Guess These Authors (SS4)

[Cat's Cradle]

Ah, if I interpret things correctly I am going to be (very proudly) receiving an original springs! Lovely! I am truly looking forward to reading my story! (I was hoping for a bit more scandal though, *sigh*... )

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Ah, if I interpret things correctly I am going to be (very proudly) receiving an original springs! Lovely! I am truly looking forward to reading my story! (I was hoping for a bit more scandal though, *sigh*... )

Yours was a hard brief. I researched every type of superhero and they have all been done. Honestly. It was getting funny in the end. So, um, sorry. I doubt the story was what you expected!

And I got one from Phrye, that's about ten times the length of the one I wrote for him. Sorry. . I have work now but will curl up tonight. It's taking all my self-control not to read it now! Thank you.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Oh yes, it's true springs, and I'm sorry, I hadn't thought of that when making my request! This Secret Santa thing has been a real learning experience for me in many ways, and I suspect I will be better behaved (certainly better informed) whenever the next one comes about.

In the meanwhile, I've just realized that your story is in my in-basket! I shall read it this evening, and post a few thoughts! Thank you springs! And thanks again to Hope...I think I've caused her a variety of problems during the event, but I do greatly appreciate all of the advice and guidance she has given me throughout!

 

[Phyrebrat]

Thanks again, Hope for your dedicated hard work in administering this latest run of SS. Along with the challenges, this really makes me push my writing.

I was spoilt this time, getting two stories; one from Chrispy and one from Springs...who knew a haunted waterway could inspire so much? I will be reading them later as I want to read them on my iPad as opposed to my titchy phone screen.

Victoria, I think it's a blessing - or at least a positive - that we can guess your voice. No-one guessed me this time, or last, and I think having a characteristic style speaks of consistency and professionalism. And I don't care that you didn't guess me right, because your comments were so complimentary I was buzzing all morning

Yours was a hard brief. I researched every type of superhero and they have all been done. Honestly. It was getting funny in the end. So, um, sorry. I doubt the story was what you expected!

And I got one from Phrye, that's about ten times the length of the one I wrote for him. Sorry. . I have work now but will curl up tonight. It's taking all my self-control not to read it now! Thank you.

Haha. I was going to drop out of SS4 because I just knew I wouldn't be able to get a story out of some of the stims! Even yours - sci-fi in a forest - made me at first.

Please don't apologise, either! I think it is a skill to write shorts; I find it so difficult to tell a story in around 4-5k. I am still working on yours as it is about 2/5ths finished and is already 15k. What I liked working for you is that you had recently read Grace's scenes in Ill-Born and made a number of comments about my dialogue punctuation errors. When I got my mission from Hope and I saw I was writing for you, I was pretty scared. I even fired off an email to Mouse to say aaaargh.

But I think it helped me. I tried to keep the exposition to a minimum, and description was not as important as character development. I also knew that you were okay with semi-colons but not in dialogue (and I use them in dialogue, normally), so I changed to using hyphens in speech where I would normally use semis.

That's what is nice about working on these challenges when you have a sense of the person you're writing for. It can make you tweak your writing style in a way the 75 and 300 don't.

Finally, if anyone should apologise, it's me; making you wade through 60 pages of unfinished story. One of these days I'll write a tidy 5k-er

pH

 

[ratsy]

Hey Victoria. I hope you like the story. It was a stretch for your request...as I wrote it, it got a life of its own!! I look forward to reading yours!

So, Springs guessed my alternate story #3 that I had sitting around so I threw it at Hope and Cats Cradle picked up that #11 was me so that's cool.

I laughed when I saw Victoria's reasoning for her guessing one was me because it was Historical Fiction. I don't think I could write Historical Fiction if I lived it!

And I liked Phyres guess of CC for my #11 for its chattiness and ease...I took it as a compliment.

And while writing this I noticed all the new Emoticons so here I am

 

[Cat's Cradle]

I hope you'll forgive an SS newbie's query, but I wondered how I'd go about posting my own story eventually, for everyone to read (should I happen to be drinking some evening, and my sense of decorum and tremendous fear of such things abandon me)? Okay, I must run and hyperventilate now...

