DISCUSSION -- July 2014 75-word Writing Challenge

Congratulations, Bowler!


Thanks for the runner-up ship, Ursa, and for the kind words CC!


While I'm here, two things, one with my moddy hat on, one without.

Without first. The old-timers will recall that some of us used to play word games with the 75 word entries, slipping in anagrams and acrostics and the like into the stories. Mouse had a particularly clever anagram for the title for one entry, I recall, and I think it was TDZ who had an acrostic that read backwards! (Have I got that right?) I don't know why that stopped, but I took it upon myself to revive the tradition with the title for my story this month. Then forgot to give a hint about it... :rolleyes: Anyway, it's there for anyone who wants a brief moment of amusement.

Which ties in nicely with my modderly thought. Back in the Staff Room, while waiting for the Devil's Food Cake** to be prepared, we were talking about how the Discussion threads used to be places of entertainment in their own right because we actively discussed the stories in the Challenge thread, which no longer happens to nearly the same extent. This might perhaps arise because we have the sterling work of two or three reviewers which, however interesting and helpful their reviews, has made the rest of us lazy, and/or because of the prohibition on the author of a story explaining it, leading people to be afraid of raising questions which might lead the author to fall foul of the rule.

Whatever the reason, we thought it would be good to revert to the old ways. The prohibition is still in place -- that is, you mustn't explain your own story, but hinting at there being something behind it, or commenting on why the subject was chosen, or the relevance of the title is acceptable. For instance, in a 300 worder I used the title "Strange Fruit" as did Phyrebrat in an earlier Challenge story, referring to the song about the lynchings of black men in the US, and either one of us talking about that would have been fine. And despite the prohibition, it shouldn't stop others speculating on what the stories might mean, or the historical or literary background to a piece if it seems to be based on eg real events or ancient myth. We appreciate the author him/herself might get into a bit of a quandary on the difference between explaining a story and expanding on it, but I'm sure we can manage to navigate those choppy waters.

Anyway, instead of leaving it to the reviewers, let's all start to discuss the stories a little more, making the Discussion thread an active place to be, not merely somewhere full of one-line posts thanking the reviewers. And get those anagrams and acrostics into the Challenge pieces!



** like all busy lawyers, we have devils to do the actual work, but on principle we don't feed them much, so we turn the leftovers into cake for the rest of us
 
Congratulations, Bowler! Good story, mate! :)
 
Congrats, Bowler!

Many thanks to Parson for the vote this month, and also thanks for those who mentioned or listed my story. I'm not sure how successful I was this month. Inspiration didn't strike until very late in the piece. My goal was to have the story read as if it could have been delivered by either brother. I think that worked better in my first draft, before I had to cut it down to size.
 
Congratulations, Bowler! It was a wonderful story--terrific imagery, and really involving. Well done, and well earned! Very excited to see your choices for next month (and sorry I stole-in-advance your ideas on theme! :))

And The Judge, I welcome your suggestion that we become more involved in the discussion of the stories each month...the reviews add a great deal to the atmosphere of the discussion threads (and isn't it thrilling to see your own story mentioned by another member?:)), and I think having others discuss your work openly could make all feel more involved with the Challenges. Great stuff!

Finally, I want to echo the thoughts of others here and offer condolences, or perhaps more fittingly congratulations, to Victoria...yours was a unique, and moving story. There was a beautiful sweetness to the denouement of the tale that I won't soon forget.

And as Ashleyne mentioned, it was an amazing Challenge this month, congratulations to everyone involved. And WOW! the quality of the stories in the 300 Word Challenge is just as high! :)
 
On the stats thread TJ mentioned months where we get lots of mentions but no votes - this month I had 9 mentions and no votes, which is definitely the highest I've had! :) (but t'was lovely to be mentioned.)
 
Thanks for the additional short listings, ratsy and jastius! Much appreciated. I received 9 mentions and 3 votes this time, a record for me I believe. Thanks to all.

And a BIG congratulations to Bowler1. Well done!
 
