DISCUSSION -- February 2015 75-word Writing Challenge

[Dan Jones]

@Glen , is it a dirty limerick?

 

[Dan Jones]

Haha, I've just read it!

 

[Starbeast]

I just posted. I began with a small idea, that bounced around in my mind for a week, then the muse struck me this morning.

Got some things to do first, but I'll be back to check out the other stories. I'm anxious to read them.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Glen -- What at first seems to be a bit of whimsical fun transforms itself mysteriously into something remarkably novel.

Starbeast -- The hard-edged details of realistic crime fiction are used to bring the supernatural to life.

 

[Fishbowl Helmet]

Thanks for the reviews. Far too kind.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Okay, I'm going to post this here and hope the Mods pick it up, and when I have the time I'll try and find the 'report an error thread'

Apologies for not keeping up with the comments but:

When a new thread appears (ie the writing challenge and discussion threads at the start of the month) I start watching them. If I reply I automatically 'watch' them. Then, as new comments are made I get alerts in the top right hand corner, and I can see what is going on every time i check in.

This ain't happening. I get a few alerts, and then suddenly they stop. I keep thinking no one is posting until it gets to the point that it is really strange, check back in and whammy, there are pages of posts to catch up on. This has been happening since we changed forum software (and became .com).

Is it just me or others too?

Comments will resume shortly

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

I found the same so now I use the New Posts or Recent Posts links instead of/as well as Alerts. I still seem to miss interesting stuff from time to time, but generally I catch up eventually.

 

[Glen]

DG Jones - to reply to your two posts...Never!...and, thank you!

Victoria - thanks for the review. Would you be ok if I plagiarised your review for this challenge - "remarkably novel" to describe my current ms as a "remarkable novel". I need all the help I can get.

Perpetual Man - thanks for making my ears bleed with that techo-gabble. It was like being at work.

Ok. With nothing more to do on the forum I had best get back to editing, I suppose. Or rather, With nothing more to do on the forum I suppose I should get back to editing. No. With the forum activity complete I can...no...With comments over...wait...My work here is done.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Bob Senior -- This happy story reminds us that the little things in life can make all the difference.

 

[Bowler1]

Is it just me or others too?

Me too, but I assumed the system only tracks so many alerts or stopped giving - or lost alerts if I didn't log in. I didn't stress it as I still like to lurk with menace and scope out different threads. Old fashioned surfing, where you explore a forum. I blame Facebook for the demise of this old Internet skill.

 

[Dan Jones]

Perp, I've found this to be the case too. Maybe it's a case of watching too many threads at once? Still, as Kerry says, not been difficult to catch up with what's going on.

 

[Glen]

Perpetual Man - apologies, it has occurred to me that my last comment may have seemed harsh. I should have used one of those smiley-faced emoticons that the young people of today use to indicate my light-heartedness. :0)

I thing what you are describing also occurs for me, but I don't do a lot of posting these days so not certain. There is a comment on the alert " there may be more posts after this" so maybe there is just some kind of limit imposed at site level to prevent a tsunami of updates.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Perpetual Man - apologies, it has occurred to me that my last comment may have seemed harsh. I should have used one of those smiley-faced emoticons that the young people of today use to indicate my light-heartedness. :0)

Thanks Glen, but no apologies needed, I took it in the manner it was intended (Incidentally loved the poem - made me smile - comments coming soon)

 

[Dan Jones]

Trying not to fall behind with these - gosh you guys are good!

@Karn Maeshalanadae - A Beltane Celebration - An light-hearted frolic is elevated to the ethereal in this paean to the simple village charms of mead and merriment. We've had plenty of stories this month about the cyclical nature of life that Carnival represents, but I think here we can see carnival allowing humans to literally become nature: first Ailis loses her clothes - and when she does, it's neither sensual nor sexual; it's done with blissful innocence - before finally becoming at one with the air and the earth. Wonderful metaphors at play.

@Glen - Glen's Limerick - When Glen proudly announced he'd reached his poetical zenith on this thread, I suspected he might have penned a dirty limerick. In the end I was half-right. It's not dirty at all, although some of the bars our young Sheila frequents sound anything but pristine. By the end, having been knocked about a bit en route, we're given a tantalising last line that pulls the rug out from under our feet. What transformation has she undergone to become a 'real' young lady? Has the innocence of Carnival broken the experience of her former life of brawling and boozing? It's open to myriad interpretations, which I love.

@Starbeast - Werewolf Queen of New Orleans - There have been many stories this month exploring Carnival as the chance to mix, merge and change identities, but arguably none done in such a ballsy way. Here, the sheer weirdness of Carnival's spectrum of characters allows a werewolf - nay, two werewolves! - to go (almost) undetected through the throng, while the noise of the N'orlins street party outside, all drums and fireworks, would be the perfect cover for a hard-boiled bloodhound letting loose a few silver nuggets into the aforementioned underworld creature. Prose as meaty as Zola's henchmen's flesh, nom nom nom.

@Bob Senior - Feeling Good - The Good Ol' Boy of the South, the southern gentleman is alive and well, it seems. Magic is magical, but it doesn't have to be magic sometimes. Simple and mundane pleasures like a song and a laugh, delivered with kindness and politeness, really can make someone's day. I like the idea of carnival being a vehicle for spreading a little love around. Even if that vehicle happens to be an 18-wheeler travelling on the old I-10.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Thank you for that nice review, DG. I think I can say that views on entries are indeed, eclectic...

 

[Phyrebrat]

Ugh... 102 words. How am I going to get this down to 75? Some of my story is doggerel which loses its impact if I chop it.

Maybe start a new one...

pH

 

[ratsy]

you could drop one word and send it to 101words.org!

 

[Phyrebrat]

Yes, so I was being a tad over-dramatic

pH

 

[StilLearning]

While I was quite happy with mine as I posted this morning I feel like I ouight to have pushed the carnival/festival/mardi gras theme a bit harder: Drunken foolishness is definately a party thing, but the theme was a bit more specific than that.

 

[HareBrain]

I'm afraid we've had to remove an entry for being over 75 words. As always, this is something we don't do lightly or happily. It's a shame to let hard work and a good story go to waste, so please be vigilant with word counts.