Discussion Thread - 100 Word Anon Writing Challenge for December 2014

I got three right, and was amused to see that I switched Springs and Kerry around. Kerry! You've been hanging around Springs too much!! I'm confusing your styles! :D (or maybe it's just that Irish touch...)

By my accounts, three people got mine right (CC, Mosaix and JJ) - well done with the spotting! :)

I'd also be happy with a January break, with the extra challenge. Thank you very much for hosting, farntfar, and thanks for offering CC and J.L.
 
farntfar said:
yeah yeah. All right Springs. Sol I know I got the poll wrong and nobody could see who voted for whom.
I'm sorry.

Oh God. I'm So Sorry.
Please forgive me. *** fades to mumbles and pathetic sobbing noises.
Click to expand...

I felt bad I hadn't taken the time to explain them - I forget the names easily and found the new polls tricky. I didn't mean anything bad with my comment.
 
Congratulations Hex. This was a lot of fun. Surprisingly, I got four guesses right -- Ashleyne, Victoria, Juliana & Robert Mackay. Better than I expected! Hex was the only one to guess me correctly (that makes you a double winner in my book). My story was attributed to many fine authors, so that was a plus. And thanks Ashleyne for short-listing my story (even though you attributed it to the excellent writer Remedy).

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and happy new year! I may not be touching base much over the next couple weeks, but then again, who knows?
 
Last edited:
First and foremost, congratulations go out to Hex for the win, and Cat's Cradle and Robert for the close seconds.
My guessing was pathetic, except for Work's Wages Won by Victoria, who also got my vote-what are the odds? Thanks to everyone who shortlisted or at least has me honorably mentioned-Springs, Kerrybuchanan, Cat's Cradle, Hex, Juliana, Remedy, Abernovo, and Thedusty Zebra. Kerrybuchanan and one mystery person get an extra thank you for the vote. Don't believe anyone guessed my story's authorship correctly.
 
Indeed, many congratulations to Hex. Thanks are due to our erudite host farntfar as well, and a tip of the hat to willwallace for the vote.

It's hard to impress me with a poem, so I will once again mention my great admiration for the work of Cat's Cradle.

I started to make some guesses, but the only one I was pretty certain about was Ashleyne. B. Watts, because of the macabre surrealism of the painting in the story.

If I counted correctly, no less than six people correctly guessed me as the author of "Work's Wage's Won." Nicely done!

(By the way, many folks mentioned the title of this story as "Work's Wages Won," which seems the more natural way to punctuate this phrase. I worried for a bit over whether my placement of apostrophes would be seen as an error -- using an unnecessary apostrophe to pluralize a noun is one of my pet peeves, when I see a sign that says something like "Apple's for sale" -- and I will discuss this in some detail below.)

As usual, I'll take this opportunity to discuss how I came up with my little entry. I was not familiar with the quote, but I quickly found out it was the last line of Love's Labour's Lost. (Note the placement of the apostrophes. Apparently there is some slight controversy as to where they should be placed, but this seems to be the accepted form. The title should be interpreted as "The Labour of Love is Lost.")

Anyway, I took the meaning of the metaphor about Mercury and Apollo to mean the difference between the mundane concerns of the practical world and the exalted realm of the arts. (Among many other aspects, Mercury was associated with commerce, and Apollo with music and poetry.) Thus I was led to come up with something about the compromises which must be made between commercialism and creativity, with a futuristic touch. I wanted to make reference to the source of the quote, so I came up with "Work's Wage's Won" (note the apostrophe placement; this should be read as "The Wage of Work is Won") as a nod to the bard, and as an ironic reference to what my protagonist gains and loses for her art.
 
Thanks, guys :)

It's weird isn't it, how you guess who wrote what stories -- I'm glad I guessed johnnyjet right and I wonder if that's because I often really like his 300/75 worders for the clever ideas. I thought at once your story had a really smart idea behind it, jj, and that was what made me think you'd written it.

I knew springs' style, I recognise Ashleyne's subject matter (gory!), I might have identified Victoria's story from the voice, but for the mystery of the apostrophe [Edit: which Victoria has just explained above, but which I have to confess I read as an error which made me think it couldn't be Victoria, though thinking about it, it couldn't have been Kerry either but I was confused by the clever story and interesting voice], and I would never in a hundred million years have guessed Kerry for Space Cuckoo. Which shows you what I know.

Willwallace, your story was brilliant.
 
Congratulations, Hex!

Some very good stories, all round.
 
