DISCUSSION -- JANUARY 2020 300-word Writing Challenge (#36)

[Phyrebrat]

I've been doing the Challenges 6 years, and during that time there've always been more 75 worders posted than 300 worders.

Yup, I stopped doing the 75 word challenges a year (or more?!?) ago. I’ll dip back in if I like the theme and genre, tho.

I enjoyed @Dan Jones' story, but noted an unnecessary comma.

it’s not really very good form to point out errors. Luckily comma use is often personally subjective these days. (Unless you’re Chris and he catches you comma-splicing!!)

pH

 

[Star-child]

it’s not really very good form to point out errors. Luckily comma use is often personally subjective these days. (Unless you’re Chris and he catches you comma-splicing!!)

pH

I was making a joke by pointing out an extremely minor detail in the middle of a vastly unconventional story.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I appreciate twhat you're saying, but drawing attention to any kind of fault I suppose could end up in someone with harsh voting criteria marking a story down.

I'm in the middle myself; sometimes I feel a typo or ten are allowed if the story is so good, other times I can be a real nit-picker. Sometimes I have to; on a good month there can be so many good entries, you have to look for something to help whittle down your shortlist and/or votes.

Also, I cannot believe it's already that time again. these three months go by so fast. Next time we do this will be, what, April? How depressing.

pH

 

[The Judge]

Well, I'm in. As ever the muse has been playing hockey** and despite repeated perusals of the image, and lots of thinking, by 7pm tonight I'd still got nothing beyond the fact the crane on the image looked like a gallows. No idea where the rest of it came from.


** that's like hookey, but a lot more violent

 

[Ursa major]

The challenge is now closed and so the voting is open.

To cast your THREE votes, use the link below.

Please vote for your top THREE choices; note that all three votes must be cast AT THE SAME TIME to count.​

​

 

[Rafellin]

Now that was an intriguing mix with more common elements than expected.

However, the puissant were easily distinguished:

Top o' the stack: elvet
Second: Daysman
Third: AMB

Honourable mentions to Abernovo and Shyrka

 

[ozmosis]

I'm curious - how long did you all spend on the 300 word story? You could break it down between writing and editing times?

 

[Luiglin]

I'm curious - how long did you all spend on the 300 word story? You could break it down between writing and editing times?

The time it took to drink a latte without it going cold.

 

[Shyrka]

I'm curious - how long did you all spend on the 300 word story? You could break it down between writing and editing times?

I write on the bus in the mornings usually when I can't do anything else constructive. It probably takes me an average of two or three attempts to get something I like. It's very hard to pin down exactly how long as I'll often get stuck and/or distracted. Maybe half an hour in total, spread over a few days? Then inevitably I'll tinker with it on and off for several days before posting to get it under the word count, making as much sense as it can, etc.

 

[Ursa major]

by 7pm tonight I'd still got nothing beyond the fact the crane on the image looked like a gallows

For me, this was an unusual month, in that I did have the germ of an idea -- well, two ideas, ones that would work together (I think that's a first for me) -- a couple of weeks ago.

The problem then was that I couldn't think of a story that might incorporate them until my usual writing slot (the couple of hours before the challenge closes).

It was only when I wrote the first version of the opening sentence -- I have no idea where that came from -- that I could see a way of writing the rest, which then provided me with enough material to make the major task one of editing it down to the word count.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

I'm curious - how long did you all spend on the 300 word story? You could break it down between writing and editing times?

I hope this isn't too detailed... I'm lucky that story ideas come to me quickly, and that I write original drafts quickly. I always look at the Challenge photo on the 1st day, let its essence sink in a bit, then just go about my daily chores. At some point - almost always within a day or so of seeing the photo - an idea comes to me, a central concept for a story to be formed around. Then I let that settle for an hour or so, and the whole story comes to me. I write it down on paper over 15 minutes or so... and it's usually pretty much what I enter except for, often, two things ... a new, better closing line will come to me (the original sometimes being just a placeholder which allows me to write up a completed story), or a new, better title comes to me.

The most time for me, by far, is spent editing down to 300 words (well, I try for 298, to be positive I won't go over the word count; I'd say my original drafts are around 500 words, on average).

This all happens usually within the the first 3-4 days of the Challenge. Then I just pray for the 10th to come, because I always have a tendency to tinker ... I might re-order a paragraph, or change one word 2-3 times to make a sentence more effective. On the 10th, I can dump, er, post the story, and forget about it.

Then I read the other stories, and wish I'd taken a bit more time.

edit - overall, I'd say it takes me on average 3-4 hours for each 300 worder. The Challenges are about all I write, so I might take a bit more time than some of the folks here.

