Discussion -- April 2015 75-word Writing Challenge

[Parson]

Thanks Dusty!


---- In light of our discussion about the challenges I think that this will be the last time that I thank anyone for a mention or a shortlisting without some other reason. When this habit was started there was not the option of "liking" a post which I think accomplishes the same thing. What I will not stop doing is appreciating every mention, short listing, long listing, etc. And falling out of my chair for an actual vote!!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Here are my lists: long short *vote*

Luiglin
Ihe
Jo Zebedee
HareBrain
High Eight
Parson
The DustyZebra
Cascade
Ratsy
Victoria Silverwolf
TitaniumTi
A. Fare Wells
BigJ
mosaix
The Judge
Ursa major

*Culhwch* (it was a close thing between Culhwch and TJ, but Culhwch's story lingered all month in my mind, so that gave his story the edge)



And my thanks: Remedy, Juliana, TDZ, johnnyjet, High Eight, crystal haven, Kerrybuchanan, Chris, Cat's Cradle, DG Jones, Grimward for the listings. And even more grateful thanks to Culhwch, Parson, Perpetual Man, and Jo for the votes.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

And for those who have not yet voted: time is running out, and there are only a few hours left.

 

[ratsy]

Thank you Dusty and Teresa for the short-listings

Short-list

Culhwch - Off the Page
Juliana - Choose your own Adventure (loved those books..now i want to find one and try it)
Victoria - The Perfect Crime - great take on the theme
Titanium - Generation Gap - roll you i's....ahhahaha
Crystal Haven - And so the story goes...hurt my brain in a good way
Jastius - Struck on White - really great take, loved it
DEO - Wizard/Spellcheck - now that was gold
The Judge - Not all Quiet... - great story in 75 words or less

My vote went to Culhwch, whose story seems to be running off the page to the finish line with the prize in its eye

 

[The Judge]

A strange mix of stories this month (stranger than usual, which is saying something), some of which I didn't understand, some others which weren't quite story enough for my finickityness, and one which I absolutely loved as a piece but for me didn't quite fit the genre. That still left plenty to choose from which tickled my fancy, so a longer-than-usual shortlist, which is:

A. Fare Wells -- White Space
BigJ -- I'm a Storyteller, not a Miracle Worker
Culhwch -- Off The Page
DEO -- When a wizard writes...
High Eight -- While the Iron's Hot
holland -- The Writer's Wrath
Juliana -- Choose your own adventure
mosaix -- The Case of the Shropshire Writer
ratsy -- Living Memoir
Remedy -- Seventy-Five
Teresa -- Give my Regards to Ned Stark
Ursa -- Winning Comedy
Victoria -- The Perfect Crime

After some ruthless chopping away, the choice was between Cul and Teresa, and the conflict raged mightily, but after a grand tussle no author could devise, the lady won by the narrowest (arrowest...) of margins. So Teresa gets my vote, and also the award for the best title of the month.


Oh my goodness, dear reader. The poll shows a plot twist I never expected (though we don't have to read ahead to know how it will end!). Suitably self-referential thanks for mentions/shortlistings Victoria, CC (glad you liked the title!), DG Jones, willwallace (oh, I so wish I'd thought of that pun!), Tywin, Chris P, Phyrebrat, crystal, johnnyjet, Teresa and ratsy, with apologies if I missed anyone. And mega-meta-fictional thanks for the votes Cascade (thanks also for the lovely summing-up, which makes my piece sound so much cleverer than I ever intended!), Bowler, WinterLight, Kerry, Ihe, Ashleyne, and TDZ.

And I might not be able to overhaul Cul for the winner's rostrum, but I think I scoop the prize for being the member mentioned most times in this month's Challenge entries!

 

[HareBrain]

I would have voted for TDZ's first entry, "RULES", except it was over 75 words. The word-count pixie must have been slacking.

Anyway, I bowed to the inevitable and voted for Cul, though he needs my vote like the north pole needs an extra snowflake. As soon as I read it I thought it would be hard to beat. Pretty much perfection.

