DISCUSSION -- October 2014 300-word Writing Challenge (#15)

[Talysia]

Many thanks for the vote, Robert!

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Thanks for the vote, Ursa.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Thank you, TJ, for the vote! And Ursa for the honourable mention.

____

For those who haven't voted yet, the deadline is fast approaching. There is little more than time enough to read all the stories, agonize (as many of us have been doing) over which to choose, and then vote before the poll is closed.

 

[Juliana]

Thank you very much, Robert and Ursa.

 

[Ursa major]

Thanks for the mention, TJ.

 

[Ursa major]

The poll is now closed.

Congratulations, Juliana!​

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Congratulations, Juliana!

A close race to the end!

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Congratulations, Juliana! Nicely done!

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Congratulations to Juliana on a hard-fought victory. Special mention should also be made of The Judge, whose large number of votes deserves to be celebrated as well.

Many thanks to all who offered mentions or votes to my own contribution.

As before, it might be interesting to discuss the thoughts behind our entries. (Of course, a work of fiction should speak for itself.)

In my own case, as soon as I saw the image I knew I wanted to do something related to Joan of Arc. But what? I fooled around with simply relating the historical events through the eyes of Joan's younger sister, who stayed behind and led an ordinary life. (Joan really did have a younger sister, who was indeed named Catherine. Little is known of her, but she is believed to have died in childbirth. I took great liberty with the historical facts, however. The real Catherine was only a year or so younger than Joan, and I have made her much younger. Because of this, I decided my story would not really be about the historical Joan, but about a Joan-like figure.)

I had an opening sentence, which was lost in revision. "They say my sister is mad." At first, I merely intended to contrast the extraordinary character of Joan with the mundane character of Catherine, but I was not satisfied with this. After much thought, it occured to me to contrast Joan's visions with another kind of vision, instead of reality. This gave me my title, and the story nearly wrote itself at that point. (I tried to be deliberately vague about the Dark Man. Pagan deity or demon? I leave that up to the reader. I also leave it to you to decide if the visions of my pseudo-Joan are real, or if she is deluded.)

 

[Juliana]

Thank you, thank you! I've been walking around with a daft grin on my face since I saw the result.

Well down, TJ, it was very, very close.

 

[Droflet]

Firstly, thank you so much for the mentions, TJ and Ursa. Congrats Juliana and commiserations to TJ. Yet another tight one.

 

[Droflet]

Holy cr*p. Just checked the score and found a stealth vote. Thanks Boneman. Considering what I did with a fairly decent concept I wasn't expecting a thing. Whoaa, Springs, keep your hands in your pocket. Just stating the obvious.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Congratulations, Juliana, well done! Well done to TJ, too! It was a great race there, the last few days.

Ratsy, I wonder if Laura has seen the many wonderful, diverse stories that her terrific painting inspired?

And farntfar! Thank you so much for the mention!

 

[Mr Orange]

many congrats juliana!

thanks a lot for the shortlisting phyrebat, TDZ, TJ

and heaps of thanks for the vote void!

three votes and a bunch of mentions... i'll take that considering i struggled with inspiration this month.

 

[HareBrain]

Congrats Juliana! And nice to see that everyone got at least one vote.

 

[Talysia]

Congratulations, Juliana, and well done to everyone!

Also, many thanks Cul - I just noticed the surprise vote.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

And nice to see that everyone got at least one vote.

Possibly the first time this has happened. And no wonder putting together even a long list was difficult, with so many fine stories! It was hard to eliminate anything.

 

[holland]

Congrats, Juliana!

And also, congrats to everyone else for the amazing contest this month, well done!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Whoooo, hoo! Well done Juliana!

 

[Perpetual Man]

A big round of applause to Juliana for a well deserved win, although it was among some excellent competition, and everyone should be insanely proud of their efforts.

Thank you to everyone who voted for mine, it is greatly appreciated as are the mentions and shortlistings. It was a good lift.

Sorry I did not thank you all individually, anyone who has read my blog (or is a friend on Facebook) will know why I'm not around as much at the moment, but I do look in and enjoy what is being said and the challenges and am determined not to miss one.