Discussion Thread -- OCTOBER 2020 -- 300 Word Writing Challenge (#39)

[The Judge]

Also, Astro Pen, don't forget that your story isn't being read in isolation, but alongside all the other stories that month/quarter. It's not simply a question of quality but also of style and feel/tone. A lighthearted story amid a group of grimdarks might get votes purely because it's different, whereas the same story among a whole mass of comic tales might be wholly ignored. There's also the issue of people "getting" one's story -- there are always a number of stories that I just don't understand for one reason or another, perhaps because my brain isn't working on the same lines as the author.

Yes, it's depressing when something we've worked on gets no votes -- we've all been there. But there's no shame in that, and no need for a sense of failure or frustration. The Challenges are there to challenge each of us to write a story in less than the word limit -- if you've done that, then you've met the Challenge, which is the important thing. So however many votes you do or don't get, just pick yourself up and try again next time.

~~~

While I'm here, Astro Pen's comment has raised another issue which I was thinking when I came to vote. Stealth votes are great, and we'd all prefer to have a ninja vote than no vote, but mentions/shortlistings are also good for morale -- I've certainly been encouraged when a story has had no or few votes but I have appeared on a number of lists, showing me that I did make some kind of mark.

I know not everyone has the time or inclination to give a list of runners-up, but this quarter there seemed fewer than ever. Do please help out if you can by making a shortlist, even if it's only a couple more than your vote(s). Help spread encouragement around!

 

[Rafellin]

Trying to write for a specific audience is setting yourself up to fail, especially if the audience is small.

I always participate in the 300-word contests because I enjoy the explicit external inspiration. Any story I write has only one caveat: it has to work without needing visual reference to the photo. That way, I always get four more stories for my annual anthologies (tenth volume this year) as well as having fun.

That's the key: have fun.

Not votes, not winning.

Did you write a story you're happy with?

Then you won before you submitted.

Just write. Never stop. Have fun.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

Chapter One
I'd just like to add my view on these here challenges - that's all they are - a challenge.

They're not competitions. They're designed to challenge your skills as a writer, no matter how ridiculous the theme and genre

And if you're happy with your entry, well then, as Rafellin has already said, you've won.

Also, I've used some of these challenges just to try out a character in different situations.


Chapter Two
I would also like to echo The Judge regarding shortlists. Sometimes I think I'll just vote, but then I remember the warm glow I get when someone mentions my effort, so why not reciprocate?

Of course, the months you get no votes or mentions, well then it's

Just my tuppence worth.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I’ll try to make the time to shortlist more. There were several I liked but I did a drive by vote and should have expanded more later,

 

[Marvin]

I know not everyone has the time or inclination to give a list of runners-up, but this quarter there seemed fewer than ever. Do please help out if you can by making a shortlist, even if it's only a couple more than your vote(s). Help spread encouragement around!

I thought the same, maybe there are more posts to come. No rush before the next 300 I guess.
As well as mentions, it’s also helpful when someone explains how they arrived at their vote choices. Highlighting something in a story that personally appealed etc, could help others understand why their offering didn’t garner that vote.

In the spirit of this, here is my round up. Something I do try and get done.

My honourables in no particular order:
@Ashleyne - whole series of these adventures to be created please
@Victoria Silverwolf - beautiful scene
@Elckerlyc - made me do some research to fully appreciate this lovely tale.
@johnnyjet - enjoyed an epic tail told in 300 words

Votes:
@Luiglin - powerful and structured to perfection
@Phyrebrat - poignant and touched me as a father
@Jo Zebedee - great tale, sad but sweet

For those that maintain it’s a challenge not a competition, I agree to a point. Always challenge yourself first, that’s the most important thing. But, of course it’s a competition, else why do we all post and vote? We could just have a look at the pic, or theme and genre in the 75 and then quietly write a story for ourselves, but we don’t.

 

[Parson]

Congratulations @Phyrebrat

Sorry about not voting. I just couldn't get myself to sit down and read the stories again and try to pick nits and find the best stories. Having read the latest posts, I'm feeling guilty. I know how wonderful it is to have your story mentioned or "Hallelujah!" voted for. It's a great thrill even to have completed a story that you are quite happy with --- that should be a win for any of us.

 

[Ursa major]

The apparent absence of my graded results is not because I was all at sea when coming to my decision as to whom to vote for. The... er... long and the short of it is that I was too tired to create the post when the result was to be announced and it had then slipped my mind until now.

Anyway, here are the full results** of the Ursa jury, which lists the stories in posting order within the categories:


Honourable Mentions:

• My Mommy’s a Mermaid by Wayne Mack
• Last Frame by Astro Pen
• ADAM’S REST by Jo Zebedee

Runners Up:

• 10 Degrees by BT Jones
• Long past by Luiglin
• Vigil for a Mother by Phyrebrat

Winners:

• CAP’N PATCHBEARD’S NON-EXISTANT SHIP by Ashleyne
• Post Apocalyptic Wonderland by Marvin
• A Djinn’s Lament by The Judge

​

 

[Marvin]

Do please help out if you can by making a shortlist, even if it's only a couple more than your vote(s). Help spread encouragement around!

