Discussion thread -- November 2014 75 word writing challenge

[Ursa major]

The only thing I tried to do was to throw in an acrostic (always fun), which might explain why I had to reverse the names of Hansel and Gretel in the first line

I completely missed the acrostic: I thought the swapping round of Hansel and Gretel was part of the brokenness of the fairy tale.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Thanks everyone

How on Earth did this happen? I have avoided here as I just get so anxious about things like result announcements (from my days taking part in auditions etc - yuk!), and I am really really happy. This is lovely news.

Thank you to Parson, ratsy, Boneman, TJ, Alc, Abernovo and johnnyjet for the votes. And extra love to TJ for encouraging me to post my entry after I'd decided not to for fear of offending, and for her vote when we were level. I appreciate the new mentions and shortlistings from martin321, Bowler1, Remedy, Harebrain & TDZ.

@StilLearning - I'm glad I could brighten your day a little...

I've PM'd TJ about my idea for the Dec challenge. Do I have to put it up myself or do les Mods do that? It always seems to be posted from the previous month's winner.

My story just came to me like that. I don't really know what the catalyst was. After I wrote it and asked if it was a little close to offensive I began working on Snow White & The Seven Greys but never had to finish it

pH

 

[Darkchrome]

Congratulations , Phyrebrat!
Thank you for the mention, TDZ

I thought it was really impressive that, given what you would've thought was the restricitive nature of the source material, the stories were so individual. Although I guess if you stick with the theory that there are only ever seven plots (or dwarves!) we had plenty to work with. There are still some darned fine imaginations out there!

I was originally going to go with some sort of Twitter feed with #troll in it - but at 75 words it wasn't working - so Trevor materialised instead

 

[Ashleyne]

Congratulations on your victory, phyrebrat! I'm looking forward to your choice for next month's challenge

 

[Perpetual Man]

I completely missed the acrostic: I thought the swapping round of Hansel and Gretel was part of the brokenness of the fairy tale.

Well yes, of course, I intended that as well, of course.

 

[The Judge]

I completely missed the acrostic: I thought the swapping round of Hansel and Gretel was part of the brokenness of the fairy tale.

What? Even after my wonderful clue!

(It might be a bit obvious - cos it's not that hidden - but there is something hidden in mine....)

A brother and sister story, with a superfluity of Brothers...

I've PM'd TJ about my idea for the Dec challenge. Do I have to put it up myself or do les Mods do that? It always seems to be posted from the previous month's winner.

If you're happy to put the Challenge and Discussion threads up, you do it; if you'd prefer one of us to do it, that's OK too. You'll need to take the wording of the first post (ie with all the rules etc) from an old Challenge thread and then make the amendments to reflect the new month/genre/theme. I find copy and pasting from one thread to another is a bit of a bugger since the move to the new site, so I quote the post I want to copy and then delete the [ QUOTE ] brackets which seems to work.


Sancho -- I've never heard of that folk tale, so I'm afraid your story went completely over my head. Sorry. That's always a potential problem -- I've done a few stories based on Greek and Roman myth and invariably some people didn't get the allusions. It does make for an entertaining read after voting, though!

 

[The Judge]

I know I updated the Challenge Statistics thread mid-August when I reported on the Year 4 year end figures, but I don't think I gave any suggestion of how the 2014-5 season was then going with the April-July figs, probably because I thought I'd do that at the end of the month with August's figures included. Which I would have done, except I never got around to it...

Anyway, I've now sweated over the race cards (how have another 3 months gone by so quickly??) and produced some year to date figures, and the totals show we've had 370 entries in the 8 months to date, accumulating 359 votes, and we've welcomed -- Hello, folks!! -- 27 new entrants.

And heading the leader board after two-thirds of the year are TDZ and Victoria, with a great 21 votes apiece; 3rd is Juliana with 19 votes, equal 4th are Bowler and Cat's Cradle with 16, then alchemist 6th with 15, Ashleyne 7th with 13, and equal 8th with 12 votes are Chris p, Culhwch, Hex (in only 5 Challenges!), Remedy and me. Jastius and Teresa are equal 13th with 11 votes, and with this month's win Phyrebrat has leapt into 15th place with 10 votes.

So will the wolf tear the zebra to pieces and rip into the lead, or will the zebra kick dust into the wolf's face and gallop away like the stripey unicorn she is? Is Juliana poised to leap over both after stuffing them full of Brazilian delicacies, will Sir Sean bowl everyone over, or CC create a cat's cradle to snare the leaders and take the title from them? With four months of the season left, there's everything to play for, as we continue to chase the fluffy white tail of a Hare!