 

[Bowler1]

It's not over until the Fat Lady starts singing, but she's on the stage waiting and 12 votes is a tall order to catch.

 

[Starbeast]

I think you vaulted over the bar with ease, Starbeast.

The best thing about returning to Chrons is seeing so many well-known names (even if some of them have sprung to new life) and "hearing" Chonners' new and sometimes Alien stories.

I highly agree with you, there are some truely far-flung tales here. Thank you TitaniumTi for the wonderful complement You made my day.

My normal process is to read each story as it's posted and write down the ones that appeal to me. This month I checked my list and had 44. Damn, why do you people have to be so bloody good. Anyhoo, after viciously culling the herd ...
Honorable mentions to everyone but in particular: Culhwch, Ashleyne, Kerry, Beasty, TitaniumTi, HB, Crystal, Moonbat, AFareWells, BobSnr and High 8.
My vote went to CC for its originality and cleverness. And this month, that's saying something. Voting for CC is becoming a bit of a habit of late. And, no, we're not dating.

Thank you Telford for including me in your list of Honorable Mentions. You made my day. I made sure that this month, I didn't write about things that make people say. "Eew".

A fun, and sometimes mind-bending challenge this month, that I sincerely hope that we never repeat again.

My vote went to Starbeast for writing one that I connected with. I need to track you down and buy you a beer SB (if I can ever get away for a minute from the job and the family).

Wow! Thank you Tywin for the vote and for the wonderful comment. You certainly made my month (not just a day). I would be honored to have a pint of beer with you sir.



I shall return with my list of favorites.

 

[Sancho]

My shortlist:
TJ - Very nice story that just rolled off the page
Teresa Edgerton - Brilliant, Martin who?
Jastius I can't face the printer anymore which is a shame because...
my vote went to Winterlight, whose story just pulled me in and yes I would have touched the page, if I hadn't read Jastius' story and developed a printer phobia ;-)
Its been a busy month so I am sending all my thankyous at once to Victoria, Perp and Ashlyne for the reviews and the mentions

 

[Ursa major]

The voting has required a bit more work this month: not only did I have to write a story where my favourite challenge entry won, I had one hell of a fight persuading the MC to do what he was told. (Just as well I already have experience of dealing with a recalcitrant character, i.e. Thread Bear.) Anyway, here are my choices. (And they'd better be the ones I want, or someone is never going to be in a story of mine again. What do you mean, that would be like winning the lottery...?)


Honourable Mentions:

• Spoiler by Luiglin
• Ouroboros by Perpetual Man
• Struck on White by jastius
• The Case of The Shropshire Writer by mosaix

Runners Up:

• Off The Page by Culhwch
  
• The Perfect Crime by Victoria Silverwolf
• Not at All Quiet on the Western Front by The Judge

Winner:

• 20,000 Leagues In 80 Days by willwallace

(In the above, each category is ordered by time of posting.)

 

[Ursa major]

Oh, and thanks for the shortlistings, Teresa and TJ.

 

[Ursa major]

The poll is now closed and we have a winner:

Congratulations, Culhwch!​

​

 

[Ashleyne]

Thanks for the shortlisting, johnnyjet

A massive congratulations on your victory, Culhwhc!

 

[Tywin]

Congrats Culwich!

 

[Culhwch]

Wow. When I went to bed last night I was neck-and-neck with TJ, and I thought, well, at least I was leading for awhile. Certainly shocked this morning to check in and find I'd put my nose out in front again, and I'm very pleased to have held on!

Many thanks to everyone who voted for my story - Teresa, mosaix, crystal haven, Grim, ratsy, HB, Phyrebrat, johnnyjet, BigJ, Victoria, farntfar, DG Jones, and David Doherty-Jebb. Thanks also for the mentions and short-lists and kind words throughout - I think I liked them all, but if I missed any I'm sorry!