To expand on TJ's post, I tried to do something like that once and fell flat on my face. That could have been the fact that a lot of people had no idea what I was doing or the fact that it just sucked, which is a distinct possibility. I did a story using the words for all the previous 12 months themes.

I guess the trick is to do a cool easter egg play on things AND make a great entry...that would be the trick.

On a side note, the coolest visual story I read was the one shaped like a mouse...(did mouse write that?) When I started reading these I checked out the honor role and was blown away by that.

If you are new here, I recommend going and reading all the previous winners because there are some really great stories in there.
 
The Judge said:
I think it was TDZ who had an acrostic that read backwards! (Have I got that right?)
Click to expand...

Did I do that? I'm not sure. I can't even remember what I did last month. But I have done some funky things, so it's possible. :D


ratsy said:
To expand on TJ's post, I tried to do something like that once and fell flat on my face. That could have been the fact that a lot of people had no idea what I was doing or the fact that it just sucked, which is a distinct possibility. I did a story using the words for all the previous 12 months themes.
Click to expand...

I don't know why that one would have fallen flat -- I thought it was very clever! But it is painful when one puts so much effort into something and nobody notices. The (old and) new enhanced discussion is a great thing for that, to make it more likely that people will notice and appreciate the nuances.
 
TheDustyZebra said:
I don't know why that one would have fallen flat -- I thought it was very clever! But it is painful when one puts so much effort into something and nobody notices. The (old and) new enhanced discussion is a great thing for that, to make it more likely that people will notice and appreciate the nuances.
Click to expand...

That's how I feel about entering poems. To get it right takes much more time than doing prose. I've done a few, and got some votes, but I think a lot of people don't see the effort until they've tried, hence I rarely do them anymore.

But having done them does also help me appreciate when folks like chrispy and Paranoid Marvin entered poems.
 
Congratulations Bowler1 I can't wait to see what you set us next month.

I would like to be able to discuss more about stories and share views I think it would add to the challenge and possibly lead to better 75 worders in the long run.

Of course the stories are great right now but why settle for great when we could have astronomically awesome-greatness?
 
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Congratulations Bowler 1: Your story was very memorable. But I have a hard time voting for a story whose prevalent emotion to me is sadness.

The Judge: Here, here! I would love to get back to the old days of making comments about hidden things in your story and such. I remember a lot of that kind of give and take back then. I remember early on that someone (Perp?) wrote a story that took all of the beginning 32 words and reversed their order for the final 32. A work of genius! I might have been the first to do this. I had the double word acrostic. http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/foru...-sephiroth-wins-a-decisive-2.html#post1389662
 
Parson said:
I remember early on that someone (Perp?) wrote a story that took all of the beginning 32 words and reversed their order for the final 32. A work of genius!
Click to expand...

Wait, wait, I CAN take credit for that one! (Especially since it's "a work of genius"!) :D Err...it's on the same page as your link above. Although it was 37 words reversed, with the final "escape" at the end to fill it out. I don't think it was widely recognized as anything more than gibberish at the time.
 
Holy crap Dusty! That was awesome ;)

I wasn't around doing the challenges at that time
 
Thanks (for extra mentions( to mosaix and jastius,

And conga-rats for whom? Oh, yes, well done Bowler, m'boy.

Alc said:
But having done them does also help me appreciate when folks like chrispy and Paranoid Marvin entered poems.
Click to expand...
This month's was going to be a poem, but it took too much time, or rhyme, or something, and my alternative prose one almost obliged knowledge of my dragonverse, so I ploughed in without once wondering if our transatlantic cousins played 'happy families (master font, the typesetter's son?). At least I managed Mouse friendly ;).

Oh, the pome? a few words over, still, and not quite polished:-

Oldclear Family​

My bottom draw holds dinosaur
No nephews rummage though them
In liquor store immense jigsaw
No-one to 'help' me do them.
In isolation, kindred poor

I'm ready for the cleaning chore
Young relatives prepare us
I quite ignore the bumps and gore
The swabbing baked beans from the floor
The stress their parents spare us

My family makes kids galore,
No pixie paw rings my front door.
Should I explore in Arkansas?
Lend me your chaos, I implore.
 
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