DISCUSSION -- June 2015 75-word Writing Challenge

I got my idea when last month's voting was over. I was posting in the "Cracked Pot" thread about me and Tonto, and I thought, "Departure", I could have written something about me riding off into the sunset after a heroic adventure. But it was far too late to do anything about it. Then "Arrival", was the new theme, so I put my original idea into reverse, and wrote a ballad.

I was thrilled to see that I got two votes out of it, from two talented authors, Sancho and Ihe. By the way, nice to meet you Ihe, welcome to the SFFC.
 
Many thanks to those who shortlisted my story, and special thanks to Grim for the vote!!

This month I started out in space with an ambush, but it didn't go anywhere. Then as I was thinking about the theme, Gandalf and Frodo's conversation from the start of Fellowship came to mind. The first line wrote itself, and then it just seemed obvious this wizard should be a bit of a *******, for some reason...
 
Congratulations, Kerry! Well done. :)

And thank you Grimward and jastius for the mentions. And a big thank you to Phyrebrat for the vote!
 
I didn't quite believe it when the subject was posted, and I happened to be writing a short story about a generation ship arriving at its destination and discovering its latest generation were quite happy to stay in the ship that had birthed them, no nasty grubby pioneering, thank you very much. And then the first line defined the rhythm pattern, and the story was there, not over complex, and the first draft was less than eighty words, and…

And I had it down to length with a tolerable rhyme structure, and it was still the first day! (Not, unfortunately, the first submission, but hey,)

So gave it a title and posted quickly, so as not to give myself the chance of 'perfecting' it. And got two votes, better than I've done in a year and, on rereading, was acceptably happy with the result. I doubt if that'll ever happen again.

Well done Kerry, oh you of little faith.
 
Congatulations Kerrybuchanan!

I wasn't sure the Carry On movies would be known by all on the site - not sure, for example, if they would be known in the states. I thought it might be limited to the UK/Commonwealth. So I was pleased to see so many mentions: thanks Starbeast, Jo Zebedee, marmalade, alchemist, DG Jones, “Tim James”, Bowler1, Venusian Broon, johnnyjet, and Kerrybuchanan.

Thanks Luiglin for the vote.

I was very close to self-censoring with this story. Glad I didn't.

 
Morning all:coffee:.
Thanks for sharing everyone, and Chrispy, don't say such things! I'm sure most people here understand your self-doubt, but you mustn't let it rule you. Besides, the next 75 worder is just around the corner and chrons needs all its challenge participants, winged or otherwise, to be in tip top writing conditions!:sneaky:

I was thinking about how quickly technology and life in general (mostly in the west) is constantly changing, new gadgets become obsolete after only a few years etc. and about how, at the same time, life expectancy is always increasing. It must be very odd for some to have lived in a time without internet, mobile phones and so on, when they are so integral to many societies today. Then I thought, how much of what was there in a person's childhood would still be present when they were say 80? Then I thought, well what if they were somehow isolated from it all and then came back, how would they feel?

So that is how my MC was born; a government scheme sponsors a company to develop a time vacuum so that they can put people in, have them train to become extremely knowledgeable in many fields deemed important to the advancement of humankind (medicine, engineering, space technology), and then, after a lifetime of learning and researching (yeah I got vague here, but this wasn't the focus so...) they rejoin society, still very young (mid-twenties), to take up important roles etc.

The focus though was more on the emotional aspect of re-entry/arrival. As they are essentially giving up their ''natural'' lives with family and friends, for two lifetimes, one in isolation with small community of individuals, who you may or may not get along with, and a second life in a society that has echoes from your childhood, but is otherwise completely different, again, isolation.

The challenge was fitting this into 75 words :eek:, I just let myself write everything, then I took a red pen and crossed most of it out, and wrote several versions of what was left. It was really, really tough, as I wanted to give enough info in 75 words without shoving the obvious in peoples faces but still keeping it a story, a balance that is really hard to ''see'' as the author. Anyway, I gave it a go, and I was chuffed with the response, even if I think there is plenty to improve on!
 
Thank you for the votes Cascade and Marmalade. And thanks to all mentions for my time-travelling bounty hunter.

I wanted to do something a little more action orientated this month. So I created a character who loves to make an entrance. Her final entrance was seeing the arrival as all her victims had done, meeting the only person who could be her rival... herself. Of course I didn't explore the mad paradox of it all, like how her killing herself would undo all the work that came after and probably cause the whole universe to implode... but hey, it was fun to write! ;)
 
Congratulations Kerry!

Possibly over-ambitiously, I went for a pastiche of Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot against the folk tale of Tam Lin/Thomas The Rhymer (the two myths have so much in common that I'm convinced they share a root). The title is from the latter, but the events referred to are from the former.
 
On admirable inspirations, and literary goals for this writing challenge:

"The initial idea was basically to have a twisted causal loop..."
"My title this month came from a poem by Konstantin Simonov..."
"...Shakespeare immediately came to mind."
"...riding off into the sunset after a heroic adventure."
"Gandalf and Frodo's conversation from the start of Fellowship came to mind..."
"And then the first line defined the rhythm pattern..."
"I was thinking about how quickly technology and life in general (mostly in the west) is constantly changing..."
"I went for a pastiche of Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot against the folk tale of Tam Lin/Thomas The Rhymer..."

Uh...I decided to write a story about a werewolf burning a bag of his own droppings...
(In my own defense, I knew I'd receive no votes this month, so it's all good. Also, I am very immature.:))
 
Don't worry CC, you're in good company... I had to literally pull my story out of my <censored>...

It wasn't until reading another thread (in GWD I think) that I discovered that 'chosen one prophecies' are a hackneyed stereotype so I was v pleased to get votes and mentions.

I must must must learn more about the idiosyncrasies of genre :p

pH
 
I originally had an idea for Godot turning up after Vladimir and Estragon had left and idly carving his name into the bench they were sitting on.

Robert had already gone with Beckett though so I went a little less high brow with my cultural references.

upload_2015-6-30_23-58-28.jpeg
 
Congratulations, Kerry! :)

Thanks for the mentions, shortlists: Jo, DG, Juliana, Bowler, Holland, Johnnyjet, Titanium, Crystal Haven, Grimward, TDZ, Ashleyne and UM!

An special thanks for the votes: Warren_paul, Ratsy and Teresa!
 
I'd been wanting to add in a stereotypical heroic barbarian forsometime. So Hurak arrived on the scene. Pity that the Minion was in no mood for cold callers.

Edit: thanks for the mentions folks
 
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Many congratulations to our esteemed winner!

The only thing possibly worth explaining in my own entry was the fact that the aliens were from Tau Ceti. Not only is this a fairly close, reasonably Sol-like star, it is also part of the constellation Cetus (the Whale), which fits with the theme.
 
Congrats to Kerry! My entry was simple, so no explanation needed. Maybe too simple. hmmmm. Not many mentions this month. I'll have to weave some impossibly overstuffed, overknotted plot that will make everyone's PCs explode at the mere intention of processing it.
 
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