 1, Mouse and I say 4, stormcrow says 8, Phyrebrat says 10, and ratsy says 11.

hopewrites -- stormcrow says 2, and springs, Hex, Mouse, ratsy, Phyrebrat and I all say 3.

springs -- Mouse says 2/6/10, ratsy, Phyrebrat and I say 2, stormcrow says 4, hope says 5/8/10, and Hex says 10.

Mouse -- hope says 1/11, stormcrow, Phyrebrat and I say 6, and Mouse says 5 but she's been known to lie.

Victoria -- Hex says 1/6, Mouse, ratsy, Phyrebrat and I say 1, hope says 2/10, stormcrow says 9.

sinister42 -- stormcrow says 1, springs and I say 7, hope and ratsy say 9, and Hex says 10.

ratsy -- stormcrow says 3, hope says 6, Mouse says 7, I say 9, and Hex says 10.

Perp -- springs and ratsy say 4, stormcrow says 7 and 10, Phyrebrat says 7, hope says 8, Mouse says 11.

stormcrow -- Phyrebrat says 4, Hex says 6, hope says 8/9, Mouse says 10/11, and ratsy and I say 10, and stormcrow, for what it's worth, says 7.

Phyrebrat -- stormcrow, springs, Mouse and I say 5, Hex says 6, hope says 6/7, ratsy says 8.

TDZ -- hope says 5, ratsy says 6, Hex and Mouse say 8, Phyrebrat says 8/10, springs and stormcrow say 11.

 

[sinister42]

I haven't weighed in because I'm awful at figuring this stuff out, and my guesses would just be blind, and I'm lazy, but I am enjoying watching you all get the wrong answer for my story.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

You sound just like the rest of us -- get in there so we can enjoy watching you get our stories wrong!

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

As most of you figured out, "The Fire Inside" was by Victoria Silverwolf. This story was written in response to this assignment from sinister42:

I'd like surreal slipstream sci fantasy with impossible technology that somehow makes sense in context.

I will attach the full story here. Other answers to follow.

View attachment THE%2520FIRE%2520INSIDE[1][1].docx

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"Boys Will Be Boys" was by springs.

"Where One Life Ends, Another Begins" was by hopewrites.

"Things We Do For Love" was by Hex.

"The Elves and the Shoemaker" was by Phyrebrat.

"[untitled]" was by Mouse.

"The Law" was by Perpetual Man.

"Quests and Answers" was by TheDustyZebra.

"Heirloom" was by ratsy.

"Mr. McKinley's Workshop" was by stormcrow.

"Superhero" was by sinister42.

As usual, I may have made some kind of mistake. Corrections are welcome.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I'll let others handle exact statistics, but for now:

The Mad Hound of the Moors Award for Deductive Reasoning goes to TheDustyZebra, who made no less than eight correct guesses.

The Power to Cloud Men's Minds So They Cannot See Him Award for Disguising Writing Style goes to sinister42, whose story was correctly guessed by nobody.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Hey, that's nine -- I guessed myself, too! (Oh, but I couldn't admit to it, darn.)

Woohoo! I would like to thank all the little people who contributed stories that led to my exalted award, although it was surely nothing more than my astounding talent at dumb luck that got me to where I am today.

Now as long as I don't drop this trophy on my foot....

 

[Hex]

Well done, TDZ.

Gah! I was hopeless.

I got horribly thrown right at the start by insider knowledge which -- it turned out -- I completely misunderstood so I thought Mouse had written springs' bit which meant I struggled to decide who'd written Mouse's and it was all just complicated...

My story (4) -- with dragons, dungeons and a cross-eyed newt -- was for Kylara so I went with a bit more description/ ornate language etc than I normally do because I know she likes that kind of thing.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I should have got Hex - i knew when I read it again the next morning.


Mouse and I got each other and we both dig each other's stuff anyway so that was fab! I did a fun, silly short - that I can't put up as it's promised elsewhere - based on my trilogy where Mouse's fav character, who is bisexual, wrangles himself a night out at a club to see who he can pick up. Since it was for Mouse, he met a pretty boy. Silly fun.

She did a wish fulfillment for me of a pilot who looks like John Taylor from Duran Duran having carnal relationships in the rain. Went down a treat and had me giggling for days.

Sadly, Hex thought Mouses's carnal relationships were between my characters and, as there was no mistaking Kare and Lichio from the descriptions, she got all confused, which is what you get for listening to rumours.

Well done TDZ!

 

[Mouse]

The Power to Cloud Men's Minds So They Cannot See Him Award for Disguising Writing Style goes to sinister42, whose story was correctly guessed by nobody.

Stands to reason, as none of us have seen his writing before! We'll get you next time.

Mouse and I got each other and we both dig each other's stuff anyway so that was fab! I did a fun, silly short - that I can't put up as it's promised elsewhere - based on my trilogy where Mouse's fav character, who is bisexual, wrangles himself a night out at a club to see who he can pick up. Since it was for Mouse, he met a pretty boy. Silly fun.

She did a wish fulfillment for me of a pilot who looks like John Taylor from Duran Duran having carnal relationships in the rain. Went down a treat and had me giggling for days.

Yep, I was very pleased to find out springs had written mine and was happy that I got picked for hers though her request made me scratch my head for days until we ended up chatting about men on Twitter and it all went from there.

So, I knew springs was 2 and I was 6. Who else did I get? Phyrebrat - which I'm pleased about, seeing as he was my writer last time! Hex (do you know how I knew? It was the 'farther!!') and hope and TDZ and Stormcrow and Victoria! Yay!

Ooh, so does that make me second?

Kicking myself that I didn't get Perp, cos I can see it's clearly his style now!

I'll post my story in a bit.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Oh right, I get it; let's all guess phyrebrat's story correctly, is it?

Well...one day, ONE DAY I will disguise my writing and then you'll all feel stupid, won't you! WON'T YOU!!!?

<reaches for brown paper bag> phewweee... Sorry about that, don't know where that came from

I'm just glad I got Mouse and Perp right.

I'm happy to put mine up or send it if anyone is interested but I think I should say some may find it offensive or very horrible :/ but it only has one curse word so that's an improvement from my last potty-mouthed offering! (characters, eh? Sooo bad mouthed).

Ratsy, you.....you.... Doity rat! Thanks for my story - it was uncannily similar thematically to the one I wrote for Hex

Thanks to Victoria for administering this one and congratulations to our honourary award winners

pH

 

[Mouse]

springs wanted: I would like .... Fantasy that links the elements to something sensual.

So here's mine then. Be warned - it's daft. It's a first draft because I just wanted it done. Sat and wrote it in one sitting, made it up as I went along, so it probably doesn't make a great deal of sense. I can see I need to tweak the end, but here tis.

 

[stormcrow]

Cheers again Victoria! I shall be reading all the full entries that get shared so looking forward to that.

Guess-wise, I had Mouse, springs and Phyrebrat (“Kalmar City Library” sealed it for me) right. Lots of you had me spot-on.

I received a story from Perpetual Man, which I thoroughly enjoyed: thanks! I think this may have been written to meet Tactical Loco’s brief but I’ll let PM enlarge on that.

Mine was written to meet Perpetual Man’s brief for “Something fantastical with children's toys and it has to be cheery”; hopefully it hit the mark.

So, here it is, attached. First attempt at a 1000+ word story. Written in a day after a lot of thinking.

...and Phyrebrat - yes please!