Congratulations @Phyrebrat
Discussion Thread -- OCTOBER 2020 -- 300 Word Writing Challenge (#39)
- Thread starter The Judge
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Congratulations PB!
I'd like to put in a quick thanks for my three votes from @chrispenycate @elvet and @Ashleyne and for the mentions.
They really are greatly appreciated.
I'd like to put in a quick thanks for my three votes from @chrispenycate @elvet and @Ashleyne and for the mentions.
They really are greatly appreciated.
Elckerlyc
"Philosophy will clip an angel's wings."
My appreciation and thanks for their vote goes to @BT Jones, @Peter V, @sule, @Provincial, @JadeW and @jd73.
And further to @Daysman, @Phyrebrat, @johnnyjet, @The Judge and @Starbeast for the mention.
And further to @Daysman, @Phyrebrat, @johnnyjet, @The Judge and @Starbeast for the mention.
Luiglin
Getting worse one day at a time
Congrats @Phyrebrat 
Thanks to mosaix, paranoid marvin, Marvin, The Judge, Victoria Silverwolf, Daysman, Elckerlyc, BT Jones and jd73 for the votes and for the mentions folks.
9 votes, absolutely chuffed to bits with that and so glad I went for the tale of domestic abuse and murder rather than the jolly story I had in mind for the Dark Lord taking a bath and playing monster sinking toy boat.
In essence, I wanted to try something different by writing the events of that sorrowful day in reverse. Starting with the result of her murder in the first third, hopefully luring you into thinking he was the abuser in the second third and showing that he was the abused in the third. Despite the content, I did enjoy reversing the tale, although the tale itself I did not enjoy writing at all.
Thanks to mosaix, paranoid marvin, Marvin, The Judge, Victoria Silverwolf, Daysman, Elckerlyc, BT Jones and jd73 for the votes and for the mentions folks.
9 votes, absolutely chuffed to bits with that and so glad I went for the tale of domestic abuse and murder rather than the jolly story I had in mind for the Dark Lord taking a bath and playing monster sinking toy boat.
In essence, I wanted to try something different by writing the events of that sorrowful day in reverse. Starting with the result of her murder in the first third, hopefully luring you into thinking he was the abuser in the second third and showing that he was the abused in the third. Despite the content, I did enjoy reversing the tale, although the tale itself I did not enjoy writing at all.
It was cleverly done, Luiglin. A serious story told well, with a very effective structure.
I've sat through hours of safeguarding training and am now able to post this. (The safeguarding training was compulsory as it has 'changed' and was going to be pitched with virtual teaching in mind - not ONE thing was different. Sooooo over these pointless Zoom and M$ Groups meetings!)
Anyway. ..
He/Him I don't think I'm smart enough to be a girl, although I can multitask if I put my mind to it ... phyre = fire but you can pronounce it how you wish (as long as it's not nasty). Apropos of nothing: One of the things I like about the SW universe is that many names are pronounced differently depending on who's saying them...
I was so happy to see how well your story did. I really liked it as you can see from my shortlisting and thought Ha! he won't be able to be so self-deprecating and defeatist now! Congratulations
Says you, the Artful Dodger of the Challenges...I want you to know the colour scheme for my bridesmaids is purple and orange. Everyone has had their fitting (@Luiglin looks a delight!) and we're all waiting for you. Also I've decided to use Victorian bustles and Elizabethan ruffes so it'll be a melange of style-wins.
I'm really happy to have won this, I just wish there was a prize - I quite like the new animatronic Baby Yoda that's coming out - £53 is a good price and a reasonable demand for a win, I feel. Either that or a white 1977 S1 Lotus Esprit.
Thank you
nixie Marvin The Judge Jo Zebedee The Big Peat Elckerlyc BT Jones sule Provincial Wayne Mack wagtail jd73
On the realz doe... I was struggling with what to write and I really didn't want to write another miserable story about alzheimers and loss, but I seem to be a one trick pony in that regard. I had loose ideas for other stories but they would have been a real struggle to bring to 300 words (Lovecraftian denizens, and I forbade myself to write another M R Jamesian thing). Looking at my iphone notes now, I see a word salad that is a smorgasbord of ideas. ie:
So god knows where I would have gone with them.
Not to get maudlin (but)...
Part of it is I have always wanted kids - three boys and two girls if you really care - and now at 48 I know it's not going to happen. This, along with my own experiences of loss and a high percentge of Alzheimers in my family tree often manifests in my writing. I often think of how my mother coped with the death of my brother and how losing a kid must be the worse thing for a parent. I think there's guilt there (as in survivor's guilt for me) and we all have those dark thoughts along the lines of 'should have been me' or would she have chosen to lose me or him? etc etc. Might sound morbid but it's great for supernatural fiction stimulus. And what is writing if it's not therapy and understanding of character?
