300 Worder Image Poll and Discussion thread #2

[Ursa major]

There's a story there with all four images:

The Blue People finally cottoned on to what their gaoler had said, that escaping from their mountain prison using the Orb would be a real howler: it could only deliver them to a world where others' reactions to their appearance would imprison far more cruelly than mere rock.​

Where the rest of the 300 words come from is a bit of a mystery.

 

[Warren Kramer]

It may or may not be relevant, but I believe the "cotton bush" is actually an image of milkweed pods. Milkweed is the name for several species of plant that grow in many locations around North America. Named for the milky substance emitted when the plant is damaged, the seed pods dry out in the Fall and yield fluffy seeds that resemble giant dandelion seeds.

Apologies if this comes across as technical, but I fear I would've found it most annoying if people wrote stories set in the US Southeast involving cotton, when the inspiration image is something else altogether. Image from Wikipedia:

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Thanks, Warren. Don't worry about being technical; people here always enjoy learning new information and are grateful to receive it. (I kind of thought it might be a milkweed plant, and am glad to have that confirmed.)

On the other hand, whatever image is chosen, it's not required that people interpret it literally (though some may). It will be there for inspiration, and writers can choose any element of the chosen picture as their starting point, and see it . . . however they see it. If the plant is chosen it may well end up an alien plant, or not even a plant at all. The story may take place anywhere or nowhere. The first time we held the 300 Word Challenge the picture was a famous and ornate medieval town clock. Some people wrote stories based on the statues decorating the clock, some on the clock itself. And the clock became everything from a wizard's tower to a space ship. If the plant is chosen it will be interesting to see what people make of it—as it will be, whichever image is chosen.

 

[The Judge]

Oooh, thank you for that, Warren! It was originally down in our image bank just as "Strange Plant" as TitaniumTi, who took it, hadn't given it a name in her Photo Challenge entry, and when I checked with her, she wasn't sure herself what it was, so we took a guess! It's good to know what it really is -- I've never even heard of milkweed, so that's doubly interesting for me, as I love learning about plants.

As Teresa says, though, whichever pic is chosen, it's an inspiration image only, and we'll no doubt have a range of imaginative stories as we usually do, and a story about cotton from a supposed cotton bush plant would actually be on the prosaic side compared to the weird and wonderful tales we've had in the past!

Welcome to the Chrons, by the way. I hope whichever image is chosen will encourage you to take part in the 300 Word Challenge which will start open on the 1st (though entries can't be posted until the 10th).

Only a few minutes left, now, though, and we'll know which image is the winner!

 

[Joshua Jones]

Oooh, thank you for that, Warren! It was originally down in our image bank just as "Strange Plant" as TitaniumTi, who took it, hadn't given it a name in her Photo Challenge entry, and when I checked with her, she wasn't sure herself what it was, so we took a guess! It's good to know what it really is -- I've never even heard of milkweed, so that's doubly interesting for me, as I love learning about plants.

As Teresa says, though, whichever pic is chosen, it's an inspiration image only, and we'll no doubt have a range of imaginative stories as we usually do, and a story about cotton from a supposed cotton bush plant would actually be on the prosaic side compared to the weird and wonderful tales we've had in the past!

Welcome to the Chrons, by the way. I hope whichever image is chosen will encourage you to take part in the 300 Word Challenge which will start open on the 1st (though entries can't be posted until the 10th).

Only a few minutes left, now, though, and we'll know which image is the winner!

Or, who will be in the tiebreaker...

 

[The Judge]

No tie-breaker as I finally made up my mind and voted -- and the (not) Cotton Bush Plant it is!

The 300 Worder threads won't go up until Monday, but those of you who like to get busy as soon as the image is up, can start beavering away. (Actually, we might put the threads up early to allow for Discussion, since this thread is now locked to ordinary mortals. We'll see.)

 

[The Judge]

And the 300 Worder threads are up!

300 WORD WRITING CHALLENGE #28 (January 2018) -- READ FIRST POST!

DISCUSSION -- January 2018 300 Word Writing Challenge (#28)​