Well I got none right, unsurprisingly. Many thanks for those who guessed good writers like Springs, etc. for mine - very flattered - and many thanks to Juliana for the vote and Hex and willwallace for the mentions.

Edit: Nearly forgot to say thank you to Farntfar for organising us all and being patient and accommodating.
 
I know we vote for the story and not the individual in this anonymous challenge, so I want to thank AFW for voting for my poem--thanks so much! I just about jumped out of my seat with surprise and happiness each time a vote came in; I was very unsure of myself in trying a poem here, and I was so pleased that it worked.

I will say that editing a poem for a word limit seemed much harder to me than editing a short story (say for this challenge, or the 75 worder); it's so easy to lose the spirit of a line of poetry when you have to reduce it by a word or two...and keeping your intended message in a stanza, when 10 words have to be removed, is very challenging (and very painful). I don't know how Chrispy has done it so often and kept sane! :) Looking forward to our return to 100 words in..February, perhaps? CC
 
Cat's Cradle said:
I will say that editing a poem for a word limit seemed much harder to me than editing a short story (say for this challenge, or the 75 worder); it's so easy to lose the spirit of a line of poetry when you have to reduce it by a word or two...and keeping your intended message in a stanza, when 10 words have to be removed, is very challenging (and very painful). I don't know how Chrispy has done it so often and kept sane! :) Looking forward to our return to 100 words in..February, perhaps? CC
Click to expand...

Ah, but what ever gave you the idea that Chrispy was, by any rational definition, ever sane? Surely his determination to construct poems for limited word counts, without any noticeable talent for it, would suggest the contrary?

Poetry - well, more accurately verse - might be a bad choice, as it tends to be very stylistically individual. But this tale wanted the rhythm, even accepted the rhyme - it was just unfortunate it needed 103 words to flow right, so there were compromises in the final rhythm. As you might have observed, I didn't feel Shakespearean this time, so went for myths ancient and modern - within, I hope, the limits of the theme (possibly not, as nobody voted for or mentioned it) The Latin pantheon was not known for its truthfulness - 'sneaky' was considered a good solution, if not quite as noble as one would expect from such overweening characters. So the Mercury human spaceflight and Apollo moon landings could have been works of fiction, however much I might have believed while watching the eagle land. It has been eating my liver ever since.

Conga rats, Hex. Looking forward to whatever you choose to throw at us next…
 
Congratulations, Hex! :)

I guessed one correctly - Juliana. No one guessed me as the author of Don't Mention The Cat, which was a little surprising as I thought it being all dialog was a dead give-away.

Thanks for the votes, Springs and TDZ.

Thanks for the mentions / short lists, Kerry, Hex, Juliana and CC.

I'm relaxed about a 100 worder in January. I'd quite like one but if it's too much then fine - roll on February.

And many thanks to Farntfar for his efforts.
 
For a 100 worder in January, I'm waiting for a reply to my last message to J.L. who offered to run it. (He seems to be otherwise engaged this weekend.)
If he confirms his willingness to run one in January, I'll certainly take part, but it may be that he prefers not to run one with a reduced entry.
If that's the case, unless someone else comes forward for January, I suppose we drop it til February.
 
I did wonder about it for you, Mosaix and narrowly jumped the other way (mainly because of the improve our....thread, which made me wonder if you'd pump for another all dialogue one so soon.)
 
Quick explanation about my entry; I thought I'd use what are probably the lesser known aspects of the gods. Mercury/ Hermes, who apart from messenger to the gods, is also the god of thieves and the trickster god. And Apollo, probably best known for his association with the sun, poetry and healing, but who is also god of prophecy. So I ended up with the trickster and the soothsayer, although I think it was a little obscure... :)
 
Kerrybuchanan said:
@Juliana I think the reason I get mistaken for Springs is because she has helped me so much, critiquing and giving me tips, not to mention both real and virtual cake. She must be starting to rub off on me indeed = success! ;)
Click to expand...

Or maybe you're just unlucky...:p

Anyway, I'd second the slap. Now, behave and write your lines

I am a great writer... Repeat
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
The Judge DISCUSSION THREAD -- November 2024 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge Writing Challenges 59
Daysman DISCUSSION THREAD -- October 2024 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge Writing Challenges 161
The Judge DISCUSSION THREAD -- 300 Word Writing Challenge #55 (October 2024) Writing Challenges 135
The Judge DISCUSSION THREAD -- September 2024 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge Writing Challenges 118
The Judge DISCUSSION THREAD -- August 2024 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge Writing Challenges 161

Similar threads


Back
Top