Anyway, now I've depressed you all I'll let you get on with your search on Autotrader for my prize.
Woop woop
pH
Anyway. ..
He/Him
I don't think I'm smart enough to be a girl, although I can multitask if I put my mind to it ... phyre = fire but you can pronounce it how you wish (as long as it's not nasty). Apropos of nothing: One of the things I like about the SW universe is that many names are pronounced differently depending on who's saying them...I was so happy to see how well your story did. I really liked it as you can see from my shortlisting and thought Ha! he won't be able to be so self-deprecating and defeatist now! Congratulations
Says you, the Artful Dodger of the Challenges...I want you to know the colour scheme for my bridesmaids is purple and orange. Everyone has had their fitting (@Luiglin looks a delight!) and we're all waiting for you. Also I've decided to use Victorian bustles and Elizabethan ruffes so it'll be a melange of style-wins.
I'm really happy to have won this, I just wish there was a prize - I quite like the new animatronic Baby Yoda that's coming out - £53 is a good price and a reasonable demand for a win, I feel. Either that or a white 1977 S1 Lotus Esprit.
Thank you
nixie Marvin The Judge Jo Zebedee The Big Peat Elckerlyc BT Jones sule Provincial Wayne Mack wagtail jd73
On the realz doe... I was struggling with what to write and I really didn't want to write another miserable story about alzheimers and loss, but I seem to be a one trick pony in that regard. I had loose ideas for other stories but they would have been a real struggle to bring to 300 words (Lovecraftian denizens, and I forbade myself to write another M R Jamesian thing). Looking at my iphone notes now, I see a word salad that is a smorgasbord of ideas. ie:
So god knows where I would have gone with them.
Not to get maudlin (but)...
Part of it is I have always wanted kids - three boys and two girls if you really care - and now at 48 I know it's not going to happen. This, along with my own experiences of loss and a high percentge of Alzheimers in my family tree often manifests in my writing. I often think of how my mother coped with the death of my brother and how losing a kid must be the worse thing for a parent. I think there's guilt there (as in survivor's guilt for me) and we all have those dark thoughts along the lines of 'should have been me' or would she have chosen to lose me or him? etc etc. Might sound morbid but it's great for supernatural fiction stimulus. And what is writing if it's not therapy and understanding of character?
Anyway, now I've depressed you all I'll let you get on with your search on Autotrader for my prize.
Woop woop
pH
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One of my votes. Loved the structure, very Christopher Nolan.
Luiglin
Getting worse one day at a time
Purple and orange? Ruffles? I can pull that off.
Congrats @Phyrebrat
Excellent tale. Tugged at the old heart strings that one.
My thanks to
@Capricorn42 @Wayne Mack @Ursa major for the votes. I believe @Capricorn42 only cast a single vote (accidentally no doubt,) making that one all the more special.
Also many thanks to anyone who gave me a mention.
And of course no challenge would be complete without the superb reviews from @Victoria Silverwolf and @Parson thanks guys!
Some excellent work on show everyone, keep it coming.
Excellent tale. Tugged at the old heart strings that one.
My thanks to
@Capricorn42 @Wayne Mack @Ursa major for the votes. I believe @Capricorn42 only cast a single vote (accidentally no doubt,) making that one all the more special.
Also many thanks to anyone who gave me a mention.
And of course no challenge would be complete without the superb reviews from @Victoria Silverwolf and @Parson thanks guys!
Some excellent work on show everyone, keep it coming.
Elckerlyc
"Philosophy will clip an angel's wings."
“Thy name was writ in water—it shall stand,” (Oscar Wilde)
Ever since I first read about John Keats’ epitaph – which was in Dan Simmons’ Fall of Hyperion – I have been intrigued by this powerful lament and the emotional condition that evoked it.
Whether it was bitterness, as the accompanying text on the headstone asserts, or something else, it clearly expresses the poets’ expectation to be completely forgotten before he would be buried, having achieved nothing worth remembering, nor been allowed the time to – eventually – achieve recognition and a name to chisel in granite.
Well, he was wrong. Even without the help of granite his name stands indelible in the annals of British poetry.
One of Keats’ poems is called (after its first line) “Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art,” and this line was foremost in my mind when I wrote the story. Bright Star is also the title of a film (2009) that focuses on the final three years of his life and his relationship with his fiancée Fanny Brawne.