One last point if I may. I think the key word here is ‘shortlist’.
I understand it can be difficult to pick only a handful when the quality is so high. But when a list consists of two thirds of the entries, its nice to be on it, but if your not...
Just a thought.

 

[Ursa major]

I'd just like to add my view on these here challenges - that's all they are - a challenge.

Exactly... the "that's all they are" is very important (even if, later, they become something more).

I find that both the 75-worders and the 300-worders give one the chance to experiment if one wants to: the stories are (at least initially) an end in themselves, so nothing depends on them working other than as a challenge entry, which can be quite liberating, and not just in terms of subject matter, form and genre, but also in more basic ways.

For instance, I rarely write in the first person. I write in first person present tense even less frequently (other than in dialogue and direct thoughts). But doing so in the challenges is sometimes the only way to squeeze what might pass as a story within the word count limit... which means that I am at least getting some practice doing this (not to mention practice in being less prolix than I otherwise tend to be...).

 

[Luiglin]

Maybe I need to let the Dark Lord & the Minion put their review helmets on again.

 

[Elckerlyc]

For those that maintain it’s a challenge not a competition, I agree to a point. Always challenge yourself first, that’s the most important thing. But, of course it’s a competition, else why do we all post and vote? We could just have a look at the pic, or theme and genre in the 75 and then quietly write a story for ourselves, but we don’t.

This.
It may be challenges, but the voting cast them in a different light. It is, I think, not doable to judge a story purely on the achievement of writing a comprehensible story with only 75 or 300 words. So, voting tends to be more about how much someone liked a story. Which is something entirely different. Let me, hesitantly, mention an example of this. @Danny McG's haiku got 4 votes. Now, a well written haiku can potentially say more than some prose consisting of 300 badly written words - and bravo if he did just that - but it basically is a challenge of an entirely different order.

It should tell me all the more that I should ignore the voting. It does not tell me at all how well I succeeded formulating 300 words into the story I intended to tell. It only tells me - exaggeratedly! - that the majority does not find it worthwhile of mentioning. Which is demoralizing. Obviously, that shortcoming is mine. Apparently I need the encouraging or the acknowledgement of having written a well crafted story. (If it was well-crafted, of course ) There is, for me, no other way of knowing whether I am doing OK and learning.
Anyway, if it all was just about the challenge, why posting the stories here? Is it not a form of 'seeking´ recognition of your accomplishment of the challenge?

When it comes to shortlisting, I am guilty of another shortcoming! I find it often difficult to find the right words of what I thought of a story. If often comes down to 'liked it / liked it not." And I may be not the only one. But I agree it is important and ought to be done more often/consistently.
I liked the challenges and, I think, I learned a lot. But tastes differ and not everyone will appreciate the style or subject of your story. So, I probably will never be able to tell.
Lastly, I love writing. But it seems unlikely I will ever be in a situation that I actually can do something worthwhile with it. Who will read or appreciate my stories? It is depressing and I have to get away from that.

 

[jd73]

This.
It may be challenges, but the voting cast them in a different light. It is, I think, not doable to judge a story purely on the achievement of writing a comprehensible story with only 75 or 300 words. So, voting tends to be more about how much someone liked a story. Which is something entirely different. Let me, hesitantly, mention an example of this. @Danny McG's haiku got 4 votes. Now, a well written haiku can potentially say more than some prose consisting of 300 badly written words - and bravo if he did just that - but it basically is a challenge of an entirely different order.

It should tell me all the more that I should ignore the voting. It does not tell me at all how well I succeeded formulating 300 words into the story I intended to tell. It only tells me - exaggeratedly! - that the majority does not find it worthwhile of mentioning. Which is demoralizing. Obviously, that shortcoming is mine. Apparently I need the encouraging or the acknowledgement of having written a well crafted story. (If it was well-crafted, of course ) There is, for me, no other way of knowing whether I am doing OK and learning.
Anyway, if it all was just about the challenge, why posting the stories here? Is it not a form of 'seeking´ recognition of your accomplishment of the challenge?

When it comes to shortlisting, I am guilty of another shortcoming! I find it often difficult to find the right words of what I thought of a story. If often comes down to 'liked it / liked it not." And I may be not the only one. But I agree it is important and ought to be done more often/consistently.
I liked the challenges and, I think, I learned a lot. But tastes differ and not everyone will appreciate the style or subject of your story. So, I probably will never be able to tell.
Lastly, I love writing. But it seems unlikely I will ever be in a situation that I actually can do something worthwhile with it. Who will read or appreciate my stories? It is depressing and I have to get away from that.

