DISCUSSION THREAD -- February 2024 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge

[Ian Fortytwo]

My vote went to @Teresa Edgerton .

Then a very longlist.

 

[nixie]

Was very hard to choose this month. Eventually went for @Teresa Edgerton.

 

[johnnyjet]

It took me a while, but I finally reduced my Very Long List to a Long List, Short List, and *** Favorite ***:

*** The Eye of the Beholder - paranoid marvin ***
Another Tale of Scheherazade - Victoria Silverwolf
To be or not to be? - DaCrazyKat29 ***
Dragonflirt – chrispenycate
The Longing of a Stonefruit Faerie - Cat's Cradle
Destiny’s Love – Starbeast
Patience is a Virtue – mosaix
Selective Editing, or: Potions Are For Amateurs – Stable
Happily Ever . . . Well, Eventually - Teresa Edgerton
Under the Clock in Grand Central - Peter V
Love Can Be Bad for Your Elf - Christine Wheelwright
A Charming Tale - M. Robert Gibson

 

[Bowler1]

There's definately something wrong with this months poll as I don't seem to be winning.

Anyway mentions - Paranoid Marvin, Stable, The Judge and Ursa Major.

Vote for Phyrebrat who will have to explain the entry just to make sure I have understood it correctly, which I hope I have. Regardless, I loved the lines and feeling acheived so it gets my vote.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm currently 3rd.

 

[Luiglin]

I'm not one for romance novels. Indeed, when they called stuff like the Twilight series "Dark Fantasy", I had to be dragged kicking and spluttering from Waterstones.

I went with @paranoid marvin just because he made me chuckle rather than attempt to shatter this stone heart of mine.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

Honorable mentions
The Eye of the Beholder - @paranoid marvin
Another Tale of Scheherazade - @Victoria Silverwolf
The Longing of a Stonefruit Faerie - @Cat's Cradle
Patience is a Virtue. - @mosaix
Selective Editing, or: Potions Are For Amateurs - @Stable

Very close runner-up
Destiny Over the Telephone - @emrosenagel

Vote
Love ‘Em And Outlive ‘Em, That's What I Always Say - @Culhwch

 

[Bowler1]

I'm currently 3rd.

So am I....

 

[Ursa major]

I'm currently 3rd.

I'm managing not to hold fourth on that matter....

 

[Parson]

Okay I'm about to traipse through the minefield of Romanatasy. (I'm not sure I have a good idea of what this looks like.)

Shortlisted:
@Provincial .... It was in the cards ,,,, because it is a really good example of what I would imagine a Romantasy to be.
@johnnyjet ....War Angels .... because it haunts my thinking.
@Stable .... Selective Editing, or: Potions Are For Amateurs .... Because it's just too clever.
@emrosenagel .... Destiny Over the Telephone .... Because it's a classic foul up of a reversal where everything is different but somehow good.
@The Judge .... Destiny Rides Again .... Because this is just a great poem perfectly suited to the theme and the genre.

----------

Voted for: Destiny Rides Again This one was never in doubt for me. Her Honor had me from the first time I read about love between a unicorn and a centaur.

 

[Stable]

I voted for @Peter V. Good work on the twist.

Other favourites this time: @Guttersnipe, @THX1138, @Victoria Silverwolf, @mosaix, and @Ursa major.

Lots of great entries for such a tricky genre! Thanks everyone for the enjoyable reads.

 

[Hugh]

I have a clear stand out winner : @AnRoinnUltra for a story of pernicious creativity and ghastly subtlety

And an equally clear runner up: @The Judge for her well-crafted circus romance

Others that caught my eye in no significant order of astigmatism:
@mosaix
@Stable
@Bowler1
@Provincial
@DaCrazyKat29
@Ursa major
@emrosenagel
@Victoria Silverwolf

 

[The Judge]

So, plenty of fantasy and romance (of kinds...) this month, though perhaps the theme of destiny wasn't so obvious in some of the stories. Anyhow, my heavily truncated shortlist, which was destined to be a lot bigger until I took the fateful scissors to it:

Cat's Cradle -- The Longing of a Stonefruit Faerie​

Culhwch -- Love ‘Em And Outlive ‘Em, That's What I Always Say​

DaCrazyKat29 -- To be or not to be?​

johnnyjet -- War Angels​

paranoid marvin -- The Eye of the Beholder​

Stable -- Selective Editing, or: Potions Are For Amateurs​

Teresa Edgerton -- Happily Ever...Well, Eventually​

Victoria Silverwolf -- Another Tale of Scheherazade​

Though the other tales made it a close-run thing, Victoria's tale of star-cross'd lovers having the stars forcibly uncross'd was fated to get my vote.