NB With her incredible 13 votes in August, Ashleyne has taken the lead from Hex for the most votes in a one-vote month! *sound of thunderous applause*

 

[TheDustyZebra]

And heading the leader board after two-thirds of the year are TDZ and Victoria, with a great 21 votes apiece

Really? Wow! I had no idea.

 

[The Judge]

That's why you need me!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Really? Wow! I had no idea.

We all did.

 

[Juliana]

Goodness, TJ, I'm... shocked, I think.

Thanks for doing the stats!

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I guess I should tell something about my story. It was really a mashup of two modern fairy tales, and kind of required you to be familiar with both: The Princess Bride and Pretty Woman.

The idea is that a bedtime story is being told to Princess Buttercup as a child, and it's the story told in Pretty Woman, ending with the famous line where Vivian told Edward that she never once imagined the prince would rescue her and then offer to put her up in a great condo. But Buttercup thinks that, being foreign to her princess life, is a terribly romantic idea.

It was probably too obscurely ambitious, requiring knowledge of both movies.

 

[Parson]

it was a mini-biography of Freddie Mercury of Queen. I packed the story full of Freddie-facts, including:

Okay, for someone who follows Country Music I'm lucky to know who Queen is, let alone any of their history or albums. But obviously I'm the odd one out in this group.

(If it remains a mystery to anyone, there is a publication called The Huffington Post.)

Who hasn't heard of the Huffington Post? It seems to be among the most quoted papers on the internet.

Sancho -- I've never heard of that folk tale, so I'm afraid your story went completely over my head. Sorry. That's always a potential problem

Ditto. I'm afraid.

It was probably too obscurely ambitious, requiring knowledge of both movies.

This would be my opinion.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Loving all the origin stories for the entries this month!

Okay, for someone who follows Country Music I'm lucky to know who Queen is, let alone any of their history or albums.

That's understandable, Parson! Unless we're talking, say, a Beatles-level group, almost any musical act you could mention would be reasonably unknown to a fair percentage of any audience. And I LOVE older country, BTW...if you're talking Patsy Cline or Hank Williams, I am right there with you! (Not so much the newer country.)

But all of that said, it would make me very sad to think that Freddie is being forgotten, today...he was one of the greatest performers (and talents) in the history of modern music, and the story of his life seemed ideally suited for this challenge!

 

[The Judge]

TDZ, I got a The Princess Bride vibe with the title but thought that was simply coincidence and I didn't carry it into the story since

The idea is that a bedtime story is being told to Princess Buttercup as a child

but but but She's not a princess as a child! She lives on a farm and falls in love with Farm Boy (who certainly worked in the stables, but was not a stable boy!).

Now you've said about Pretty Woman I can see the title works for that, and I can see how the working girl line and the lost businessman fit, but I wouldn't have been able to tell you the final line of the film so that was utterly lost on me.

 

[mosaix]

Late congratulation to Phyrebrat!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I got Pretty woman, but not the Princess Bride. But, for me, the ending didn't make total sense and meant it didn't feel like a complete story.

 

[Bowler1]

Congratulations Phyrebrat!!!

And thanks to Bowler1 for the vote!!

Your welcome.

Well done Phyrebrat and well deserved as it was a very good entry.
Thank you to the Cuddly Bear for my vote this month, much appreciated.
Roll on next month and see what we get.

 

[ratsy]

So mine was a take on Thumbilina which was obvious. I always felt like someone was trying to force her to marry something her size even though she didn't want to so I threw her on the Dating Game. She first rejected the frog who had his own lily pad, she said she didnt want a husband who would 'croak'. Then 'the mouse lived underground so she made up the excuse of needing sunlight. And lastly the Fairy Flower prince sounds a little girly so she chose him but didn't sound too excited about it.

I wanted to get in early because I knew there would be many similar stories chosen and I assumed I might get lucky and be the only thumbilina story. As it turns out, as soon as I posted it, the 'punchline' felt flat and nonexistanant and I knew my story wouldn't fare too well. So thanks to the few that gave me a mention or shortlist. They are much appreciated!

 

[willwallace]

For my story, I wanted to give the wolf a revenge motive to go after Little Red Riding Hood. One of her ancestors had imprisoned him, and now he was freed to seek out and destroy the family.
Of course that doesn't turn out so well for him, but LRRH isn't complaining