DISCUSSION -- June 2014 75 Word Writing Challenge

Tywin said:
It does seem like some of the interest/listing/voting followed regional lines this month, doesn't it?
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Yes, that's got to be it -- my excuse for a very poor showing! Nobody in my region, see.... :D

I suspect mine may have failed by being a local bit of history, not terribly old in the scheme of things (1990-ish), and by the nature of its deception not known outside the circle in which it happened. It was only fictional in that the characters were slightly changed.

There was a small plane with a businessman and his family that crashed into the side of the mesa here, close to the edge of the Ute Mountain Tribal Park. I knew someone who was on the search-and-rescue team, and there was indeed a great debate about the location of the site and how long it would take to get through all the red tape (I nearly called my story that, but ... well.) and whether they would ever be able to recover the bodies. It's nearly impossible to get anything done through the jurisdictional battles when the feds and the state/locals and the tribes are all involved. This one was solved just the way I told it (except the characters were changed), with someone sticking his neck out and pinpointing the crash site on the map as *just* to the outside of the tribal lands, so that it was ok to rappel in and retrieve the bodies. Had it been officially located on the other side of that line, they might still be fighting about it.

Not a great bit of history, by any means, but it was all I had.
 
Congratulations for the win Juliana.

Thank you jastius for the mention on your longish shortlist. It made my day as it was my first attempt.
 
Since a few people have asked about my story, I will give a little background.

After thinking about the genre for a while, I thought it might be fun to draw on my family history.

So I chose something that actually happened to my father and then filled in some fictional details. He did join a carnival when he was 17 and worked at some of the concessions -- which were far from honest. The disgruntled customer, the sheriff uncle, and the sawed-off shotgun were all real. It happened in Arkansas, if I remember correctly. The year would have been 1936 or 37.

Since I was very young when he told me this story, I was absolutely certain that he was going to tell me that he heroically refused to back down, somehow outsmarted the sheriff, and didn't give the money back. Of course, since it was a true story (and he was still alive to tell it) he did the prudent thing and returned the money. I remember being disappointed by that.
 
Ursa major said:
I think it would be unfair on Parson...








...because it's... er... bound to favour laypersons.
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Groan!!!!

--------------------------------------------------------+
Teresa, if not for his wisdom you might not have been around to listen to the tale.

Juliana, Well done -- Clever poem though sadly "lacking.":eek::D
 
Starbeast said:
I like the "font" you used in your tale, Perpetual Man. Very cool.
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Thanks SB it was Kristen ITC

And having lied more veraciously that St Ralph the Liar (if no one other than DEO picked it up) the truth behind my story was actually:

90593c5f2bbb80a7526b0ba2248c42be.jpg

Although I was pretty certain it was a documentary :rolleyes:

"...as cunning as a fox who's just been pointed professor of cunning from Oxford University" is a quote from the final episode of the fourth series, spoken by Blackadder after Baldrick once again claims he has a cunning plan to get them going over the top during World War I.

In the story my inference was that it all really happened, Baldrick and his descendants then writing the history secretly, before it was used as the basis for a comedy....
 
Congratulations, Juliana! Great to see a neighbor win the competition. (Well, Connecticut is kind of a neighbor to Pennsylvania.)

And thanks for all the nice short & long listings by Starbeast, Victoria Silverwolf, ratsy, TheDustyZebra, and jastius.
 
I will admit, I didn't think too clearly on this months...and mine was obviously Alternate History or just fictional history...not Historical Fiction...it didn't center around a real event, just a made up one. My bad.

Also, I didn't understand a lot of stories or what they were referring too but that is understandable, since I have no historical knowledge :)

Just wanted to throw out a big Thanks! to Jastius for the listing.

What will July hold for us?
 
TheDustyZebra said:
There was a small plane with a businessman and his family that crashed into the side of the mesa here, close to the edge of the Ute Mountain Tribal Park. I knew someone who was on the search-and-rescue team, and there was indeed a great debate about the location of the site and how long it would take to get through all the red tape (I nearly called my story that, but ... well.) and whether they would ever be able to recover the bodies. It's nearly impossible to get anything done through the jurisdictional battles when the feds and the state/locals and the tribes are all involved. This one was solved just the way I told it (except the characters were changed), with someone sticking his neck out and pinpointing the crash site on the map as *just* to the outside of the tribal lands, so that it was ok to rappel in and retrieve the bodies. Had it been officially located on the other side of that line, they might still be fighting about it.

Not a great bit of history, by any means, but it was all I had.
Click to expand...

Not familiar with that story, but we have plenty of issues with the interaction between state, federal, and tribal governments here in SW Oklahoma.

Thanks again for the vote, as the only other chronner who lives in former Comanche territory, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
 
I have a question for TJ, about her story, which I liked very much and almost voted for -- and was all the more interested because I knew that she had twisted the facts to make a good story. If Anne really had been offered a deal for her confession, do you think she would have been foolish enough to fall for it after that travesty of a trial?
 
thanks to Tywin and chrispy for the shortlisting, The storyteller and johnnyjet for the longlisting, ursa major for the runner upping...

and a belated congratulations to juliana
 
(I'm late again)
Congratulations Juliana!!! - an awesome poem :D

*

A quick thanks to those who mentioned my entry and special thanks to Phyrebrat and chrispenycate for the votes :)
 
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