Originally I intended to use this line as the title of my story. But, an hour before I was to post my entry for the challenge, I came across an article in the NYT that addressed the question whether it was bitterness or something else that drove Keats to insist on his epitaph. The author thought it was not and quoted, among other things, a poem by Oscar Wilde that said exactly what I was trying to do with my story. That had to be the title! And, in my enthusiasm and eagerness, I hastily copied this one line and deprived Oscar from his characteristic ‘e.’ Mea culpa.
Anyway, to honour Keats I created a world, Bright Star - with a grateful wink at Dan Simmons - where his name would be carved, steadfast!, in water, because the power of his poetry even had touched an unlikely alien. Well, I needed someone who actually could write in water.
I’m unsure whether I succeeded in my intention and made any of this clear. Whatever, it was fun to do.
Anyhow, and on an entirely different note, this was the second-to-last of my entries (one still running in the 75-worder). I’m saying goodbye to the challenges.
Ever since I first read about John Keats’ epitaph – which was in Dan Simmons’ Fall of Hyperion – I have been intrigued by this powerful lament and the emotional condition that evoked it.
Whether it was bitterness, as the accompanying text on the headstone asserts, or something else, it clearly expresses the poets’ expectation to be completely forgotten before he would be buried, having achieved nothing worth remembering, nor been allowed the time to – eventually – achieve recognition and a name to chisel in granite.
Well, he was wrong. Even without the help of granite his name stands indelible in the annals of British poetry.
One of Keats’ poems is called (after its first line) “Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art,” and this line was foremost in my mind when I wrote the story. Bright Star is also the title of a film (2009) that focuses on the final three years of his life and his relationship with his fiancée Fanny Brawne.
Originally I intended to use this line as the title of my story. But, an hour before I was to post my entry for the challenge, I came across an article in the NYT that addressed the question whether it was bitterness or something else that drove Keats to insist on his epitaph. The author thought it was not and quoted, among other things, a poem by Oscar Wilde that said exactly what I was trying to do with my story. That had to be the title! And, in my enthusiasm and eagerness, I hastily copied this one line and deprived Oscar from his characteristic ‘e.’ Mea culpa.
Anyway, to honour Keats I created a world, Bright Star - with a grateful wink at Dan Simmons - where his name would be carved, steadfast!, in water, because the power of his poetry even had touched an unlikely alien. Well, I needed someone who actually could write in water.
I’m unsure whether I succeeded in my intention and made any of this clear. Whatever, it was fun to do.
Anyhow, and on an entirely different note, this was the second-to-last of my entries (one still running in the 75-worder). I’m saying goodbye to the challenges.
Danny McG
"Anything can happen in the next half hour!"
Any particular reason?
(Don't reply if it's personal!)
Danny McG
"Anything can happen in the next half hour!"
As a parent and court appointed guardian that's the actual figure and gender mix I had for several years, utter chaos!
Now we only have one late teen from that line up and he's getting ready to leave the coop.
However we're now blessed with two more court appointed little ones - so the madness continues!
It's true what they say, kids keep you young, I know quite a lot of bloke's my age, who empty nested years ago, and now they seem proper old dodderers....shambling along muttering about kids today while I charge past them being a pumpy horse for a giggling two year old on my shoulders
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2020
- Messages
- 465
Congrats @Phyrebrat ! Well done
Capricorn42
Well-Known Member
You wrote a lovely story, Elckerlyc, and I got the quote and reference, which made me feel intelligent!
That's a shame, as I always enjoy your entries. Can't we persuade you to stay? If it's because of time pressures, perhaps only take part every now and then?
Anyway, I do hope that even if we can't keep you writing in the Challenges you won't be forsaking us entirely and we'll see you around elsewhere on Chrons.
That's a shame, as I always enjoy your entries. Can't we persuade you to stay? If it's because of time pressures, perhaps only take part every now and then?Anyway, I do hope that even if we can't keep you writing in the Challenges you won't be forsaking us entirely and we'll see you around elsewhere on Chrons.
Elckerlyc
"Philosophy will clip an angel's wings."
Ì am tempted to say "Mission accomplished!" except you're too intelligent to not see the ruse in that.
Thank you for your kind words! It is not because of time pressure (even though I tend to keep tinkering endlessly...) If anything, I'm taking these challenges too serious.
Fear not! I will stay around and, who knows, in time reconsider.
So am I.