 

[Phyrebrat]

I hope you'll forgive an SS newbie's query, but I wondered how I'd go about posting my own story eventually, for everyone to read (should I happen to be drinking some evening, and my sense of decorum and tremendous fear of such things abandon me)? Okay, I must run and hyperventilate now...

A newbie with 500+ posts? Nobody's convinced

So, to post your masterpiece, you have to upload the file; it's the button next to the 'Post Reply' one. The limit used to be around 100k but I think it's more with the new forum software.

So, post away!

pH

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Springs, I love my superhero story! It's a very nice take on my request, and it's quite clever, thank you. Springs wrote a story that reminded me that we all can be superheroes, we just have to care enough to try. I'm very happy to have met Sarah Dinsdale, and I hope she will have a good, long run in costume and cape.

Thanks for the reply, PB! Although masterpiece, bien sûr, it is not! I think it is entertaining though, and maybe that's enough merit to warrant its being posted. I will put it up someday soon, I think!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

You're very welcome, thank you. I'll pop it up next time I'm on the big pc.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I popped it in my blog. I'll put up the other after Phyre has read it. And I'm loving mine.

http://www.sffchronicles.com/xfa-blogs/31403/

 

[Phyrebrat]

I should probably preface this post with a gush-alert.

Having been blessed this time around to receive two very different - in narrative - stories, I've had my love of supernatural literature compounded further and understand why I love it: Atmosphere, bitter-sweet atmosphere that instils a melancholy so total that after finishing both my stories I felt purged yet tearful.

When I requested a story about a haunted waterway, I had no idea I would have been moved so much by what I received. And also feel a little closer to the authors. But I didn't expect to feel so unremarkable in comparison!

Chrispy's opening paragraph is a triumphant one full of incredible imagery and theme that just makes me envious beyond words. A beach can be a place of so much fun and happiness with carefree holiday memories, but he shows it can also be as heartbreakingly lonely, reflective and bitter-sweet as the one in Terminal Beach (his story for me), and others like M.R James' Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, my Lad.

I did wonder if there was an element of autobiography in this tale - it is just too effectively personal to not assume as much, especially in a passage referring to a niece. Regardless, I think Chrispy is in a wonderful creative place this month having read his 75 word entry, and now this.

I hope he will post it up for you all to read; the story of an aging man reflecting - and dealing - with loss. Over the past two years I have been in a strange head-space about my own mortality and these words speak strongly to the mindset I currently have.

So, thank you for making such a wonderful story, just for me.

Springs has joined him in the trend of heartbreaking stories with a Hardy-esque sadness in Namesake - again, I won't spoil it as she has said she'll post it up here. Not only reminiscent of Thomas Hardy in its handling of family and subject, but also the early dialogue reminded me of the awkward interactions between characters in an Alan Bennett play, where you derive so much about the characters from often spartan conversation (but without the humour!).

I loved the setting of the waterway - a canal and aqueduct - in the gloaming, and she's produced some unforgettable imagery - one of my favourites being the herons that stand sentinel along the waterway like psychopomps; familiars of an otherworldly ferryman.

There is something magnificently eerie about a boat passing through a misty stretch; sound is different, temperature drops, light illuminates things differently as they fade in and out of the fog. This is a complete story but there is no end for the couple who will witness it every time they drift on the Namesake through the mere to Llangollen...

Some are haunted by ghosts even when those spirits have put their message across - that's tragically sad.

We often make platitudes like 'I can't thank you enough.' But I really can't. These stories are beautiful.

pH

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I laughed when I saw Victoria's reasoning for her guessing one was me because it was Historical Fiction. I don't think I could write Historical Fiction if I lived it!

That was a bit of misdirection on my part, since the one I "guessed" was by you was actually the one I wrote.

In the meantime, I have read your story "The Harvest," for which I thank you very much. It's a fast-paced, action-packed science fiction horror story. It's nice to see that you gave the "monster" in the story a motivation, which made it a real character.

For what it's worth, here is what I came up with for a "flintlock fantasy with an evil overlord."

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Phyre. I'm blushing, big time. I loved writing it - I adored canal boating. This bit is based on coming through the meres at Ellesmere on the Llangollen canal. Very enchanting section of the waterway.

