Discussion thread -- June 2016 75-word Writing Challenge

I see the edit button. What about for the anonymous one? Do I just contact the moderator?
 
Cory Swanson said:
I posted one to the anonymous challenge and a typo showed up that was not there in my draft (I checked it a few times). Have you guys had this happen? Did I bump a key when I posted and didn't notice? Is there a way to fix something after you post?
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If it's an anonymous challenge -- i.e. you don't post the entry yourself, but send it to someone else -- the only thing you can do is to check for errors in the first hour of its posting (difficult given that the time of posting is not under your control) and then hope that the person who posted it is still around and has enough time** to change the post.


** - We mods can edit posts after this, but we scrupulously avoid doing so in challenges, anonymous or not, particularly when the post to be edited is one we wrote (for obvious reasons and one not so obvious reason***).

*** - Because the system allows mods to edit beyond the edit window it does not tell them -- it does not warn them -- when they have done so. A few years back, one mod accidentally edited his own post beyond the edit window and he felt obliged to withdraw his entry (because he'd done something that a non-mod could not do). No mod wants to be put into that position, so they try, if possible, to avoid doing any editing; and when it is necessary, they have to keep a close eye on the clock.
 
I'm not usually moved to comment on the results, but way to go, Mosaic!. However, a strange thing in the reviews (for me) was no allusion to what I thought was obvious; namely, the spawning of the Uruk-hai beneath Isengard (the 'iron fortress') for Saruman (the 'cunning mind'). Just goes to show how personal literary tastes can assume undue prominence!
 
I did actually think about a Tolkien connection, reiver images from the films sprung to mind - but the pesky elf and dwarf just could not work it in to their review.
 
Cory Swanson said:
Is there some sort of formatting thing I don't know about? I posted one to the anonymous challenge and a typo showed up that was not there in my draft (I checked it a few times). Have you guys had this happen? Did I bump a key when I posted and didn't notice? Is there a way to fix something after you post?
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Sometimes when copying a pre-written (word or open office) entry into a PM a new-line disappears. Is that what happened? You could wait until the entry was posted (shouldn't take too long) and PM again asking for an edit. A bit long-winded I know.


Edit: What U.M. said. :)


Further Edit: Thanks to Cory, Nixie, Sinister, TDZ, Chris, Ray, Ratsy and U.M. for the short lists / mentions. :)

A special thanks to Luiglin, Starbeast, Mr Orange, Bowler, Cul and Ashleyne for the votes. :)

As I said previously in the thread I was struggling this month until a conversation with my daughter. In response to my question "What on earth could be mass-produced in a fantasy environment?", she said "Invisibility cloaks!" The rest was easy. Sometimes it just takes that germ of an idea.
 
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I don't want to point out the mistake or you'll know which one is mine. (Hint. There is a typo.)
 
Since it seems like it is the thing to do to post the origin stories of our stories, here's mine.

Hugh: Dissected

My wife and I were alternately talking about the writing challenge and about the ethics of splicing human DNA into that of a pig to grow human organs. My question was, 'How is this so different from raising pigs to eat?'

Discussions on the challenge centered on the line between sci fi and fantasy. I decided that genetic engineering was sci fi, but a creature that shows up with ready made organs would be fantasy. I'm not a goblins and elves dude, so this seemed like a good course for me.

I am still attached to the concept and am thinking of expanding it into a short story. I love the unanswerable moral questions that have inserted themselves here.
 
Congratulations to mosaix on a hard-fought victory!

Heartfelt thanks to Glen and johnnyjet for votes, and to all who thought my offering worthy of mention.

Not much to say about "Automation." Clearly it's a variation on the theme of the Sorcerer's Apprentice, set in the completely unhistorical, fantastic version of Renaissance Italy which I seem to favor.
 
@Cory Swanson There is a known thing with the IE browser here, in which copying and pasting into an IE9 or later browser on this site causes words to be run together randomly. About every ten words or so, there would be a space missing. It wasn't there with IE8, started with 9, and nobody (as far as I know) ever figured out why. I don't know if that was your typo or not, but that might be it.

Otherwise, sometimes copy/paste of a story results in added lines, so that you have to go back and remove all the extra line spacing. But you can see that if you look at the preview. Wouldn't help if someone else was pasting your story, of course.

In the case of the anonymous challenge, I would say (as the mod most likely to be asked) that if the person running the challenge was made aware and could verify that an error appeared in the process of transfer, that was not there in your original story, all they would have to do is ask a mod to fix it -- regardless of the time window. There have been slightly different rules regarding the time window in the anonymous, due to the time differences of members and the nature of the process, where things have occasionally been allowed in the interest of fairness that would not be either allowed or necessary in the regular challenges.
 
Congratulations Mosaix, a very nice story with a wonderful twist.

My story started by thinking about some technique to produce mass by magic. --- Not being a fantasy person at all that meant I had to do some research into ancient paganisms, and I thought about Japan. After reading about the God's of fertility (both human and plant) I thought about how Japan had jumped into the industrial age. So.... a story about how mass production was a new magic from the old Gods.

I was so pleased to get 2 votes! I hadn't had a vote in over a year, and I would have to look very hard to see the last time I got multiple votes. It was very gratifying.
 
Ursa major said:
*** - Because the system allows mods to edit beyond the edit window it does not tell them -- it does not warn them -- when they have done so. A few years back, one mod accidentally edited his own post beyond the edit window and he felt obliged to withdraw his entry (because he'd done something that a non-mod could not do). No mod wants to be put into that position, so they try, if possible, to avoid doing any editing; and when it is necessary, they have to keep a close eye on the clock.
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That would have been me :oops:
 
Cory I had a similar problem a while ago pasting from the latest Word. Random spaces were deleted creating lots of nonsense. It cleared up and doesn't happen any more but I still read through after posting and do a cheeky edit if needed.
 
It looks like Mosaix won. Yay! Good for you. (y)

On another note, thank you to everyone for reading my story. :)

Can't wait until next month.
 
Congrats mosaix!!

Real life intervened, so I wasn't able to do my usual shortlist on Tuesday, though I did manage to get myself together enough to vote. I'd usually do a hand-crafted painstaking artisan thanks to all for the mentions/shortlistings, but in the circumstances I hope a mass-produced assembly line Thank You To Everyone is OK this time around.
 
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