They are the most demoralising thing I have done in my life. ( apart from attempting to plaster a wall
)Apropos which I will lob this months one vote entry up on the improving our 300 worders and see if I can get a clue or two what it is you don't like.
Luiglin
Getting worse one day at a time
It is easy to feel this way and I've felt like it in the past. Early on I dropped out on doing the challenges for over a year. I got disheartened when what I thought were good entries got no votes or mentions.So am I.
They are the most demoralising thing I have done in my life. ( apart from attempting to plaster a wall
Apropos which I will lob this months one vote entry up on the improving our 300 worders and see if I can get a clue or two what it is you don't like.
However, you need to get into a mindset that you will never please everyone. It could be the best bit of hard scifi ever written but if the reader doesn't like hard scifi then they will never enjoy it. Once you realise that, then you will see that the challenges offer you a chance to stretch yourself, test and hone your ability.
I generally write fantasy comedy. Now, I'm doubly in trouble with this. Not everyone likes comedy and for those that do, they may not enjoy my peculiar style or even get the jokes.
That doesn't stop me.
More importantly though, the amount of ideas that I've generated through challenges have gone on to inspire greater works cannot be ignored. My Dark Lord and Minion began in a 75. That universe has since grown into three 50k plus works and other ideas in the pipeline.
To sum up, don't give up, get bloody minded
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Just to echo to what Luiglin has said: don't give up.
I do dreadfully in the 75s but I used these challenges when I joined Chrons as a way if improving my writing, not to try and win (I'm a horror writer, would not know where to start with fantasy, and have only ever written two SF stories). After a few years, I realised I had learnt what I needed from the 75 and stopped doing them, not because I wasn't winning but because I wasn't fond of the theme or genre choices - now and then I do them when one or both appeal to me. And sometimes I want to enter but don't have an idea.
As a horror/weird fic writer, I've learnt about other genre fiction from all the folks here, mostly from the challenge entries, whether that be genre definitions, styles, preferences and so on.
I joined a while ago and hadn't written a word in my life. The reason for my win this month is because of the talent and advice in Chrons, not despite it.
We all have our internal judges who like to wag their finger at us and tell us we should do better - but you have to realise there are things you can't control. Other people's tastes being the most important: I should be horrendously unpopular here (I might be, but I mean my style of writing) but I have done well now and then and I have to admit, a win or even a close poll, does wonders for your motivation.
I look at it this way: If I manage to get one vote in the 75 I am happy, if I get three in the 300 I am happy. Anything on top of that is gravy. The Judge posts a table once a year on the voting numbers for each member and it's incredibly helpful and offers - if you want it - a real measurement of success.
Furthermore, the flash fiction I like that I have produced goes up on my website, so there is content creation there, too. Any prospective agent or business contact might see them and get a sense of my style and whether I'd be worthwhile.
If it makes any difference, you were both on my shortlist! Often the decision to vote one way or another on a shortlist is down to anything as trivial as a typo or as unchangeable as my own style preference.
Keep on keepin on.
pH
I do dreadfully in the 75s but I used these challenges when I joined Chrons as a way if improving my writing, not to try and win (I'm a horror writer, would not know where to start with fantasy, and have only ever written two SF stories). After a few years, I realised I had learnt what I needed from the 75 and stopped doing them, not because I wasn't winning but because I wasn't fond of the theme or genre choices - now and then I do them when one or both appeal to me. And sometimes I want to enter but don't have an idea.
As a horror/weird fic writer, I've learnt about other genre fiction from all the folks here, mostly from the challenge entries, whether that be genre definitions, styles, preferences and so on.
I joined a while ago and hadn't written a word in my life. The reason for my win this month is because of the talent and advice in Chrons, not despite it.
We all have our internal judges who like to wag their finger at us and tell us we should do better - but you have to realise there are things you can't control. Other people's tastes being the most important: I should be horrendously unpopular here (I might be, but I mean my style of writing) but I have done well now and then and I have to admit, a win or even a close poll, does wonders for your motivation.
I look at it this way: If I manage to get one vote in the 75 I am happy, if I get three in the 300 I am happy. Anything on top of that is gravy. The Judge posts a table once a year on the voting numbers for each member and it's incredibly helpful and offers - if you want it - a real measurement of success.
Furthermore, the flash fiction I like that I have produced goes up on my website, so there is content creation there, too. Any prospective agent or business contact might see them and get a sense of my style and whether I'd be worthwhile.
If it makes any difference, you were both on my shortlist! Often the decision to vote one way or another on a shortlist is down to anything as trivial as a typo or as unchangeable as my own style preference.
Keep on keepin on.
pH
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