DISCUSSION THREAD -- February 2020 -- 75-Word Writing Challenge

[M. Robert Gibson]

Well done @Teresa Edgerton I, like many others I'm sure, knew it would have to be another exceptional entry to beat that story.

And may I say my flabber has never been so gasted? I got three votes! So thank you @Marvin @Peter V and @scarpelius
And special thanks to all who had it on their long shortlists.
And thanks to everyone else for reading

It was the earliest I'd ever entered so I didn't give my entry time to brew, therefore I didn't expect it to get much attention, hence my astonishment at the votes

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

And don't forget folks, anyone with a writing itch to scratch still has time to enter the February / March 100 Word Anonymous Challenge

February / March 100 Word Anonymous Challenge

This is the thread for the stories. Theme: A Room With A View Genre: Speculative Fiction I (elvet) will be accepting entries until midnight GMT on Sunday March 15. I will post a poll the next day, and voting will continue until midnight Friday March 20 GMT . Please give your entry a title...

www.sffchronicles.com

 

[Hugh]

Many Congratulations Teresa!

And well done nixie!

 

[elvet]

Congratulations @Teresa Edgerton ! And very well done @nixie.
Wow! @Ursa major. A short listing! I am surprised, but grateful.
For my story, I knew I was going to try to capture the heady, all encompassing obsession of the teenage crush. Many of us have been there, and sometimes a romantic crush can find us in adulthood too (bathtub Geralt anyone?). Truly a fantasy romance.

 

[Artoriarius]

Congratulations, @Teresa Edgerton!

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

Congratulations @Teresa Edgerton .
I'm sorry I didn't put up my shortlist.

 

[Marvin]

Apologies. I forgot to offer my congrats to a worthy winner @Teresa Edgerton during my earlier ranty post! Well done indeed.

Thank you very much DustyZ & SillLearning for two glorious votes. A rare commodity indeed this month. Im super chuffed.
I was more than happy with my attempt. I knew what I wanted to tell, but wasn't sure how to convey it? It took the act of writing it, for one of the characters to suddenly say it for me.

In the end I voted for 'Quiet Love' by Marvin: A lot of pain is implied by this tale, but also something very uplifting about the dignity and selflessness of love.

So glad you spent the time to get out of my story, what I tried to put in Especially given your busy parenting duties - been there my friend!!

 

[Karn's Return]

Congratulations @Teresa Edgerton ! And very well done @nixie.
Wow! @Ursa major. A short listing! I am surprised, but grateful.
For my story, I knew I was going to try to capture the heady, all encompassing obsession of the teenage crush. Many of us have been there, and sometimes a romantic crush can find us in adulthood too (bathtub Geralt anyone?). Truly a fantasy romance.

And for others of us, any romance is fantasy.

 

[Daysman]

Congrats @Teresa Edgerton !

I wonder if the next challenge will be, perhaps, something completely different..?

 

[DannMcGrew]

Congratulations, Teresa!

 

[BigJ]

Congratulations @Teresa Edgerton

Alas, I goofed, and missed the voting deadline; had I remembered my vote would have gone to @Culhwch

I'd already resigned myself to pulling an o-fer on this challenge and settling for a moral victory with @Victoria Silverwolf calling my entry a "poetic epic" in her review; many thanks for the late shortlisting from @The Judge and the vote (!) from @Luiglin.

 

[Danny McG]

This ensures that nixies story now gets a lot of scrutiny

Now it may be me being stupid, but I found it difficult to locate the memento in @nixie story, loved the story in itself, but even after a few re-reads (just read it again to be certain of myself) didn’t feel the Theme

 

[nixie]

Everyone reads different things, the interpretation of a story is how an individual see's it . Doesn't matter if I don't think it meets the criteria it's how others see it.

 

[The Judge]

A couple of general points I've been thinking about recently. (WARNING: read with in mind throughout.)

Practically every time I come to vote I whinge to myself -- and usually to everyone else here -- that some stories don't meet the theme or genre or both. And practically every time I notice that those stories receive short-listings or votes, so I have another whinge to myself about members who fail to abide by my exquisite and always correct discernment in determining what does and does not meet the theme/genre requirements.

However, since no one else is blessed with my infallible judgement, unless and until I can perfect my You-Will-Obey-Me mind-control machine and/or my fellow mods accede to my plea to be sole arbiter of what is allowed and who gets all the votes, it's inevitable that other members will have the audacity to form their own (obviously incorrect) opinions.