Many Fated, Bated-Breath Thanks for the lovely mentions/shortlistings chrispenycate, Teresa, paranoid m, Bowler and Hugh, and Myriad Captivated Courtship Thanks for the glorious vote, Parson!

Eek! I've got more stealth votes than listed ones! I can't help wondering if some people felt shy of been seen to vote for my Cross-Species Misalliance... Nonetheless, Passionate Centaur and Unicorn Thanks for the ninja voting elvet, BigJ, sule and ARU!

Verrr haff all zeh blumen gone?

You've got that look, that the boys in the back room will have...

 

[The Judge]

Apologies for double posting, but I've now seen that we've only had 26 members come and vote, with only a few hours left for voting, despite the fact we had 35 entries.

I know at least 2 members have voted without taking part in the Challenge -- and as ever, they are due our thanks -- but that means 11 or more members who took part haven't voted yet. Some may be leaving it to the last minute as I always do, and some will no doubt be otherwise engaged, eg climbing mountains, and some have no doubt forgotten what day it is. But I sincerely hope no one is deliberately not voting despite having entered the Challenge.

Anyway, this is another reminder, in the hope some alerts get through.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

I've just made it! My vote is cast. Fun genre/theme choices, Christine!

Shortlist:
paranoid marvin, Starbeast, Phyrebrat (so beautifully written), mosaix, Stable, Teresa Edgerton, Peter V

Finalists:
I was torn between Victoria Silverwolf, Christine Wheelwright and The Judge, and voted for TJ's so-clever entry - beautifully done, The Judge!

Big thanks to johnnyjet, M. Robert Gibson and TJ for the listings! CC

 

[Elckerlyc]

Sometimes the voting is causing more headaches than the writing. This can happen even when the genre is as maddening as is the case this month.
Mentions / Shortlisted and Vote:

@paranoid marvin - The Eye of the Beholder
@mosaix - Patience is a Virtue
@emrosenagel - Destiny Over the Telephone
@Luiglin - Thither and hither again
@The Judge - Destiny Rides Again
@Victoria Silverwolf - Another Tale of Scheherazade

 

[Starbeast]

After a couple of cups of coffee, I finally got my short list together.

@paranoid marvin
@Culhwch
@chrispenycate
@Phyrebrat
@Elckerlyc
@Stable
@Yozh
@BigJ
@The Judge



A huge THANK YOU @paranoid marvin & @THX1138 for the votes.
Plus a ginormous SMILE to all who mentioned me.​

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Thank you to Ian Fortytwo and Nixie for the votes, and johnnyjet, The Judge, and Cat's Cradle for the mentions.

 

[Ursa major]

​

The poll is closed and we have a winner:

Congratulations, The Judge!​

​

 

[Culhwch]

Congrats, @The Judge!

A lot of interesting interpretations on theme and genre this month! My vote went to @johnnyjet for what I thought was a lovely little tale, a romantic and tragic take on an old legend.

On my shortlist were @ZroSkeerdwith an enemies to lovers tale with a twist, @Stable with a great concept and execution, and @Teresa Edgerton with a story that rang with truth.

Many many thanks for the unexpected votes, @Ursa major and @M. Robert Gibson! And thanks as well to those who listed and mentioned my story - @Starbeast, @The Judge, and @Teresa Edgerton (apologies if I missed any!). And of course thanks as well to our tireless reviewers, @Parson and @Victoria Silverwolf!

The first idea I had this month was, for some reason, to rewrite Avril Lavigne's Skater Boy:

He was a boy,
She was an elf,
Can I make it any more obvious?

He was a bard,
She was all fae,
What more can I say?

That's as far as I got, perhaps thankfully. So I wrote what I posted instead. I don't like writing in first person generally, but I usually find it fun to do here in the challenges!