DISCUSSION -- April 2014 75+5 Word Writing Challenge

[Starbeast]

Thanks SB, your kind comment is greatly appreciated. And I like the idea of steampink...

You're welcome Perpetual pal. Steampink. Sounds like women's steampunk fashion to me. Or the Pink Panter in a steampunk movie.

its in.. with the faintest whiff of steam pinkiness to it.. (so doan even pick up that raygun in my direction bowler or i will have a certain lost ship drop a sneezing dragon down...)

and star beast you are brilliant even in typos.. lets get gary to do a steam pink antho and get the susan b anthony people behind it..

Thanks Jastius, and wow. I've inadvertamtly got the ball rolling on a new genre.

Thank you to Starbeast, Ben and Victoria for your reviews. An Ironclad Gordon Ramsay was very much my inspiration.

You're very welcome Chef AnyaKimlin, You're cooking with steam powered energy.

Thanks for the lovely reviews, Starbeast, Victoria and Ben!

Jastius, are you sure that's not the Susan G. Komen people you're looking for?

Steampink. I like it! And Fantasy Steampink begins to sound very ... steamy. Just my thing!

You're immensely welcome TheDustyZebra. Steampink is catching on fast.

Encounters/Fantasy Steampunk
(part eight)​

Jastius - Whoa! You have really surprisd me with something fantastic here. At first I had no idea where your tale was leading me to, then, presto! I'm touched by the wand of the Rock and Roll fairy. Plus, you had (my favorite singer) ELVIS. King Rocanrol, that's a good one.

Tisiphone - Your story stands out with Tic Toc Talent. Talk about thinking outside the box and inside a clock. Such a sweet and delightful treat you've tinkered together with excellence. I love the pleasentness of this tale. Simply wonderful.

Ursa Major - A tasty treat is always saved for last, and you've given us readers a mechanized mirth of a fine story. I like your idea of a dimensional reality entering another. Also, your mixing of colorful elements are blended well and create a refined work of art.

 

[BenSt]

Wow, this is very difficult. There were a lot that caught my attention but my shortlist are, what I consider, to be outstanding. First though some mroe reviews:

Jastius: This is a playful little piece, rather gentile in a way, very nice .

Tisiphone: what made this strong was the careful choosing of words to describe the piece. It really gave me a good visual in my head.

Ursa - I had a lot of fun reading this, and I think, as some others here, this could turn into something much larger. Although it could become I think a more serious piece of expanded upon, I still liked this!

Right... so... here we are.

My vote ultimately goes to: Remedy.

2nd Place: Cat's Cradle

Honourable Mentions (I liked these a lot!):

*Springs
*TitaniumT
*SirSamuelVines
*StormCrow
*Chrispenycate:
*Hare Brain
*Boneman

Remedy what did it for me was that last line, it honestly choked me up... and I like that I managed to emotionally connect with your story. The fact that you so carefully and subtly crafted the underlying emotion was great. Magnificent, and I don't say that lightly.

Cat's Cradle, it honestly came down to the two of you and I want you to know that what I found incredible about your work was the humanity, and that line about the Dwarfs and Humans hugging each other in death was incredible. This is something I seriously think you should consider making into something larger, the underlying premise of two distinct groups trying to work together is not original but the way you constructed the world and hinted at it really hooked. Truly, well done.

Well done all of you as well, this has been a fun month!

 

[Starbeast]

Encounters/Fantasy Steampunk​

Finalist List​

BenSt - David Evil Overlord - Remedy - Juliana - Karn Maeshalanadae - Telford​

- TitaniumTi - Stormcrow - Cornelius - Cat's Cradle - Martin321 - Aun Doorback​

- Glen - Khayos - Mosaix - SirGeoffrey - Chrispenycate - Paranoid Marvin​

- Mr Orange - HareBrain - Bob Senior - Hopewrites - Parson - Boneman​

- TheDustyZebra​

Winner: A. Fare Wells - "The Coal Steel Deal"​

 

[Cat's Cradle]

What a great month for truly original stories, and what a great concept Starbeast! And thank you again to all of the reviewers, you all write such wonderful, nice things, and your reviews are so valuable to the process...I think we all look forward to them greatly!