I think with this there will always be more people that don't vote for something than do; a clear majority is quite a rare thing; I think even the winner only got a small fraction of votes, but it just happened to be larger than anyone else's fraction. I think there are more tastes, more genres preferred by more people than we can possibly write for. So we just got to feel our way into our niche, find our followers, and write to that. As it happened, I thought your entry was good, I think I voted for it, and I certainly shortlisted it. If you were getting ~no votes~ then you may reasonably have some work to do

 

[Danny McG]

Let me, hesitantly, mention an example of this. @Danny McG's haiku got 4 votes. Now, a well written haiku can potentially say more than some prose consisting of 300 badly written words - and bravo if he did just that - but it basically is a challenge of an entirely different order.

The haiku!!!!

Four days of writing and rewriting it for those few syllables, many mutters of "To hell with it, I'll write a 300 Worder instead!"

But as soon as I looked at that image I felt a haiku was called for.

 

[Danny McG]

as soon as I looked at that image I felt a haiku was called for.

This is how my muse controls me, muses are popularly envisaged as Greek demi-goddesses in 'off the shoulder' white robes.

But mine has the looks and domineering personality of Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter

 

[paranoid marvin]

Congratulations Phyrebat!


And thanks for the mentions BT Jones, scarpelius and SB. Even greater thanks to M.Robert Gibson, Perpetual Man and Matchu for the votes.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I think there are a number of reasons that entries do/don't get votes. Could be that someone else has written something similar but which is a bit better. Or that the reader doesn't feel an entry fits the genre/theme, or that it is too dark/light or the style of writing. Could be some prefer a story to a poem (or haiku) or another type of entry to the style you have chosen. Maybe your entry requires a deeper inspection to fully understand it. As an example I immediately 'got' Ursa's HHGTTG references and that was certainly a factor when it came to voting time. Judging by the entries, it certainly isn't down to a lack of effort or creativity on any entrant's part.


As for shortlistings, I must admit that when I usually (in the 75 word challenge) pick 3 favourites and vote for 1. In the 3 vote challenges I have stuck to the same format, but I think that I need to expand that to include a few honourable mentions. Whether I shortlist or vote (or not) , I have full admiration to anyone who spends the time and effort to create a work of 300 words (or inventive enough to try something different like a haiku!)

 

[Ashleyne]

A massive thanks to Ursa major, Starbeast, scarpelius and JadeW for the votes. I made a few very silly typos and was ecstatic just to get mentions, so thank you for anyone who liked my story. @Marvin there’s definitely scope for it to work as a series.

Finally, a massive congratulations to Phyrebrat for a well-earned victory!

 

[jd73]

I actually can't find the October 300 word challenge thread. Was it moved?

EDIT: Never mind, followed the link on page 1 of this thread and there it was, with a brand spanking new title, at which point I became completely and utterly lost

EDIT EDIT: Thank you to @Luiglin and @sule for your votes, and all the other mentions, in my first chrons 300-er

 

[Ursa major]

This is how my muse controls me

That's the thing about inspiration: it can head off at a tangent and demands that we follow... and is all the better for doing so, for otherwise we'd find ourselves always ploughing much the same furrow.

Without that aspect, inspiration would be a rather pathetic thing.

 

[Perpetual Man]

I'd like to throw in an alternative view of the challenges.

As some of you will be aware the last three years have been some of the worst of my >cough, cough< odd years of life. It has been one thing after another, and just when you think something else can't happen it does, and when it can't get much worse there is a global pandemic.

Which leads to the last few weeks which have just ramped up the emotional sh*tstorm even more...

But what has this to do with the challenges.?

I've always found them as a distraction, not something that I hope to win, but as something that I can do and even if I don't partake in the discussion, I read it and feel a part of the community, looking in on old friends, even if I'm not actively involved, I am there.

It is also a sense of normality, just that one little piece of regularity, once a month, a bit rushed maybe, but writing 75 words is a distraction, an escape, just as every 3 month there is the 300 words. Both come with the added boon of the other stories, the escapism that comes with reading what others have put together from the same starting point.

And you know something? They are all wonderful and brilliant and different, filled with diversity and creativity that is a marvel to behold and an honour to be able to read. The only stories that cause me pause are those that I don't understand (which is my problem, not theirs) and even then there is often a bit of word play, or usage a small line of description that takes the breath away. I might not vote for them, and I currently don't do shortlists, but each and every story is a gem; the added sparkle is that they are turned out so magnificently with only 75 words. (or 300).

At the moment, for myself, just taking part is a victory, if I happen to get a mention, brilliant - a vote beyond belief.

A faint spark in the dark is better than no light at all.

Reiteration: All the stories are a win in their own right, to tell or create something in so few words is a challenge that is met and surpassed by everyone who takes part.

Unless they are mine which are nominally crap, so you always know whether mentioned or voted for or not, there is always going to be one worse than your own.

Finally, beyond the votes and shortlistings, there are the comments, currently by Victoria and Parson, that were initially instigated so that every story got a mention, with something positive about each one, something that the dynamic duo do so well.