DISCUSSION -- December 2014 75 Word Writing Challenge

[Ursa major]

The tie-breaker poll is now closed and we have a winner.

Congratulations, Victoria Silverwolf!​

​

 

[mosaix]

Congratulations, Victoria!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Congrats! Whooooooo.

 

[Juliana]

Congratulations Victoria! Well done, both of you.

 

[willwallace]

Congratulations, Victoria. Both stories were excellent.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I am greatly honored.

I have participated in the various writing challenges here for exactly two years, and I am greatly impressed with the quality of work shown by the members of this forum. To be listed among the exalted ranks of those who have had their writings singled out is truly one of the finest awards I can imagine.

As always, many thanks to those who thought my entry worthy of mention.

At least equally worthy of this honor is The Judge. I consider the small difference in the number of votes we received to be a matter of Fortune happening to smile in one direction, when she might have equally cast her blessing in the other.

(For whatever it might be worth, some discussion of the thoughts behind my effort may be of interest. Given the theme of noir/hardboiled, it seemed to me that one might either emulate the metaphor-heavy style of Raymond Chandler, or the nearly metaphor-free style of Dashiell Hammett. After some toying with the first, I decided to attempt the latter. Since I am overly fond of metaphors myself, this made it more of a valuable writing exercise than it might have been otherwise. The punchline of the story did not occur to me until I was well into creating the setup. I would certainly be very interested in hearing what went into the creative process of others.)

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Congratulations, Victoria!

Your story is a very worthy addition to the Roll of Honour!

With mine, the second line came into my mind, I don't know from where. I knew there would be sufficient gloom and doom in the other stories, because there always are, so I wanted to write something a little more upbeat for Christmas, but I had no idea where the story would go until it went there.

I actually wrote two stories, but was not satisfied with the first one, so wrote the second and posted it instead.

 

[Bob Senior]

Howdy,
To answer Victoria's question; I had a story line in mind right from the start, after reading what was already posted I tamed mine down.
It just didn't look right for this forum. We have been gone for some months and it was good to get back. After reading some of the entries the boy asked " CAN YOU USE WORDS LIKE THAT?". I told him it was not allowed when last we visited but the rules may have changed. To my surprise Paw said, "it's about time", but I told him to keep his shirt on till I check into it. So what gives?

CONGRATS TO VICTORIA

Bob S.

 

[Droflet]

Well done, Victoria. And bad luck your honor. Wow, what a month.

 

[Starbeast]

Congratulations Victoria Silverwolf​

And two thumbs for everyone who posted an entry this month. Well done everybody!


Well, as for my story, I didn't feel like making a violent tale, but an epilogue. This is what I dreamed up in my mind when I thought about this month's challenge:

Daredevil, the blind, red leather clad, detective/vigilante had just finished wiping out a crime boss, along with many thugs. He sustained a great deal of trauma to his body, he's exhausted, freezing from the cold and just wants to go home. But, he sees a kid praying in a window of an apartment building in a poor section of town..... You all know the rest.

 

[BigJ]

I would certainly be very interested in hearing what went into the creative process of others.

I read all the Calvin & Hobbes strips that feature Tracer Bullet, Private Eye, and then kept writing until I had something that wasn't completely awful.

 

[Parson]

Congratulations Victoria! well done indeed.

As for my own story I wanted to do something about a detective trying to discover the truth about Santa. When the first couple of lines rhymed I went with it, created a rather unusual (I think) ABB rhyming scheme.

(I would never have guessed that I would write a story that might hint of his actually existing. No one in our family has every perpetuated the myth. And I often feel that it is a severe disservice to children to intentionally lead them on this regard. I hate that "good" equals "rewarded" and that rich kids were always obviously "better" than "poor" kids. Also After this disappointment children might question other more important things their parents desire them to take on faith.)

 

[BigJ]

Oh, right.

Congratulations, Victoria!

 

[farntfar]

Congratulations Victoria, and commiserations TJ. Both stories were terrific.

In case you missed it, my entry was just a joke on the christmas carol Good King Wenceslas (when Sellers last..), and went on from there.
As a boy I always used to think it went Good King Wenceless last looked out on the feast of Stephen.

 

[Talysia]

Congratulations, Victoria!

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Congratulations Victoria! Condolences to TJ! And congrats to us all for sustaining such a fun, inspiring challenge from month to month. Looking forward to your choices for the next challenge, Victoria! And looking forward as well to the camaraderie of the challenges throughout the coming year, CC

 

[alchemist]

Congratulations to Victoria, and commiserations to The Judge. Well fought, ladies!

 

[The Judge]

Congratulations, Victoria! A worthy winner and an emphatic win!

In fact, that win -- Victoria's first -- was long overdue for such a great writer. Up to and including last month she had come second 5 times in the 75 worders, but she'd accumulated those in a mere 24 Challenges! That is an incredible feat -- only Teresa and I beat her for numbers of second places, but Teresa has got her 6 (and 2 wins) in 39 challenges, and it's taken me a whopping 56. So Extra Congrats are due to Victoria for her sheer consistent brilliance!!


Missy has again asked me to thank everyone who voted for her story in the tie-break. She has made a careful note of everyone's name and she bestows a special La Renne kiss on you all *SMOOCH* There. That's set you up nicely for the New Year! (I regret to say she has also made a careful note of those who voted for Victoria. You might need to be careful opening any unexpected presents for a few weeks... )

Regarding my... um... Missy's story, I had the first line at once, and the idea of Rudolph narrating popped into my mind. Since I don't very often go with lighthearted stories I decided to run with it, which naturally led to a beautiful female reindeer being the star of the piece. Then, as related earlier in the thread, Teresa actually went and used my opening line! Cue panic, a hasty re-writing and a decision to post immediately before someone got the Rudolph idea as well. And in a further twist, I'd thought of a punning punchline for a completely separate tale, but Missy's story was better, so I decided to hold onto that line for next year -- and lo and behold, Perp than pops up and steals that last line from me, too! *must get my brainwave transference engine sorted out*

 

[The Judge]

Sorry to double post, but I thought this deserved a separate answer so it didn't get lost in the above:

To answer Victoria's question; I had a story line in mind right from the start, after reading what was already posted I tamed mine down. It just didn't look right for this forum. We have been gone for some months and it was good to get back. After reading some of the entries the boy asked " CAN YOU USE WORDS LIKE THAT?". I told him it was not allowed when last we visited but the rules may have changed. To my surprise Paw said, "it's about time", but I told him to keep his shirt on till I check into it. So what gives?

As many of you know, we had some discussion of the use of swear words in the Challenges in view of Chrons' family friendly policy, and in fact there was a separate thread recently about this. I'm probably the last one to talk, because I've used expletives -- or rather ****s in place of an expletive -- in a 300 worder. But I thought carefully about it, and used it for dramatic effect because of the speaker's then predicament, not for its shock value.

Back in the Staff Room we have become a little concerned at the content of some stories in recent months, not merely in terms of expletives but in tone and graphic unpleasantness. We don't want to censor stories, and we've tried to moderate with a light hand, but it does feel that the boundaries of "family friendly" are continually being pushed back -- I think springs said she was unhappy at allowing her children to see some pieces that had appeared, and who knows who else might have been upset.

We don't want bland, boring stories, but on the other hand we also don't want a continuation of what appears to be a descent into tales that are shocking just for the sake of it. So this is a plea for everyone to remember this is a family-friendly forum and think whether the story actually fits here, and if in Bob's words it doesn't look right for the forum, do as he did and tame it down.

 

[Abernovo]

Congratulations, Victoria! Commiserations to The Judge. Both very, very good pieces.