And also, wow! thank you Starbeast and Titanium for the listings, how exciting! And Ben, your kind words really meant a lot to me, thanks so much! I really have never considered writing stories before coming to this site, but I will try to write something from my Challenge entry, thank you. I have felt inspired by everyone here, and these challenges are just the most wonderful thing! Best of luck to everyone this month, CC

 

[hopewrites]

Massive thanks to Victoria and Starbeast for the listings in the first flurry of voting. I have to get out my scratch paper and voting pen here soon, and get my list started.

if the winner wants to do SteamPink for their genre it sounds like there will be minimal groaning not sure what we'll be writting, but it should be fun. Not the first time a genre has been created by/for the challenges.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

A really really interesting month with great stories. I was very hard and ruled out a few because of the lack of fantasy (as I saw it) because I thought that was what made it hard.

My shortlist

Remedy
Titanium ti
Tywin
Johnnyjet
Cul
Tdz

I had to sleep on it overnight once I'd shortened it to tdz and johnnyjet and in the end I went for johnnyjet's clever take on Stonehenge.

Thanks for the shortlists Victoria, Ben St and titanium ti. Made my morning.

 

[Bowler1]

Yay 51.

Thanks for the reviews everyone. BsnSt there was a small Viking reference used ok but I'll be honest and not claim Beowulf too. But I can understand why you'd think of me as the stuff of legend.


Right, some reading and deciding to do before I vote.

 

[Boneman]

Many thanks to Starbeast, Ben St and Victoria for the wonderful reviews, and to SB and BS (Did you see what I did there...?) for the honourable mentions!! Great start to the day.

 

[Abernovo]

Thanks to Starbeast, BenSt, and Victoria for the reviews, which were greatly appreciated.
And thanks to TitaniumTi for the listing.

 

[Culhwch]

Many thanks for the reviews, Starbeast, BenSt and Victoria - and thanks for the shortlisting, springs!

 

[TitaniumTi]

Thank you for the listings BenSt, StarBeast and springs.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

So many fine stories!
Here's my shortlist:

Khayos
AJB
hopewrites
Victoria Silverwolf
Springs
Remedy

Two stories amazed me the very first day of the Challenge, and I still think of them very fondly, so here, my finalists:

Springs
Remedy

I went back and forth so many times, but by a whisker, my vote goes to:Remedy. BenSt summed up the beauty of this story perfectly...I really love it Remedy!

 

[Bowler1]

I've got a big short list this month so bear with me. DOE, *Remedy, Juliana, SirSamuelVimes, Aun, Glen, SirGeoffery, HB, *Parson, Abernovo and *TDZ.


The * were the shorter list but in the end the robot rules, ruled.


Remember to vote everyone, or else....
Me and Chrispy - opps - Chrispy and I will hunt you down.

 

[Juliana]

Thank you Bowler and Starbeast for the mentions. The alien were-wolves appreciate it!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Thanks, Cat's Cradle.

 

[johnnyjet]

Many fine & unique stories! Congratulations to all. However, the following is my Long List, Short List and *** Favorite ***:

1. Intelligent Design - Victoria Silverwolf
2. His Finest Creation – Remedy
3. Cave [Canem] Leporem – TitaniumTi
4. The Kings of America – SirSamuelVimes
5. The Coal Miners - Cat's Cradle
6. Skirmish on the Southern Seas - martin321
7. *** The Chemistry Between Us - Aun Doorback ***
8. Dragontoy – chrispenycate
9. The Mechanic – kshRox
10. The Coal Steel Deal - A. Fare Wells
11. From whom the Bell tolls or Dust on a String – hopewrites
12. Dragon flight – Parson
13. Beaufort's Majestic Mechanical Menagerie – Culhwch
14. ...but if you try sometimes, you just might find... – TheDustyZebra
15. The Indian Timepiece – Tisiphone

 

[johnnyjet]

Wow, a vote! Thanks, springs. That was awesome.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Merci for the listing, johnnyjet!

 

[A. Fare Wells]

Ah, Starbeast. You flatter me. Gracias, amigo mio.

Tough voting.

In no particular order...honorable mentions to Boneman, Parson, Bob Senior, Azzagorn, kshRox, Tisiphone, Holland, Starbeast, Cat's Cradle, Remedy, Victoria Silverwolf, Khayos, johnnyjet, and Harebrain.

Second place — Culhwch

First place — The Dusty Zebra

 

[Parson]

BenSt. & Victoria --- Thanks so much for your reviews of my story.

-------

StarBeast --- Thanks for making me a part of your finalist list.
Bowler1 --- Thanks for the shorter listing. (I will vote, just give me time. No Ray Guns, please!)
Johnnyjet --- Thanks for placing me on your long list.
A. Fare Wells --- I'm very pleased with an honorable mention.

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Parson is dreading the sure to come "steam pink" genre. The stories that would come from such a challenge are hard to imagine; literally, hard to imagine!