So, while I shall continue to urge everyone to think carefully about theme and genre when coming to vote, it remains the case that both aspects are in the eye of the voter, no matter how myopic and defective I believe the eyesight of some voters to be. (However, my stories always meet both theme and genre, so if in doubt, vote for me.)


Secondly, with the welcome influx of newbies over the last months, it's perhaps time for me to repeat a longstanding rule that might not be widely known and/or might have been forgotten, namely we don't critique stories here in the Discussion thread. Praise, yes, that's fine. But not criticism of any kind -- not even when it's as mind-blowingly important as a misplaced semi-colon -- and no damning with faint praise, either.

The Challenges are for everyone, no matter what imagination and literary skill entrants may possess, and it's inevitable that some stories will have errors when it comes to things like pacing or plot or -- heaven forfend -- grammar. No matter how much such things may irritate (and I vie with Chris P as to Chief Pedant here, so be assured I spend a lot of time being irritated) don't say anything. Just bask in your own near-omnipotence, as I do. (Though your near-omnipotence is a lot less than mine, obviously.)

 

[Margaret Note Spelling]

Congrats, @Teresa Edgerton!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I was surprised that nobody recognized the inspiration for the title of my story (or if they did, they didn't say so)—although the famous six word story about the baby shoes was mentioned, though not in reference to my story title. I was extremely curious to know if anyone saw what I was doing there, and was very tempted to ask, but kept silent before the voting, out of respect for the rules. However, the voting is over now.

Usually, I write the story first and then have to think up a title, which is sometimes easy but sometimes very hard indeed. If it is too difficult, I leave the story untitled. But sometimes, very rarely, the title comes first. This was one of those times. (I'd be curious to know how many people think of their titles first and then their stories, and if it happens that way for them often.)

Anyway, as soon as I knew the genre was romantic fantasy one of my first thoughts was Cinderella and that story title—an homage, or riff, or whatever you want to call it, on the baby shoes story—popped into my head. Once I had the title buzzing around in my brain, I asked myself why she never wore the glass slippers again, why she never danced at any balls, and the rest followed naturally from there.

Unlike most other months, the story came to me very early and was written very quickly. So my thanks to elvet for a theme and genre I found so inspiring, although I know that some others did not. (We had a good number of entries anyway, and many, many fine stories—my first stab at making a long list included practically everything, so I had to whittle it down—so it looks like people surmounted their difficulties, as Chrons members generally do!)

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

I was surprised that nobody recognized the inspiration for the title of my story

I did, I just didn't want to show off

I find it quite interesting hearing about the creative process of other people.

 

[Marvin]

So, while I shall continue to urge everyone to think carefully about theme and genre when coming to vote, it remains the case that both aspects are in the eye of the voter,

So in short what you‘re saying is, Marvin, wind your neck in!
I completely agree.
I am in no way qualified to become a top level pedant!

@nixie please know my comments were certainly not a critique of your work, I would never presume!

Sorry to cause waves in this bastion of peace and tranquility we have here.

 

[Mr Orange]

Everyone reads different things, the interpretation of a story is how an individual see's it . Doesn't matter if I don't think it meets the criteria it's how others see it.

I found a memento in your story! Do i get a prize?

 

[The Judge]

I was surprised that nobody recognized the inspiration for the title of my story

I did! I need to get back into reading entries on a regular basis, though, so I've time to comment on things like that. As it is, I only quickly skimmed all the stories on the last day as I was panicking about getting something down, and by the time I'd finished that I didn't have the energy left for anything else, not even a post to say I was in.

I've occasionally had an idea for a title first, but it's meant I've struggled to find a story to write around it so it's not something I'm keen to repeat. Though I often struggle to find a story anyway, so perhaps it makes no difference!

Re my story, it didn't occur to me as I was writing it but afterwards I realised where the idea had come from, at least in part. It repeats a situation I'd used in a 300 worder back in 2016 where a dying woman exerts herself towards apparent suicide in order to be reunited with her lover/husband. The reason that story was playing in my unconscious is because it revolved around mimosa blossoms, and had been inspired by a beautiful tree hanging over a garden wall I occasionally pass in my local market town. Just the other day I thought it was about time for it to bloom again, so I went to look for it, only to find it completely gone. The householder had ripped it up and put what appears to be a shed there. The loss of its glorious yellow flowers had clearly preyed on my mind, reminding me of how it had inspired the previous story, which in turn gave me another tale of loss.