DISCUSSION THREAD, September 2019 75-Word Writing Challenge

scarpelius said:
@Luiglin Actually it was the "logical features and pointed ears" with logical features weighing more. No idea who the Dark Lord is, but the setup is similar to World of Warcraft lore.
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The Dark Lord is a character that started life as a 75 worder and from which a whole world has grown. I've got a novel nearly completed with him and another three WiP for characters from the same universe. I know I shouldn't really use him for 75 worders as they are meant to be standalone but often I can't resist.
 
Congrats, nixie! Commiserations, Luiglin!

Just seen I've got an extra ninja vote -- many Servicable Thanks TDZ!!


As to my story, as TDZ indicated it's based -- ie is a rip-off of -- a narrative verse by Robert W Service called The Shooting of Dan McGrew. In the story, which takes place in the Yukon at the time of the Gold Rush, a stranger comes into the saloon where a "bunch of the boys were whooping it up" which seemed to me ideal for a first contact situation. Though in Service's case the stranger is clearly known to Dangerous Dan McGrew, and both Dan and the stranger wind up shot dead (and Dan's "light-o'-love, the lady known as Lou", and clearly also very well known to the stranger, ends up with the latter's poke of gold dust -- as usual it's cherchez la femme). For anyone bemused at The Creation of Sam Primeau and the verse I presented to TDZ earlier in this thread, another of Service's ballads is The Cremation of Sam McGee which does indeed begin "There are strange things done in the midnight sun".

Fred Karno only came into the story (mine, not Service's) as I needed a rhyme for soprano -- which I always knew would be the punch line as the alien was going to be a lot quicker and more accurate on the draw than Dan, and aiming to geld not kill -- and you wouldn't believe the difficulty I had in finding a rhyme I could use that made sense. I'd always thought Karno was an American silent screen actor, whose trademark was controlled mayhem, something like the Keystone Kops, but when I went to check on the spelling I discovered he was English and in music hall theatre. The controlled mayhem bit was accurate, at least, and he was one of the progenitors of slapstick comedy in the late C19th and early C20th -- both Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel worked for him. "Fred Karno's Army" or "Fred Karno's Circus" were common expressions at the time. I don't know if my father ever saw him or his people play (Karno was an impresario as well as a performer) but he certainly used the expression whenever domestic life got a bit chaotic at home when I was growing up, and it's stuck with me. About Fred Karno

That splain enough, Parson?!
 
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Margaret Note Spelling said:
Does anybody remember the last time a tie happened?
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In the 75s: January 2019, between Artoriarius and Teresa Edgerton. In the 300s: October 2018, between Victoria Silverwolf and David Evil Overlord.

And...are there ever three- or four-way ties?
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In the 75s there have been two: July 2012 between RcGrant, alchemist and HareBrain; December 2013 between Tywin, mosaix and Victoria. In the 300s, just one in October 2011, between TDZ, alchemist, mosaix and The Spurring Platty.

...Which naturally leads to the question, has there ever been a tie on the tie-breaker poll?
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TheDustyZebra said:
At least twice, maybe three times, and generally involving me. :D The dual winners collaborate in whatever way they please, to come up with theme and genre.
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TDZ was right. There have been three, all in the 75s (two of which Danny found) and TDZ's starred in two of them, in November 2012 with Hex, and April 2014 with Cat's Cradle. The other tie was in May 2013 with me and DEO.

For those in need of further info:
  • the 75s, there have been 28 tie breaks altogether (7 in the first year!). I've faced most with 6 (and lost 4 of them -- that's why the bridesmaid's dress came into being :cry:); mosaix has won most outright (3 out of the 5 he's faced) and TDZ is the only person to have faced more than 2 tie-breaks and remains undefeated (faced 4, won 2 outright, tied 2)
  • in the 300s, there have been only 3 tie-breaks, and nobody has faced more than one, though TDZ's win reinforces her formidable tie-break reputation, and my losing streak continues :cry: :cry:
 
Well I’m about to take the new doggy a walk down to Dean Swift’s Bishop’s Palace, close to where he wrote A Tale of a Tub. 75 words doesn’t do his kind of satire justice - really it needed to be a 5000 reasonable treatise on why we should be exterminated to save the precious planetary resource :D
 
Congratulations, nixie! Commiserations, Luiglin! Well done Cathbad and The Judge, for keeping it close down the stretch.

Big thanks to Daysman for the mention. (It's much easier thanking people when your story does poorly!;))
 
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