DISCUSSION -- June 2015 75-word Writing Challenge

[johnnyjet]

A vote! Wow! Thanks, Serendipity! I'm glad I was able to make an impact on your sensitivities. Always nice for a writer to hear.

 

[chrispenycate]

I was thinking of them as two standalone stories in the same world, rather than linked ie that you didn't need to have read one to understand the other...

Um, mods, if it's a breach, feel free to disallow the entry. I will still talk to everyone next month.

No, in no way a breach - and I had actually placed my vote when I went back and reread all the chosen and decided to make people paranoid about sticking to the guidelines. But it's only a 'one person who happens to be able to shout very loud' comment, not like the 'does an apostrophied 'toe-rag' count as one word?' debate (those of you who don't happen to be mods - oh, look, that's most of you - wouldn't believe in the work those eminent individuals do to keep everything absolutely fair. Occasionally this might be excessive for a competition that doesn't give you anything in rewards except pride, but hey, are we the best SFF site on the web, or aren't we?).

So, one person can make an opinion known in his/her vote - I was just tasteless enough to explain.

 

[marmalade]

We are!

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Longlist Shortlist and Vote**

Luiglin, CC, Glen, Victoria, farntfar, Moonbat, Tim Kinder, Jastius, StillLearning, Culhwch, Harebrain, Bob Senior, TDZ**

Dusty's story made me snort my drink all over the keyboard, so after I'd mopped up there was no choice but to vote for her. So many good stories this time though. Sadly, I'm not going to be in civilization for the next 2 weeks so I probably won't see the result of the poll until I can find a friendly café with wifi!

 

[Juliana]

Dusty's story made me snort my drink all over the keyboard

I had a good little snort at TDZ's, too. It was truly snort-worthy.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Sorry. I'll send you some paper towels.

 

[ratsy]

Okay, so I had a chance to read them all

Victoria - The Ambassadors
Michael Coorlin- Re-arrival
Karn - A late Arrival
Moonbat - Delete Where Applicable
TDZ - Kisses

but my vote went to the hilarious Mosaix - We've Got Mail...now that was funny

 

[Luiglin]

I don't see any breaching...
That would be a slippery slope, anyway, as then one would have to consider Luiglin's fabulous Dark Lord bits as part of a longer work. Or any meta entry that mentions earlier entries or Chrons in-jokes, or, or, or... You get my point!

Damn I never thought that I could be in breach of the rules... although I suspect a polite mod would have said by now. I just thought it would be a fun thing to try out. I suppose I'm doubly culpable as having the same world plus two 75s directly linked by the same sentence!

Edit: thanks Juliana for the compliment

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Damn I never thought that I was in breach of the rules... although I suspect a polite mod would have said by now. I just thought it would be a fun thing to try out. I suppose I'm doubly culpable as having the same world plus two 75s directly linked my the same sentence.

Come sit with me in the naughty corner. I think we're both exonerated, never fear. Sorry for dragging you into my transgression

 

[Luiglin]

No problem... although being dragged by the transgressionals brings tears to the eyes

 

[Cascade]

When we are writing 75 worders there are lots of little tweaks that get used to stretch the story. Using a parody of a mainstream work, referencing or re imagining a classic or a fairy tale, knowing nods to other chronners. All provide a little bit of backstory and mean the 75 words need not carry quite so much work. I'm generally ok with that.

a few have commented on Robert's elven godot. My story has a cheesey cultural reference this month. I think those things can add to it, and I certainly dont begruge Lui or Jo referencing their own work.

 

[David Doherty-Jebb]

I really enjoyed this month's tales, but the one that left an impression was Kerry Buchanan's Bittersweet. It turned the theme of arrival on its head, and certainly lived up to the title.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Kerry, your terrific story is doing so well this month, congrats! I've noticed that David DJ's preference is not showing in the poll results...I will PM him to make sure he is aware of the voting poll. CC

ps--thanks Kerry--and everyone else!!--for the mention! (I am trying to be good by not posting 'thanks' with each listing; fortunately my story was a bit of a stinker this month, so that hasn't been much of a worry! )

 

[TitaniumTi]

After considerable dithering, I've managed to trim my long-list to:
Fantasy Guest by Ashleyne B Watts
Welcome Song by Venusian Broon
Bittersweet by Kerrybuchanan
Travelling in the Wrong Circles by hopewrites
Delete Where Applicable by Moonbat
Untitled by StilLearning
Harbinger's Chords by Grinward
We've Got Mail by Mosaix

The stories on my short-list all added a surprising but oh-so-fitting twist to a trope. They are:
A Rival by Remedy
No Time Left For You by willwallace
Arriviste by HareBrain
Kisses by TheDustyZebra

My vote went to Colony, by Chrispenycate, which had the familiar trope with a fitting twist, plus anticipation, POV and conflict -- all in poetic form.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Thank you, CC. And thank you @David Doherty-Jebb for the invisible vote lol! Only a true fantasy writer could manage that....

 

[Hex]

Ack that was difficult. Loved Kerry's, HareBrain's, alchemist's, Robert Mackay's and lots of others.

Voted for crystal haven's funny and sinister story of ordering from the internet. I especially enjoyed the runner beans

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Oy, so difficult! I came in with the firm decision to cut my typically excessively-long lists down to ten stories--no more! But that proved impossible, there were so many good tales. So here, a few more than ten listings:

Honorable Mentions: telford, Starbeast, johnnyjet, farntfar, Crystal Haven, Appello, Culhwch, TDZ

Shortlist: Venusian, JoZ, bedlamite, jastius, HareBrain

Semi-finalists: chrispenycate, marmalade, Tim James

Finalists: Kerry, Moonbat

Vote: well this was very hard! I thought Kerry's story had a wonderful denouement, and Moonbat's was so clever and hilarious. At this exact moment in time I slightly favor Moonbat's tale, and as I am here to vote, I must lean that way. Moonbat, by a hair. Best of luck to all contenders! CC

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Oh no! I've just checked my written-lists, and realized I forgot one story. I had Robert Mackay's fine effort as a semi-finalist....so there, my list grows longer!

 

[Parson]

(music begins crescendo) I'm not sure that we've ever had such a close vote, or so few votes verses the number of participants. With Kerry leading the pack with 3 votes literally everyone has to be considered a contender. (Cymbals clash, fade to black)

 

[Bowler1]

There is still a big spread of votes here and there, with no sign of a clear front runner yet. Interesting.