 

[Elckerlyc]

It takes me days, if not weeks.
First, it takes a while before an idea pops up. Writing the story usually takes a few hours. I am a slow writer* taking time for every line.** The end result lies somewhere between 350-500 words, before the dreaded Cutting & Editing begins. Then I drop the story because, when cut back to 300 words, it doesn't make sense anymore.
This process may repeat itself 2 or 3 times.
My entry for this challenge was written in an hour and was originally 325 words. But after that I have been tinkering it for days (for better or worse***). And chose to give it another ending. The original ending will be used in the extended version I am working on now.

* unless I am hit really hard by my Muse, but mostly she doesn't even bother to tickle me. Can you trade in Muses?
** which, when editing, can become a pain because sentences risk losing sense or potency.
*** which I can keep doing endlessly. I stop tinkering and post the story when I get tired of it, not because I feel it can't be improved anymore.

 

[Elckerlyc]

Many thanks for your stealth vote @ozmosis! Really appreciate it.

 

[elvet]

@Rafellin much appreciate your vote!

I'm curious - how long did you all spend on the 300 word story? You could break it down between writing and editing times?

My ideas come very quickly, and I can write the basic story in an hour or so. Then comes the editing, could be a few more hours to days. When I first started participating (just over a year ago), I would post my story quickly. Now I am pickier, and hold off until I lived with it for a while. Inevitably, I’ll find thing or two to tweak.

 

[Peter V]

I look at picture on day one, then more or less forget about it. It's in my subconscious so I hope maybe something will start germinating and present itself on day 10 when I look again. It never has, so I start running ideas through my mind off and on for days. Sometimes I get a kernel of something, more often not. In the end I usually stare at a blank Word document and see if something happens. Most times I just start with a fairly random opening line & see what develops.

I love writing but it does not come easy. Rare are the times I rattle something off, give it a quick edit and think its remotely good enough for entry.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

So many good stories. I picked the ones that spoke to me in some way and voted for Victoria, Mosaix and Abernovo.
Shortlisted and longlisted were:

Mr Orange
Perpetual Man
Elckerlyc
Dan Jones
Johnnyjet
Victoria Silverwolf
Guttersnipe
Elvet
Mosaix
Daysman
Abernovo

When it comes to writing for 300 challenges, it never takes me very long. Luiglin's 'time taken to drink a latte' about sums it up! I'm usually shoe-horning it in between other jobs, so it gets typed out, read once, tweaked to fit the word count and then posted. Then I lose interest in it and can't remember, five minutes later, what the heck I just wrote!

 

[Abernovo]

Thanks for the mention, @Rafellin. And, thank you for the vote, @Kerrybuchanan!

As to time, in this case, very little. I had an idea, which I spent twenty minutes on one evening, but didn't work. Had to go to sleep (work, huh?), and reworked the idea the next night, which took about three quarters of an hour, to an hour, to get it down, and edited. One of the rare occasions when everything lined up.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

Shortlist.

@Rafellin
@Victoria Silverwolf
@mosaix
@Starbeast
@Daysman
@Abernovo
@Elckerlyc
@Star-child

Voted.

@Kerrybuchanan
@dannymcg
@olive

There were some cracking stories to choose from.

 

[olive]

Thank you so much @Ian Fortytwo ! That was my first vote.

 

[ozmosis]

Very cool - you're a "planner"

I hope this isn't too detailed... I'm lucky that story ideas come to me quickly, and that I write original drafts quickly. I always look at the Challenge photo on the 1st day, let its essence sink in a bit, then just go about my daily chores. At some point - almost always within a day or so of seeing the photo - an idea comes to me, a central concept for a story to be formed around. Then I let that settle for an hour or so, and the whole story comes to me. I write it down on paper over 15 minutes or so... and it's usually pretty much what I enter except for, often, two things ... a new, better closing line will come to me (the original sometimes being just a placeholder which allows me to write up a completed story), or a new, better title comes to me.

The most time for me, by far, is spent editing down to 300 words (well, I try for 298, to be positive I won't go over the word count; I'd say my original drafts are around 500 words, on average).

This all happens usually within the the first 3-4 days of the Challenge. Then I just pray for the 10th to come, because I always have a tendency to tinker ... I might re-order a paragraph, or change one word 2-3 times to make a sentence more effective. On the 10th, I can dump, er, post the story, and forget about it.

Then I read the other stories, and wish I'd taken a bit more time.

edit - overall, I'd say it takes me on average 3-4 hours for each 300 worder. The Challenges are about all I write, so I might take a bit more time than some of the folks here.

Very cool - you're a "planner" type person. No last minute scrambles. How I wish I had been like that in school...