Anyhow, here it is:
http://www.skypen.co.uk/groups/creative-writing/forum/topic/namesake/

Now, I'll be reading Phyre's and giving it the time it deserves. I have loved the beginning and am savouring it. then I'll read the others. I do enjoy these SS.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I popped it in my blog. I'll put up the other after Phyre has read it. And I'm loving mine.

http://www.sffchronicles.com/xfa-blogs/31403/

Make sure you read this, everybody. An extremely original and moving variation on the superhero theme.

Edited to add:

And this one:


http://www.skypen.co.uk/groups/creative-writing/forum/topic/namesake/

A very vivid, emotional, and moving story.

 

[ratsy]

That was a bit of misdirection on my part, since the one I "guessed" was by you was actually the one I wrote.

I suppose I could have made sense of that if I had looked closer.

I'm glad you enjoyed my story. As I said, it was a stretch for your request but it took over from me.

Victoria, I have read your story and it was great! Very well done. I loved the style and the idea behind it was awesome. Now that should be turned into a novel. You are a talented lady. Thanks again.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Downloaded Victoria's to my iPad so will be reading that later. For now am concentrating on finishing The Folding for Springs. If anyone wants to torture themselves with 15K of an unfinished story, and provided Springs has read it and agrees, I'll send it on.

pH

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

@ratsy: Thank you for the very kind words. This was quite a challenge for me. It was interesting to find out that the protagonist was hiding his motives from me, as well as from the other characters.

@Phyrebrat: Sure, I'd like to see it.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Phrye, send away.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I just said to Mouse, my next SS will be a haiku to make sure I finish it. That way I won't force someone to sacrifice days reading my offering (I am a very slow reader)

disclaimer - salty language...

pH

 

[chrispenycate]

Chrispy's opening paragraph is a triumphant one full of incredible imagery and theme that just makes me envious beyond words.

Why, thank you very much for enjoying it. It's very short, but of course I'll put it up. No, I was brought up on the coast, and have moved back to the sea now, forty-five years later; the ocean runs in my veins. But there's no autobiographical in there, apart from growing old.

Hmm, less than 500 words, can copy/post.

Terminal Beach​

Parallel lines meeting at infinity.
The ripples on the shining sand meet those on the water without fracture, divided only sideways by the flaming, glittering line of the dying sun. Clouds simulate the washboard, rippling the sky with red-lit lambs-tails.
Intellectually I know I could walk to that infinity in an hour, could I walk on water, but by then the tide would be coming in, drowning the symmetry and reordering the coastal universe. A very close infinity, like the close eternity of 'till death shall ye part'.
She'd laughed in exaltation when the squall had appeared, from nowhere, impossibly with the sightlines extending to infinity in all directions but down. Rejoiced in the challenge, danced with the unpredictable waves that rolled us over and separated us from each other.
They'd never found her body. It was only assumed she had died, when the broken-backed kayak washed ashore. It had sacrificed itself to save her, and even in failure had gained honour. Bits of lifejacket blew ashore all season, but whether they were hers or not… they probably come in every year, only noticed when catastrophe draws particular attention. Blinded by rain pockets and blown spray I had fought my way to shore, expecting to find her there, mocking me with her love, that love I always shared with her devotion to the sea itself. I was ready to accept her chiding, as I'd done so many times before, and when she wasn't there it was evident she'd stayed to play with the waves, taunting them to more adrenalin.
And then, as quickly as it had started, the weather broke. Sharp-toothed breakers became as calm as the waters now, glittering to horizon's infinity, and she was nowhere to be seen.
As often before, her other lover had called 'excuse-me' in the dance, and off she'd trod - but this time not to return for the last waltz.
I rise from the cheap folding chair, which creaks to match my limbs as the pressure is redistributed. She never knew the joys of age, of stiffening joints, the wrinkles that would have developed so fast with the time she spent on the sea. On the other hand, she never got a niece snuggling up and asking for a bed-time story, or got to see her paintings exhibited in London, to critical acclaim and financial recompense that had meant I never needed to work again. I did, of course; if nothing else, to keep my mind from circling round the fact I'd let us get separated, that I hadn't done more to save her, that I had survived.

I fold the chair and carefully replace it in its bag. My feet leave prints marring the sand as I walk into the rising tide - perhaps these will continue over the burning water as I stride into the sunset, walking into infinity.

So, I was right with the two Springs's but elsewhere I even missed Victoria's - and still don't know which of some of them go with which requests.