Discussion - March 2015 100-Word Anon Writing Challenge (#5)

[Cascade]

Time for guesses I guess.

Ashleyne. B. Watts- My Little Sister
Cascade- In the Night
Cat’s Cradle- A Lovely family and their cats
chrispenycate- Arachnofamilia
crystal haven- Comfort
ddawson- My Own Designed Exit
DG Jones- Lisa's last Halloween
farntfar- Bood is Thicker
J.L. Borstlap- Disownment
jastius- Go Alone
Juliana- The unwelcome visitor
kerrybuchanan- Intellicide
mosaix- The Robot Spoke of Memories
Perpetual Man- Digitus Absentia
ratsy- Hung out to Die
Robert Mackay- Fitting In
springs- School for Candles
Starbeast- Heat
telford- Menu
Tywin- Welcome Home
Victoria Silverwolf- Homework
willwallace- Calling in the Rain

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Thank you for the list, Chrispy. Very helpful.

There have been some really good writers guessed for my story and my name has been guessed for some really good stories so I shall be happy whether I get votes or not.

Or I could be running a misdirection campaign and not have written anything at all?

 

[Dan Jones]

I'm really stumped at the guessing for this, but let's give it a bash anyhoo...

Intellicide - Willwallace
School for Candles - ddawson
Disownment - Cat's
In The Night - Juliana
Digitus Absentia - JL Bortslap
My Little Sister - Springs
Go Alone - Tywin
HEAT - Cascade
The Unwelcome Visitor -
My Own Designed Exit - ddawson
Comfort - DG Jones
Fitting In - farntfar
Hung Out To Die - crystal
Menu - telford
Arachnofamilia - Starbeast
Blood Is Thicker - ratsy
A Lovely Family And Their Cats - Kerry
Welcome Home - Robert Mackay
Calling In The Rain - Perp
The Robot Spoke Of Memories - Ashleyne
Homework - Victoria
Lisa's Last Hellowe'en - ChrisP

A strong field.... but my vote last night went to Intellicide. That story was my type of weird

 

[farntfar]

All rather rushed, but my guesses would have been lousy anyway.

Intellicide______________ WillWallace
School for candles_______J.L.Borstlap
Disownment______________ Starbeast
In the night____________Springs______________
Digitus abscentia________ Ratsy
My little sister___________Crystal Haven
Go alone______________ Tywin
Heat__________________ johnnyjet
The unwelcome visitor_____ DG Jones
My own designed exit______Telford
Comfort________________ ddawson
Fitting in________________ Starbeast
Hung out to die__________ Jastius
Menu_________________ Perpetual Man
Arachnofamilia__________ chrispenycate
Blood is thicker__________ Robert Mackay
A lovely family and their cats___Kerrybuchanan
Welcome home___________ Juliana
Caught in the rain_________ Victoria
The robot spoke of memories mosaix
Homework_______________Cat's
Lisa's last halloween______Ashleyne

And my vote goes to
Hung out to die,
with
A lovely family and their cats
and
Lisa's last halloween
close behind.

A terrifically run contest Cat's with lot's of lovely adverts and encouragements.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

I've encountered a bit of a dilemma in tallying the correct guesses for Cascade and DG. It's something I never thought to explain at the beginning of the voting/guessing rounds..I wonder if anyone can see what it is? But I promise it is such a small little dilemma that it barely even qualifies as one, so I shall ask for suggestions once the voting/guessing ends, and we shall resolve things for future challenges.
I will mention, then, that Cascade, you have one correct answer in your list, and DG, you have two!

Voting/listing is always hard for me because I feel as though I am wronging any of the fine stories I have to leave off of my lists, in any of the challenges (because, you know..you can't list every story...hmm, or can you..?). To me this was perhaps our strongest field of stories so far in the anonymous challenges...even the titles were terrific.
And I wanted to give my listings just a bit of a twist--I want to keep an air of anonymity to my list, even after making it public...as host of this month's challenge, I know of course the stories that each author wrote. So I hope folks won't mind if I list the author, rather than the story...it will still be anonymous, in a way, in that only the authors listed, and I, will know which story they've written. (I will name only one story--the one I voted for, but I'll not say who wrote it.)

