Discussion thread -- November 2015 75-word Writing Challenge

[Zoe Mackay]

Thanks Bob Senior for the vote, and for everyone who mentioned Clutch TT-2, which was an incredibly obscure reference to Catch-22. I think I rather shaded the brief on "The Path Not Taken", though (in this case, the path was the flight to Earth) - one of those things where you pare down too much to get below 75 words.

Congratulations StillLearning!

 

[Perpetual Man]

I don't think I need to say anything about mine, as it should be self explanatory - I wrote a story, but didn't in the actual story...

But the title was a reference to the Doctor Who episode, uh, Turn Left which saw then companion Donna Noble take a left turn instead of a right and view her life if she had never met the Doctor.

 

[Bowler1]

Well done StilLearning, good job.

Now can we have something seasonal for the Christmas? I always like to hunt reindeer and jolly fat men in the month of December, not as easy as you would think, they all get about right quick. So... can I shoot Santa under the Christmas tree?

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Congratulations, StilLearning! You wrote a terrific story. I'm looking forward to your choices for...tomorrow's writing challenge!
You're welcome, Parson! I know this challenge was outside of your comfort zone, and I thought you did a fine job with your 75 words!
A side note to Alex - I thought your story was really good, and I'm happy to see you received two votes. I hope you'll enter the December challenge.

Finally, a big thank you to Ursa for setting up the voting poll...a good, quality poll takes a lot of time to create (especially with 50 stories in the challenge!)...thank you!

 

[Mad Alice]

Congratulations Still learning!
A lovely entry you had and a well deserved win.
Thank you so much for the vote martin 321! There were so many excellent stories I was happy to be mentioned, and here I got a vote!
Does happy dance. ! Hurray!

When I looked up absurdist fiction, the example list included catch 22, the rhinoceros, waiting for Gadot, Gulliver's Travels, and Slaughterhouse five. The only science fiction one was slaughterhouse five, so mine followed suit. (Yes, the rhinoceros was a take upon the destruction of a utopian society expressed through metaphysical totems, of course.)
I attempted to convey the absurdity of senseless waste of life, and the use of temporal displacement to travel a different path, from death to life.

 

[Mr Orange]

congratulations @StilLearning . a great story that i thoroughly enjoyed.

my story seems to have missed something (or maybe just no one understood it), but when i read the theme i immediately thought of a simple riddle i heard many years ago. and for some reason the description of absurdist fiction seemed to lend itself towards theater (i guess maybe because of the suspension of disbelief required whilst watching a story on a stage with scant props) so i wrote it as a play.

the riddle, for those interested is:

you are in a jungle and come to a fork in the path. down each path is a village. one is a friendly village that will take you to safety and the other is a village full of cannibals that will eat you for dinner. the people from the safe village always tell the truth and the cannibals always lie. at the fork stands a man from one of the villages. you can ask him one question to help you decide which way to go. what is the question?

 

[LittleStar]

Ooh, I know! *raises hand, pointing up and braces it with other arm*

Wasn't there a variation of this one in Labyrinth? Or was that something a bit different, there were three that time. Either way I could never get my head around any of it (and I really tried) but I have this one in the bag! ...i think

 

[Mad Alice]

congratulations @StilLearning . a great story that i thoroughly enjoyed.

my story seems to have missed something (or maybe just no one understood it), but when i read the theme i immediately thought of a simple riddle i heard many years ago. and for some reason the description of absurdist fiction seemed to lend itself towards theater (i guess maybe because of the suspension of disbelief required whilst watching a story on a stage with scant props) so i wrote it as a play.

the riddle, for those interested is:

you are in a jungle and come to a fork in the path. down each path is a village. one is a friendly village that will take you to safety and the other is a village full of cannibals that will eat you for dinner. the people from the safe village always tell the truth and the cannibals always lie. at the fork stands a man from one of the villages. you can ask him one question to help you decide which way to go. what is the question?

I always loved this one, especially when Star Trek TOS used it to fry that androids brain in "I Mudd".
Kirk to Android, "Whatever Spock says, he is lying! He always lies!"
Spock to Android, "I am lying."
Android, "But then he is telling the truth!" Brain explodes.
I really liked your story Mr Orange! It was in my third runners up contenders list. But I didn't have time to post all my likes for this challenge as I was busily Nanowrimo-ing to a sprint finish. But I truly enjoyed your story.

 

[Mad Alice]

Is this it Mr Orange?

Two doors with two guards - one lies, one tells the truth

 

[David Evil Overlord]

I've seen that one on Dr Who, too.

If you ask the truth-teller what the liar will say, the truth-teller will truthfully lie. And if you ask the liar what the truth-teller will say, he'll lie, because that's what he does.

 

[Mr Orange]

I think it's a take on that mad Alice

And thanks for the nice comments!

 

[Mr Orange]

DEO, that's almost it, but there's one specific question i'm thinking of...

 

[LittleStar]

If there's cannibals hanging around, eating everyone they can, it's quite an acheivement for there to be a safe village just down the road... They must have some kind of agreement. Maybe the safe guys actually lie, and are lying when they say they tell the truth? Sacrificing any travellers they come across, so that there village remains safe
It does make you wonder which village this one person comes from though...

 

[David Evil Overlord]

What will he say, if I ask him the path to the safe village?

The truth-teller will answer truthfully, pointing you in the direction of the cannibal village (because that's what the liar would do). The liar will lie, and point you in the direction of the cannibal village.

It doesn't matter whether you picked the liar or the truth-teller. Just go the way he says is NOT safe.

 

[Mr Orange]

What will he say, if I ask him the path to the safe village?

The truth-teller will answer truthfully, pointing you in the direction of the cannibal village (because that's what the liar would do). The liar will lie, and point you in the direction of the cannibal village.

It doesn't matter whether you picked the liar or the truth-teller. Just go the way he says is NOT safe.

except the truth-teller will point you in the direction of the safe village...

 

[Mr Orange]

If there's cannibals hanging around, eating everyone they can, it's quite an acheivement for there to be a safe village just down the road... They must have some kind of agreement. Maybe the safe guys actually lie, and are lying when they say they tell the truth? Sacrificing any travellers they come across, so that there village remains safe
It does make you wonder which village this one person comes from though...

let's not get carried away with the overall logic of the situation.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

except the truth-teller will point you in the direction of the safe village...

Not if you're asking, "What would someone from the village that you didn't come from say is the path to the safe village?"

Truth-teller will honestly say the liar would point to this path (cannibal village), and liar would lie and say truth-teller would point to this safe path (also cannibal village).

I highly recommend the path to the cannibal village be the road not taken.

 

[Mr Orange]

that's true @David Evil Overlord, or you could just ask "where do you live?"

 

[Gonk the Insane]

By the time anyone figures it out, you're going to be really hungry. So here's an alternative solution:
Be a cannibal. That way it doesn't matter which village you end up in, you won't go hungry

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Many congratulations to StilLearning!