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

[THX1138]

Yes, and I forgot to congratulate the co-winner @Luiglin as well! Sorry mate!

 

[RTGR]

Congratulations @Daysman I'm slowly coming back. I missed almost a month of the amazing texts here on the forum. I'll try to catch up this week!

 

[Guttersnipe]

Congratulations, @Daysman, and thanks for the shortlisting!

 

[mosaix]

Congratulations, @Daysman. Commiserations @Luiglin.

 

[Provincial]

Congratulations to @Daysman for winning, and to @Luiglin for having written an excellent story.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Congratulations, Daysman for pulling it out in the tiebreaker! Well done, Luiglin, for co-winning the regular vote, and reaching the tiebreaker.
Looking forward to October's Challenges, CC

 

[The Judge]

Congratulations to both, but with added congrats to Daysman and commiserations to Luiglin.


For my piece this month, I started off with the whirling dervish dancing for "wild" then had to stop and try and work out what the story was going to be, which involved walking up and down muttering "Where the wild things are" to myself -- I've never read the Maurice Sendak children's book, but I knew vaguely what it was about and it seemed fitting as a title, but I was ambivalent about using it. Then during my perambulations I left out the "are" so it was just "Where the wild things" and in my head it became the punning "Wear..." which gave me the story.

As for the last word, I knew I could rely on Parson to get its meaning, but in case it was incomprehensible to others, "raiment" means "clothing" but with -- to my mind at least -- a stately or sacramental aspect, such as a high priest's costume or a monarch's robes.

 

[Parson]

Congratulations @Daysman on a win, and @Luiglin for the tie.

----

For my own story I was spinning my wheels on "wild." It has so many meanings and nuances that run the range from something wholly preposterous to something utterly wonderful. And that's not mentioning the fact that both those extremes sometimes meet in the same understanding of the word (i.e. a wild ride). I finally hit on the idea that if I, a native speaker of reasonable intelligence, could be flummoxed by the word out of context, how would someone who didn't understand the nuance and the allusions of the word come to understand it. From that my main character Px376 was created. Spin in a little "poor me" and "why me?" attitude. Throw in a big dash of elitism and you have my story. I liked it a lot and I'm glad that at least some of you enjoyed it.

 

[Luiglin]

Congrats @Daysman, worthy winner

Thanks to the original 6, chrispenycate, David Evil Overlord, BigJ, M. Robert Gibson, Daysman and Provincial plus mentions.
Followed by thanks to tie-break 12 nixie, chrispenycate, paranoid marvin, Ursa major, BigJ, M. Robert Gibson, Daysman, Ian Fortytwo, Bren G, Provincial, AnRoinnUltra and Yozh.

Remember, folks, in the words of Clatter and Lopsided... "We's ain't as stoopid as we's rekon."

 

[Astro Pen]

Congrats @Daysman
And commiserations to @Luiglin who, let's not forget, was equal winner. I have lost two tie breakers so know the feeling mate.

 

[Culhwch]

Congrats to both extra-time finalists, and well done to @Daysman for taking the W on penalties!

I wrote my story early this month, but didn't particularly like it at the time. When no further inspiration came, I thought I might as well post it - so I was pleased to see it garnered some attention! Huge thanks to @Victoria Silverwolf, @Hugh, and @AnRoinnUltra for the votes, and thanks as well to @Yozh, @Stable, @nixie, @johnnyjet, and @The Judge for the listings!

 

[Stable]

I based my story on my pajamas.

To expand on that, I recently bought some PJs with an image of a gas planet with a huge fin poking out of it (and the legend "Give me space"). I spotted it in the reflection while wandering about repeating "wild" under my breath. Btw @The Judge thank you for making me feel less weird for doing that with your own tale of the tale.

The story was originally about 400 words, so I struggled not to lose the point in all the trimming, but beyond the obvious parable I was thinking about the darkly optimistic take that no matter how badly we treat the planet it won't be the end of life on it, even if it has to start from hydrothermal bacteria.

 

[Culhwch]

I based my story on my pajamas.

To expand on that, I recently bought some PJs with an image of a gas planet with a huge fin poking out of it (and the legend "Give me space"). I spotted it in the reflection while wandering about repeating "wild" under my breath. Btw @The Judge thank you for making me feel less weird for doing that with your own tale of the tale.

The story was originally about 400 words, so I struggled not to lose the point in all the trimming, but beyond the obvious parable I was thinking about the darkly optimistic take that no matter how badly we treat the planet it won't be the end of life on it, even if it has to start from hydrothermal bacteria.

I absolutely loved the concept! Good job trimming it down, too - I think the final product worked really well.

 

[Stable]

Thanks Culhwch, you've made my day. I'm surprised you said you didn't like yours, I thought it was beautiful with a classic fairy tale style.

 

[Provincial]

When does the new challenge begin?

 

[Starbeast]

Congratulations Daysman
@Daysman

Congratulations Co-Winner Luiglin
@Luiglin

​

Thanks to everyone for commenting on my story and to those who listed me.

My Story: A strange thought came to me, "What if the monstrous thundering behemoth Cthulhu attacked here!"

 

[The Judge]

When does the new challenge begin?

When Daysman posts it!

That's the trouble with a tie-break happening in a 30-day month -- not enough time for the formalities to be dealt with before the next month starts! (And it's even worse in February!)

But I've confirmed that the suggested theme and genre have been approved by the mods, so it's just a question of Daysman finding time to do the necessary.

 

[The Judge]

When does the new challenge begin?

And it's now up!

October 2024 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge

RULES Write a story inspired by the chosen theme and genre in no more than 75 words, not including the title ONE entry per person NO links, commentary or extraneous material in the posts, please - the stories must stand on their own WHEN WRITING YOUR STORY, PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS A...

www.sffchronicles.com

 

[paranoid marvin]

I was about to say congratulations Daysman. But then I noticed this month's genre...

Only kidding, something different is always good.