Discussion Thread -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- January 2014

[Victoria Silverwolf]

TheDustyZebra -- Through the use of surrealism and a complex narrative structure, the author presents us with the dilemma of how to deal with an impending poroblem.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Perpetual Man -- By maintaining an elevated style, the author increases the humorous tone of this pleasant bit of merriment, and includes a cheery in-joke.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Perp

Here are the first 5 words to help you along: "The night was freezing cold..."

Thanks Parson, that actually gave me an idea or two, but I managed to find my backup so went with it.

Perpetual Man -- By maintaining an elevated style, the author increases the humorous tone of this pleasant bit of merriment, and includes a cheery in-joke.

Or two

Thanks for the comments Victoria, always appreciated.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

It's an awesome selection of stories this month -- I can already see that it's going to be hard to figure out where to place my vote.

But I'm surprised how few stories there are with only one day to go, especially considering the theme/genre.

 

[Ursa major]

Is it cold feet?




(Or perhaps the inability to come up with any sort of cold feat?)

 

[Bob Senior]

Perp Man, Thank you for the review, made my day for sure. I got in trouble on thr tractor forum because of my sense of humor, good to see it appreciated.

Starbeast, Thank you for your review, you are much too kind, don't stop.

Bob

 

[Bowler1]

A few more on the last day - yay.


I know the theme was cold this month, but hot burning coals might help. A difficult job (says Bowler1, dropping a dusty coal sack by his feet), stoking hot coals an all, but I'm happy to volunteer. A guaranteed 100% cure for any cold feet!

 

[Phyrebrat]

Well I'll be ...

On the train to Kingston now and I just had a blast of inspiration! I have scribbled down the higgledy piggeldy rubbish I came up with (85 words) and will see if I can get it in by the deadline.

Problem is I have a Senegalese dance class and then a Jamaican dancehall class to teach which won't finish till 10.30 pm tonight! At least I have had my wifi reconnected at home.

It may seem a bit pointless posting this but I was so surprised that I actually managed to come up with an idea in such a difficult genre, and in light of Teresa's comment above re numbers, I thought I'd share my happy (?) news

Couldn't have done owt without Parson's encouragement

pH
Ps. Typing on iPhone. Sorry for typos etc.

 

[Abernovo]

You can do it, Phyrebrat!

And, what typos?

 

[Brev]

Better late than never. And this is about as late as I've been.

 

[Mith]

I'm in, right before deadline it seems!

 

[Ursa major]

For me, his was one of the most difficult months to think of something. (Nothing to do with the topic or genre, simply my blank mind.) In the middle of the afternoon, I had the slightest glimmer of an idea. I checked to see if someone had posted something along the same lines, and they had (enough to make my idea look a bit derivative, that is).

It was thus with some desperation** that I managed to come up with a story simply by forcing myself to write something - anything - into Word and work from there.


** - Usually I have some sort of idea (but not this time); the problem is generally finding a way of capturing that idea in a story and then condensing it without losing most of its gist.

 

[Phyrebrat]

You can do it, Phyrebrat!

And, what typos?

Thanks Abernovo.

Well I'm in. The latest I ever have been. I'm not sure if it was the genre that I struggled with, or - like Ursa - just a menopausal muse. (not to put words in your mouth, Ursa)

Anyway, a rushed job, but I really didn't want to miss a month. I use these challenges to focus my mind and make myself write, and hopefully improve, but I felt horror at the possibility of missing a challenge!

Now over to the 300 to see if I can enter - I think I have a few days.

pH

 

[Ursa major]

Now that the Challenge is closed to new entries, it's voting time.


You can vote here:

Poll - January 75-Word Challenge
​

 

[Glen]

It's nice to see the story I voted for has a massive 100% of the voting. Mind you, I'm the only person that's voted so far.

My favourite stories this month were from mosaix, Hex, HareBrain, and The Judge - and my vote went to The Judge, who, did I mention this, has a massive 100% of the votes.

 

[Parson]

Instead of heading for bed for some much needed sleep. I re-read the cold stories and voted. As usual there were a plethora of excellent jottings.

Short list

Juliana: A cold hearted tale.
Victoria Silverwolf: A tale worthy of the bard.
Telford: A museum will be a creepy place for me now.
Sleepy Dormouse: A spot on genre piece.
Seven Stars: A very atmospheric piece
Teresa Edgerton: Simply great.
The Judge: A great twisty ending.
Phyrebrat: A Clever twist

Voted for

Teresa Edgerton's near perfect story.

 

[Tywin]

Great stories as always, and hard to choose. To set the mood, I read them all in a drafty tent out in the howling wind and cold (no, really).

My list:
Juliana – Blood runs cold. What a fun story to start offwith. Will he play her for the money, or find that he has a heart of gold? Mybet’s on the former.

Victoria – Come, Ophelia. Beautiful imagery here.

Telford – Hall of Statues. This felt like a full andexciting story to fit into 75 words.

Hex – Changeling. Damn it, Hex, this thing gives menightmares. Well done.

Mr. Orange – Cold Elves. I like the imagery conjured by “ColdElves” and everything that comes after.

SleepyDormouse – The Snow Dragon’s Mother. Great story,great imagery, this takes me along with the narrator. I can’t decide if she’sglad to be pregnant with this or not.

Alchemist – Cold is my friend. Great story, very dark. Itmakes my fingers feel cold as I type.

Bob Senior – Some LIKE It Cold. Is this a Wendingo? Well,whatever he is, I liked the voices (both spoken and thought). This reallybrought the story to life for me.

Perpetual Man – Cold Hearted. Bravo for going at a differentangle on the word “Cold”.

The Judge – Hiding in Plain Sight. Very nice. Good imagery.


And my vote went to Hex. Gotta get home and give my little kids some hugs after reading that.

 

[hopewrites]

For me it was Hex hands down.
I read all the story's twice through to be sure. But it really struck several cords with me. Everything to do with it is cold, the imagery seeps like icy tendrals into my heart and my only defense is to numb myself from thoughts of that pain.

There were several others with fantastic imagery, wornderful word play, and inventive stories told remarkably well in so few words. I hope to make a list and properly praise them later. But for now, I need cocoa and a warm-fuzzy blanket.

 

[Bowler1]

My list is longer than usual this month, which considering the theme has me worried, on more than one level. Anyway, Juliana, Mosaix, Hex, Parson, Teresa.
Contenders, PM and Sleepydormouse.
Vote to The Judge, who seems to get regular votes from me.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I loved loads of these but whittled a shortlist down to:

Victoria, Hex, Martin 321, Glen for another ha!, Teresa and Harebrain whose story was rather too close for comfort.

I then ummed and ahhed for a while between Teresa and Hex and chose the one whose imagery stuck with me from the first time I read it and went for Hex.