DISCUSSION THREAD -- August 2019 -- 75-Word Writing Challenge

Thanks very much for the votes from
@Marvin
@TheEndIsNigh
@Tywin
@Victoria Silverwolf
@Hugh
@scarpelius
@Ian Fortytwo
@J.C. Scoberg

Also big thanks for all the mentions I got throughout the challenge discussion.

One of my grandsons was watching 'The Life of Brian' , I was absent-mindedly gazing at the Incontinentina Bucket scene and thinking about how modern humour was funny with Romans saying it, maybe it would also work with ..... Inspiration was born!
 
When I looked up Noir, I knew I wanted to base my story around a Femme Fatale. The Black Dahlia was a famous unsolved murder case from the 40’s, so I went from there. Truly black coloured roses don’t exist, but in my story they do. Who knows what The Collector does with his rarities, once they are in his possession?
 
Congrats, Danny! Congrats, too, to MRG for second place.


I thought my story might be a bit too clever for its own good, but I couldn't stop myself. Anyhow, I imagine most people got the references to the 3 films I shoe-horned into the piece, 2 definitely noir, and 1 perhaps not-quite but with plenty of noirish elements such as the lighting:
  • The Gardener Always Digs Twice from The Postman Always Rings Twice
  • Farewell, my Lily from Farewell, My Lovely (confusingly called Murder, My Sweet in the US)
  • "Of all the gardens in all the world she walks into mine" is from the Bogart line from Casablanca which should be "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world..."
I originally had The Blue Dahlia in there, too, and I was playing around with Double Inflorescence. Philip Marrow is, of course, Philip Marlowe but mosaix had already pinched the better Mallow.

Back when we did Weird Westerns with the theme Hair I totted up who had the most allusions to hairstyles and products and TDZ and I battled it out for first place. I've not checked anyone else's for horticultural items, though mosaix is probably the leader there, but I've got a score of 14 with Marrow, gardener, Titan Arum, horticulturist, cheese plant, corkscrew hazel, sucker, spadework, thyme, digging, onions, daffodil bulbs, rue and Lily.

The Titum arum is a real plant, and its flower is really, really foul-smelling, which connects with his daughter Lily because some Arums are also called lilies (though they're not close relatives of the Lilium family) and because of the smell, true lilies being sweet-smelling, but... That is where Shakespeare's Sonnet 94 comes in, and where my inspiration came from originally. It starts with "They that have power to hurt..." which I thought appropriate for a murder story, and the final couplet is:

For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;​
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.​

Or in this case, far worse than her father Titan Arum.

Lily being narcissistic is a pun on how she killed her father, since daffodils are of the Narcissus genus. And yes, the bulbs really are toxic and have been eaten after being confused with onions, but though unpleasant in their effects I don't think they're actually fatal for humans in otherwise good health.


And I'm surprised no one came out with the story about Dorothy Parker and Horticulture -- reputedly she was challenged to produce a sentence using the word and came up with "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think." :giggle:


 
One of the best parts of these challenges is after the winner announcement, when participants can expound on their stories. I love hearing the inspirations, easter eggs, and clever bits I may have missed. Such a lot of work and thought goes into a string of 75 words.
 
I did not intend to expand on my tale after such a dismal showing but @ elvet has made me change my mind.

Thank you @ Pedro Del Mar for the vote and kind words and @ Victoria Silverwolf for thinking my offering the best of the serious entries and @ Daysman and @ Starbeast for the mentions.



A Good Year for the Roses

I watch as my niece scampers away across the garden. Her vitality makes me smile as I bend to enjoy the heady aroma of The Shepherdess, always one of my favourites. Thank you Vincenzo.

As her tinkling laughter floats back to me from somewhere over by the gazebo, the startling yellow of Honey Dijon catches my eye In the morning sunshine.

So beautiful!

There’s no doubting the body of Tony Angellini makes for good fertilizer.



I am not sure if people agree but I feel my tale did fit the genre. A quick Google search on Noir comes up with...

Noir fiction (or roman noir) is a literary genre closely related to hardboiled genre, with a distinction that the protagonist is not a detective, but instead either a victim, a suspect, or a perpetrator.

So whilst my offering is clearly from the perspective of the perpetrator, it also gives a nod to organised crime, particularly the mob (the Italian / American names) which would be fitting of hardboiled, or at least that was my thinking behind it. Essentially I wanted to paint a contrast between innocence and guilt as well as beauty and ugliness (of the underlying crime). I must admit I thought these juxtapositions worked and was really happy with the result but after a very encouraging first mention from Victoria, I quickly came crashing back to Earth. For the record the names of the roses are real and (I believe) a colour match :)

Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Peter

PS. Thanks to TJ for the genre choice. I really enjoyed this challenge as it took me well outside of my comfort zone.
 
The Judge said:
I've not checked anyone else's for horticultural items, though mosaix is probably the leader there, but I've got a score of 14 with Marrow, gardener, Titan Arum, horticulturist, cheese plant, corkscrew hazel, sucker, spadework, thyme, digging, onions, daffodil bulbs, rue and Lily.
Click to expand...

It took me ages, TJ, to come up with:

green, yucca, vine, pepper, mallow, fern, bud, 'plane (cheating a bit), plant, grass, weed, woodbine, cherry, pine, mistletoe, framing, digging, fig, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

I make that 22, almost one in three. Not bad, but I thought my 'story' line was a bit weak to be honest, but two votes is better than none.

I was most pleased with 'I pined for mistletoe'. That had Mrs Mosaix in tears of laughter.
 
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