So, to listings:

Shortlist--Tywin, chrispenycate, springs, starbeast, willwallace, mosaix
Finalist--ddawson, Ashleyne, Kerry, crystal haven, Robert Mackay, ratsy, johnnyjet

I voted for the wonderfully written, and wonderfully creepy Homework .
Mosaix, thank you for your wonderful genre/theme choices!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

My money is on Robert for Homework, as the 100 word challenge king.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Thank you for the kind words, farntfar!
And then I have to be a mean host and mention that you were 0 for 22 with your guesses...oy, the burden of responsibility on the shoulders of a challenge host!
May I ask a general question...the voting is so hard--are people still enjoying it?
Okay, still plenty of time to get those votes in, today! We're up to 19 votes cast..that's pretty good!

 

[Hex]

Mmmm so Kerry or Robert for Homework.

(did it remind anyone else of The Curse of Millhaven, just a little? I've had the song going round in my head ever since I read it)

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

May I ask a general question...the voting is so hard--are people still enjoying it?

Oh yes. It's a nice hard, like choosing which particularly yummy cream cake to take from a tray of yummy cream cakes.

Mmmm so Kerry or Robert for Homework.

 

[Cascade]

Oh. I wonder which is my correct one. Sorry to cause a problem cc.

 

[Dan Jones]

As Johnny Rotten said: "Proooooblems, proooooblems, proooooblems."

Cat's, you've run a sterling campaign. Hats off to you.

 

[chrispenycate]

Here we go. I'm quite happy to admit that several of them (less than a third, though) I just stuck remaining names into remaining spaces (these will probably include any I got right - my parameters were anything but convincing.

Sorry Ms. Bee Watts, oversight corrected.
And CC, there's nothing sophisticated in my computer mastery - believe me, if I can do it, anyone can. I'm too old - when they attempted to teach me Fortran, it was core store and punch cards.

 

[crystal haven]

I'm going to get a cup of coffee and read through all the stories now. Voting will follow shortly.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

First to the über talented Cascade and DG, the tiny-tiny dilemma was caused by a forgetful host...I should have explained at the beginning of the challenge this month that the red-herring author added to the author's list for guessing was there so we wouldn't have to name ourselves in the guessing-game. I think we collectively realized in the first or second challenge that it was better to have a red herring, than to attempt misdirection in our owns lists by putting our own names down opposite a story we hadn't written. There was sort of an informal rule that we wouldn't name ourselves in the guessing-game, and so we'd all automatically accept the penalty of one guaranteed wrong guess when we presented our own guessing lists. And then you two poor people come along and, as your host hadn't mentioned all of this, did the absolutely honest thing in your voting. I actually thought it was very cool of you both. And this is an informal little event, so no worries. I'll try to mention this informal rule in the next event, or remind whomever hosts that event to mention it.

And I will mention that it is incredibly difficult to discern the author of Homework from my list!

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Okay, Mr. chrispenycate, I have checked your guesses and you have one correct! And it's our most-often correctly-guessed author...four folks have deduced this connection between author and story.

 

[farntfar]

And then I have to be a mean host and mention that you were 0 for 22 with your guesses

0? Well there's a surprise. I expected less.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Oh farntfar, I remember one month, before guessing, when I took the time to read two months' worth of 75 word challenge stories for everyone who'd entered an ongoing anonymous challenge...and then immediately afterwards I read through that current month's anonymous challenge stories, and then I carefully wrote up my guessing list...and I guessed only two stories right. 'Tis nearly impossible, my friend! Oh, the hubris of guessing!

ps--dear Lord, I have 994 posts!!! I think I have decided to put up a little something in critiques...though this may be my last post for awhile!

 

[mosaix]

I've voted but not got around to guessing yet. I see Ashleyne has guessed I wrote two of the stories.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Based on what you've just said, CC, I'm guessing the following:

Cascade - In the Night
DG Jones - Comfort
Victoria Silverwolf - A Lovely Family and Their Cats

Or have I misunderstood your Tiny - Tiny dilemma?

 

[crystal haven]

This is my short list. I really struggled to decide which one to vote for, but My Little Sister just had the edge for me.

*My Little Sister
The Unwelcome Visitor
Fitting In
Arachnofamilia