DISCUSSION THREAD, May 2019 75-Word Writing Challenge

[HareBrain]

I loved entries by @Victoria Silverwolf for its punchline, @TheDustyZebra for its charm and @The Judge for its sheer unabashed cat-worship, but I'm voting for @dannymcg in the hope that he'll be able to tell me how I can now get that bloody theme tune out of my head. (Plus the tale really tickled me.)

 

[Danny McG]

I'm voting for @dannymcg in the hope that he'll be able to tell me how I can now get that bloody theme tune out of my head

I spent a lot of time as a schoolboy trying to do that 'whistle with a leaf' as well, it never worked.

It was probs a eucalyptus leaf they used at the start of the programme, not something pulled off an oak tree

Thanks very much for your vote

 

[Vaz]

Massive thanks for the votes Pedro and Hazelrah and for the shortlistings from CC and JJ!

Cheers

V

 

[Ivy Moser]

WHAAAAAAAAT??? I got a vote! Thank you, @Daysman! Wasn't expecting that so you made my week Thank you so much also for the mentions, @chrispenycate, @Heijan Xavier, and @johnnyjet!

 

[The Judge]

A quick shortlisting as I'm meant to be getting dinner:

Alex -- Almost True Story​

HareBrain -- THE HEIGHT OF VANITY​

LittleStar -- Boiled Down​

Perp -- 40 Days and 40 Nights​

Shyrka -- Tall Animals, Taller Stories​

TDZ -- How Hummingbird Saved Spring​

Tywin -- We All Knew They Could Play Poker​

Victoria -- The Escape​

A difficult one, as I was torn between two immensely tall stories, so I got Shryka and Tywin to battle it out. I thought of having them duel over a Bergmanesque game of chess, but that would have given Tywin too much of an advantage, so I shoved boxing gloves on giraffe and dog and let them duke it out -- the giraffe was winning by a long neck -- but then seven seals came along and started barracking, which rather upset the match. No one could play cricket, so I was going to toss a coin instead but one of the seals swallowed it.

In the end, after much deliberation Shyrka won the vote for the sheer impudence of her protagonist's story.

Many impossibly tall thanks for the lovely shortlistings/mentions Starbeast, L.L.Lotte, Ivy M, Parson, jackwinabox (thanks for the lovely words and awful puns!), Shyrka, johnnyjet, CC and HB, and gigantic reaching-to-the-moon thanks for the wonderful vote, elvet!

That is a purrrfect ‘Ode to a Cat’. May I have first dibs (when it is published) on using it for my cat room?

Feel free! Print it off and use it whenever you want. Will say more after voting is over.

 

[Nicole J. LeBoeuf]

omg almost forgot voting deadline was today!

and i only get ONE vote and there's A LOT of stories i like!

THIS WAS TOUGH.

Finally voted for "We All Knew They Could Play Poker" for the same reasons @Parson shortlisted it. But it was a really tough decision!

Thanks for the mentions to those of you who mentioned mine--I felt like I kinda failed at making an actual tall tale of it, since that's not a genre I'm used to. Glad for the opportunity to stretch a bit out of my comfort zone though!

ps. I recognized the Unicorn song reference too, but for me the association is with its original writer, Shel Silverstein. Knew it from whichever of his poetry compilations it was in, either Attic or Sidewalks I can't remember, and then someone played me a record (yep, vinyl and everything) of him singing some of those poems as songs, and The Unicorn was of course one of them.

 

[Mr Orange]

sneaking in for a last minute vote like a baby wildebeest at a croc infested watering hole, my long/short/finalist is:

@Cathbad
@HareBrain
@Victoria Silverwolf
@nixie
@Peter V
@Shyrka
@Vaz
@johnnyjet
@Perpetual Man
@TheDustyZebra
@LittleStar

now i'm going to vote for one of them...

Edit: it was @Shyrka. cos' it was a well written tale that made me laugh. and it had a giraffe in it

also, thanks to all those that mentioned my story. much appreciated

 

[Ashleyne]

My favourite stories this month are:

THE HEIGHT OF VANITY by HareBrain

New Addition by Nixie

Well I'll be a... by Dr_R_Dizzle

The Legend of Farmer Brown's Dog by johnnyjet

I voted for Fox Hunt by chrispenycate.

Thank you, Starbeast, Elvet, Vaz, Daysman and Cat's Cradle for the mentions.

 

[Ursa major]

The Ursa jury tells me that I can believe their verdict or not. I'm reserving judgement....

The following are in posting order within the categories:


Honourable Mentions:

• THE HEIGHT OF VANITY by HareBrain
• Outback Override. by dannymcg
• An Imagined Conversation Between a Wolf and a Pug by Elvet
• The Legend of Farmer Brown's Dog by johnnyjet

Runners Up:

• The Escape by Victoria Silverwolf
• Tall Animals, Taller Stories by Shyrka
• How Hummingbird Saved Spring by TheDustyZebra

Winner:

• Fig. 1 - Songbirds of the Australian Rainforest by Culhwch

​

 

[Ursa major]

The poll has now closed and we have a winner:

Congratulations, Shyrka!​

​

 

[mosaix]

Congratulations, Shyrka!

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Congratulations, Shyrka!

 

[Artoriarius]

...And I missed the poll by only a few minutes. I knew I should've skipped dinner! Anyway -

Congratulations, Shyrka! Truly, yours was the tallest tale of them all.

(And tank you for the vote, Jack. I can't fathom how I even got the one, since I freely admit it was mostly fishy. I suppose it just goes to showboat: A little pun goes a long whale.)

 

[L.L.Lotte]

Congratulations, @Shyrka. Well deserved win. Looking back at all the stories, yours defintely fit the criteria of the challenge perfectly.

 

[Mr Orange]

Congratulations Shyrka on a great story that deserved the win.

I cobbled my story together in the last 12 hours of the challenge after a long conversation with my three year old (her conversations always have lots of animals in them and are rarely factually accurate, so it was a great help). wasn't expecting much so a vote was a pleasant surprise.

 

[Culhwch]

Congrats, @Shyrka! A great story that nabbed my vote in what I thought was a pretty strong month!

It seemed like it was going to be a quiet month for me until two late votes snuck in - thanks, @Ursa major and @Mad Alice! Thanks also to @chrispenycate, @nixie, and @M. Robert Gibson for the mentions!

I’m not sure if my subject matter was a little obscure, or if I should just stay away from pun-based stories – they’re not really my strength. In this case I had tried a couple of cat-themed stories but couldn’t crack either of them, so I started thinking about birds (because I love birds almost as much as I love cats). The last line actually hit me pretty much fully formed, and the ‘lyrebird’ pun just seemed perfect for the genre. I just had to write the beginning then. I did have a punny alternate title – Syrinx Song – which I was tempted to use, but I stuck with the original, which I thought was nicely incongruous but still helped set the scene. Although I don’t think my wife liked the title I went with, but she was just too nice to say outright!

 

[Cathbad]

YaY @Shyrka !!

 

[Stable]

Although I don’t think my wife liked the title I went with, but she was just too nice to say outright!

I think your title is fantastic. Sounds like an Attenborough episode.

 

[Danny McG]

Well done Shyrka, good story

 

[LittleStar]

Congrats, Shyrka. Had I gotten around to write up a shortlist this month, yours would have been on there for sure