DISCUSSION -- October 2014 75 Word Challenge

[Ursa major]

I shall have to brush up my Shakespeare and start reading him now... (Bonus points for anyone getting that slight mis-quote!)

I hope you don't expect anyone to sing it out loud.

(But I might... er... quote your need to brush up your Shakespeare should the need arise.)

 

[Zoe Mackay]

I shall have to brush up my Shakespeare and start reading him now... (Bonus points for anyone getting that slight mis-quote!)

Brush up your Shakespeare! Start quoting him now! Brush up your Shakespeare, and the women you will wow.

It is indeed Kiss Me Kate, which manages to take "The Taming Of The Shrew" and add in some more sexism, just for fun. And some top notch songs... "Any Tom, Dick, or Harry, any Harry, Tom, or Dick - a Dick-dick, a dick-dick, a dick-dick!"

 

[HareBrain]

The benefits of a non-stop diet of Radio 2 as a child.

 

[The Judge]

Wunderbar! Bonus points all round!

 

[Ursa major]

You can probably guess why I was thinking of changing my Custom Title to "Why Can't You Behave" yesterday evening....

 

[The Judge]

I was thinking of quoting that myself!

 

[johnnyjet]

Congratulations, Hex!

 

[ratsy]

Congrats Hex. Well done!

 

[holland]

Congrats Hex!

And belated thanks to Mr. Orange for the mention

 

[Parson]

Congratulations Hex, well done indeed.

My story from the dark side was inspired by a movie poster, some horror flick or other*, I don't remember. But I thought that a predator underground might be kinda spooky.


*Parson doesn't watch 2 movies a year including videos. A serious weakness I suppose.

 

[A. Fare Wells]

Thank you so much for the listings; farn, johnnyj, TDZ and Ursa. And for all the work you put into the reviews Silverwolf and Beast of the Stars.

Safe was a simple little tale of insomnia; first caused to Aubrey by the daemon who plagued her during the sleeping hours. Once Pete died, then she couldn't sleep because of the battle between him and the daemon. I played with punctuation there at the end in the hopes the reader would question whether or not keeping her safe was really in her best interests...due to sleep deprivation and a kind-of stalkerish attitude from Pete ala The Police's "Every Breath You Take".

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Speaking of titles....

So 'Lap of the Gods' is what those little devils intend to do....

Ooh, ooh, I got that one, too!

I don't know Kiss Me Kate, though. I mean, I know what it is, but I haven't seen it. I should do something about that.

 

[Phyrebrat]

[n.b.!] I don't know if any knows this but following on from what's just happened I've decided I love the new forum software: I accidentally kicked the wall plug from my Mac whilst I was typing this post and obviously the machine went off. When I restarted, I was delighted to find my lost text greyed out in this box! No more problems remembering what I said [!]

Well done, Hex!

This has to be one of my favourite challenge results because a) I love Hex's stories (and she's pretty nifty as a person, too); and b) I have had mentions, shortlistings and votes from people whose writing I really respect, and to be shortlisted amongst such illustrious company is so validating.

Thank you to Ursa, Teresa and TJ for the shortlistings, and TJ, you don't know how lovely your kind words made me feel! <goes off to plan a poison cake for Darkchrome >

As far as Victoria's request for the origins of our stories go, I don't have a clue as many times as my stories tend to come as a fully realised idea. This month was different as I started writing a story about a grieving, lone, woman golfer on a desolate fairway in torrential rain seeing a dark entity in a peacoat and hat standing under a tree at every hole. It was all atmosphere and no story so I just left it after around 100 words and a week or so later the one about the dust monster came to me.

This was the first attempt, overlong and with gap in the middle haha.

The 9th hole

The October golf course shimmers under the lash of wind and rain. Bunkers turn to wet cement; the fairway a bruised salad.
Over by the first hole, under an ash weeping leaves as torrential as the rain, stands another golfer mad enough to play in this deluge.
How long it takes him to putt! He’s been there too long. I’ll move on up and let him know…but he's gone by the time I get to the raddled ash.

tottering as he shambles towards me. His shiny raincoat alive with slick rain. What kind of iron is that he’s holding in his…mandibles?


Can we have more people comment on how/why their story came about, please?

pH

 

[The Judge]

I love the auto-save, too! The only slight problem I have with it is I sometimes write a post but decide not to post it, and then every time I go back into the thread it's there, waiting for me, looking very aggrieved. Getting reproached by my own writing is a bit of a bummer, I can tell you. (I know I can delete it and just wait for the auto-save to come up, but that takes forever and it STARES at me!)

And you're welcome, Phyre! I always love your use of words and images -- I fully intend to pinch them all and pass them off as my own.

As to story origins, I've no idea where mine came from. It just grow'd, like Topsy.

 

[Ursa major]

I delete the text and delete the draft (a function you can see if you click on the button that looks like a floppy disk): no waiting involved.

(Deleting the text may be an unnecessary step.)

 

[Nick B]

Congratulations Hex! And a belated thank you to void for the mention.

It? Just thought it'd be funny to write a shortie that wouldnt say if it was a kid or a real spawn from hell that got a handful of sweets from a grumpy woman. Its up to the reader i guess, whichever idea you like best.

 

[ratsy]

My story origin was just the idea of a monster eating people after the trick or treating is over. A self-indulgent demon of death will get you if you do so.

Here was the other story I had penned but didn't post. I wanted to do something with the senses, and a spirit


5 Scents Worth

The sound I miss most is her laughter. It was high and happy.

Her skin was soft and smooth against mine. I can’t feel it anymore.

The lingering scents of cherry deodorant and Burberry perfume are but memories.

Her kiss was longing and sweet, with a hint of green tea.

I now see all the things she does without me, and worst of all, I see him.

My senses are gone but my anger isn't.

 

[Phyrebrat]

It was 3 days after posting mine, that I re-read it and realized it was so vague. I was kicking myself, feeling like a sausage bought from the silly counter. . . Anyway, it was meant to show that this horrible orchestra-conductor-ghost-type-bloke was torturing a single live man on a theater's stage, trying to extract the sounds from the various instrumental groups... But I kind of messed up the descriptions... I wish I had some patience like many of our residents.

I just wanted to say I got the image you were aiming for, Remedy, and it was a clear, effective one as far as I'm concerned. It made me think of close-camera work of the opening to a horror movie about the Theatre of Souls or Blood, or what have you . It was good!

The only reason it didn't make it to my shortlist was because I wanted more of a story to it. Hard to do in 75 words!

pH

 

[alchemist]

I'm just in, so a bit late but congrats to Hex!

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I just wanted to say I got the image you were aiming for, Remedy, and it was a clear, effective one as far as I'm concerned. It made me think of close-camera work of the opening to a horror movie about the Theatre of Souls or Blood, or what have you . It was good!

The only reason it didn't make it to my shortlist was because I wanted more of a story to it. Hard to do in 75 words!

pH

Yes, that. It was really quite good, but it was more of a scene than a story, to me. Of course, if you'd added more story, you'd have lost some of the lovely (or horrible) imagery. It's hard, sometimes.