DISCUSSION THREAD -- October 2020 75 -Word Writing Challenge

[johnnyjet]

My Long List, Short List, and ***Favorite***:

Rabbit in Wonderland – Kerrybuchanan
THE WOODCUTTERS – Ashleyne
Murderer's Moon - Victoria Silverwolf
Spade Baddies - Danny McG
Salvation – Droflet
Running Won't Save You - Cat's Cradle
A New Hope - Bren G
cómo el inglés llegó a hablar español – TheEndIsNigh
My Tree – Hugh
A Family Affair – Elckerlyc
The Parable of Fur – Parson
*** The Oldest Recipe – Phyrebrat ***

 

[Droflet]

Thanks for the short, JJ.

 

[jackwin]

Hi, gotta make this short, the pandemic just got very local.
Shortlist;
Rabbit in Wonderland
Wolf Evolved
Of Futures Past
Alyssa hearts Jack
3 way tie for for my vote;
My Special Place. You gotta play the hand you're dealt.
My Tree. It's roots lay in him
I voted for A New Hope. Very timely and Who knows?
B.T., Thank you very much for the vote. I'm glad you got it or it got you. Good work all.
Oh!!! The Horror!

 

[Parson]

@johnnyjet .... Thanks for the long listing.

 

[Bren G]

Thanks so much @jackwinabox57 for your gracious vote. You made my day!

 

[BT Jones]

Hi, gotta make this short, the pandemic just got very local.
Shortlist;
Rabbit in Wonderland
Wolf Evolved
Of Futures Past
Alyssa hearts Jack
3 way tie for for my vote;
My Special Place. You gotta play the hand you're dealt.
My Tree. It's roots lay in him
I voted for A New Hope. Very timely and Who knows?
B.T., Thank you very much for the vote. I'm glad you got it or it got you. Good work all.
Oh!!! The Horror!

Thanks for the shortlist @jackwinabox57. Your story most definitely got me! Stay safe.

And thanks also to @Elckerlyc for the mention.

 

[-K2-]

Thanks for the kind mention @jackwinabox57 , I'm flattered.

K2

 

[Hugh]

Hi, gotta make this short, the pandemic just got very local.

I hope you and those you know are OK.

 

[Hugh]

Oh My! Two votes! Many many thanks @jd73 and @Victoria Silverwolf . I was so surprised to see the second as I was scrolling down that a great cry of astonishment erupted out of me.
And some more shortlists and mentions too: many many thanks @Cat's Cradle @Starbeast @johnnyjet and @jackwinabox57.
This has turned out to be one of my better months. I always think that, given the competition, being shortlisted is almost as much a buzz as getting a vote.

 

[Provincial]

Vote:
"My Tree" by Hugh. A sad and moving anecdote.

Short list:
"Cómo el inglés llegó a hablar español" by TheEndIsNigh
"The Diva Amanita" by johnnyet
"Autumn" by Provincial

Thank you for the honourable mention, I am thrilled!

 

[Provincial]

43 entries this time, and lots worthy of high praise.

Longlist (and it is long):
@-K2-
@BT Jones
@Daysman
@Cat's Cradle
@Luiglin
@paranoid marvin
@Moonbat
@scarpelius
@jd73
@Phyrebrat
@Ursa major
@Starbeast

Shortlist:
@BT Jones - spooky, scary and original.
@Cat's Cradle - great fun. You really can’t help some people!
@scarpelius - a really different take on the theme, and an original take on Hell.
@jd73 - vivid imagery, and the set up for a great story.
@Starbeast - this one made me laugh out loud, until I worked out what happened to Yogi!

My favourite:
@jd73 - the forest at Trollbridge - it was a great read, and it felt like a breath of fresh air for some reason. The story created a whole world for context which gave it great depth, and if that had been in the blurb on the back of a book I would have wanted to buy it.

Special mentions:
@Matchu - I really liked this, but couldn’t work out exactly what had happened to the youngest son because I was struggling with the dialect, so had to mark it down for that reason even though the failure was mine.
@telpereon - If I read this one right, Odin gets his just deserts from his wife Freya - a great theme, but I wasn’t confident enough of my understanding to mark it higher.
@jackwinabox57 - I loved the atmosphere of legend in this, but I wasn’t clear about what the final line signified so had to mark it down.

There was so much good stuff on offer I had to get really picky; I’m not surprised the voting has spread so widely across the choices!

Thank you everyone!

 

[-K2-]

Thanks for the gracious mention @Provincial ; you place me with some fine works that impressed me as well.

K2

 

[Matchu]

Thanks for my mention. Narrator was from a different country called Matland, and spoke Matlish.

Personally, very disappointed and probably sulking from writing for a month. Posted another ‘story’ on a n other forum - and received 3/20. 3?

So...so...still at work until 8pm. Forum rampage tomorrow.

Congratulations everyone - a real pleasure to be involved, thank you.

 

[Ashleyne]

With the high standard of this month's entries I'm surprised my story received some mentions. Mad thanks to JJewel, BT Jones, Johnnyjet and Starbeast.

My shortlist is:

Victoria Silverwolf – Murderer’s Moon

Danny McG - Spade Baddies

Elckerlyk - A Family Affair

Perpetual Man - Tales of Terror Woods


I voted for Wagtail - My Special Place

 

[scarpelius]

@Provincial Thank you, I envy you for the time you put in, thoroughly reading the stories and writing about them.

I voted for Victoria Silverwolf story. I like the simple style, easy to read, easy to understand, self contained.

 

[jd73]

the forest at Trollbridge ... if that had been in the blurb on the back of a book I would have wanted to buy it.

Thanks! It is very very much appreciated. I'm buzzed to get a mention here, being pretty new to what seems like a great forum. As it is, this piece is based in the same "world" as a novel I'm working on so you may yet get that chance!

 

[wagtail]

Thank you kindly for the vote, @Ashleyne, and thanks to all who gave my story a mention. Such a great bunch of entries this month it's quite the thrill.

 

[Bren G]

Thanks @johnnyjet for the mention!

 

[Provincial]

@-K2- Thank you for the stealth vote! I mean, well, wow! Thank you very much indeed. My first ever vote!!!

*sings* I win, I win I win I win; I win, I win.
I win, I win I win I win: I win - I WIN!!!!!!!

*runs around dining table with T-shirt pulled up over face*

 

[Ursa major]

Even though prompted by the very subject of this month's Challenge (and distracted by the seductive notion of indulging in some woodland horror of their own), the Ursa Jury's has managed to vote before it was too late.

The stories are in posting order within the categories:


Honourable Mentions:

• Murderer's Moon by Victoria Silverwolf
• Everyday Horror by Marvin
• Saw no more by Astro Pen
• The Oldest Recipe by Phyrebrat

Runners Up:

• Of Futures Past by -K2-
• “Running Won't Save You” by Cat's Cradle
• There’s a party in the woods, can you come? by Luiglin

Winner:

• A Technical Problem by paranoid marvin

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