Not much back story to my entry this month. It's very rare that I get inspired on the very first day, but something about this challenge struck me straightaway (thanks to CC for that!). I got into work early so I had some time, and I wrote a quick draft about a character realising he was in a book and trying to escape. I then realised I had no real conflict, per the theme, so I changed the protagonist into a serial killer. It was one of those very rare times where it took very little tweaking to get it into the word limit. The hardest part was deciding which books and characters my MC was going to visit before his escape. My apologies to Spot, the Cat in the Hat and any Wild Things who may have been harmed in the making of this story....

 

[Starbeast]

Congratulations CULHWCH


Metafiction List of Favorites Conflict
​

You know something, I, am conflicted with choosing and crunching down a large list of authors into a small group, starting with 90% of the entries. That in itself can take hours (for me, but that wouldn't give proper credit for this challenge). Therefore I must congratulate, not only my long list of finalists (which would have been cut down to 15% of everyone), but I should also include those who've I removed originally. So, in complete fairness to all of the contestants, I will acknowledge everyone who participated. And I say, "WELL DONE TO EVERYONE".

I chose one story that I kept gravitating toward, and that is HAREBRAIN's magnificent story that broke the forth wall.


This was indeed a difficult challenge, especially for me. I had to meditate in the dark to to see what would come to light. And after posting, I read the tales that were prior to mine, then continued through the days until the thread was closed. I felt I recieved a hazy insight into the minds of the authors. I chuckled with the humor, grimaced at the horrors and delighted in the stylish concepts in this particular challenge. Well done everyone indeed.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Many congratulations to Culhwch on a smashing victory!

Honor must also go to The Judge and Teresa Edgerton for very strong silver and bronze medals, leaving the rest of us behind in the dust.

Humble thanks to those of you who thought my entry worthy of a vote or a mention.

Obviously my entry was an affectionate pastiche of the traditional British whodunit. In addition to that, the fact that my story had six named characters (not counting the dead man) was a small tribute to the classic metafictional play Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Characters_in_Search_of_an_Author

For those of you who wondered about the identity of the killer, I offer my own speculations as a SPOILER.

Spoiler

The astute reader will have noticed that of the five named suspects, only one was not said to be present in the drawing room. This was Beverly Chamley. Not only had she removed the last page of the novel, she had also removed her name from the dramatis personae found at the front of the book, thinking thus to escape the notice of Inspector Smithers entirely. Her sole mistake was her failure to notice that Tommy Lane was defined in this same list of characters as "the penniless lover of young Beverly Chamley." When Inspector Smithers realized this, he confronted Beverly, who was hiding (where else?) in the library, a mutilated copy of The Case of the Poisoned Earl Grey in her pretty little hand. Her motive, as should be evident, was her father's disapproval of Lane and his threats to disown her if they were to be married. Miss Chalmers was brought to justice and is now serving a life "sentence" in the "pen."

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

So there was a story with something hidden this month, and not surprisingly it was the whodunnit! Thank you for the entertaining explanation, Victoria.

_____

Congratulations, Culhwch!

To say that was a decisive victory is an understatement.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Congratulations on the awe-inspiring victoy, Cul!!!

 

[Starbeast]

A special thank you to Ashleyne B. Watts

I liked this month's competition so much, I decided to write down my thoughts, impressions and/or what I liked about each story so that I could share them. This is the first time I've done this, so I'm a li'l nervous. Here goes:

The Quiet Side of my Real Life by Starbeast – A touching tribute to the hope self-confidence one can receive when taking part in these seventy-five worders.

I think it's fantastic that you took the time to comment on each story, you're awesome (like our other reviewers). Thank you Ashleyne, for the wonderful review.

Thanks for the shortlisting, Moonbat.

My shortlist:

Off the page by Culhwc
A Change of Heart by kerrybuchanon
Learning Curve by telford
The Quiet Side of my Real Life by Starbeast
White Space by A. Fare Wells
Ever been afraid of the thing that you made? by Sancho
The Case of The Shropshire Writer by Mosaix

My vote goes to: Not at All Quiet on the Western Front by The Judge

And thank you for including me on your short list. You double-ly made my day.



My tale, came from inspiration from life, and what is beyond humankind.