DISCUSSION -- April 2016 300-word Writing Challenge (#21)

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Many congratulations to Juliana on a truly stunning victory, far ahead of the pack since the very start.

I like the new story, Phyrebrat. It describes an extraordinary event in realistic, convincing terms. The ending is subtle and evocative.

 

[Juliana]

Thank you all, and also to those I haven't thanked yet for the votes: Hazel, Crystal, Ratsy, LittleStar and Ashleyne.

Nice second story, Phyre!

 

[ratsy]

Congrats Juliana! A well deserved victory, and an astounding number of votes! Woohoo.

Thank you Nixie and Droflet for the votes, and everyone who short/long listed me or mentioned my story!

A good month over-all I think

 

[Vaz]

Massive Congratulations Juliana! Epic win

 

[Rafellin]

Congrats, Juliana!

 

[Moonbat]

Bravo Juliana, a great win.

 

[Dan Jones]

Congratulations Juliana - that really is a stonking win, and a fully deserved one - can't recall a story striking such a chord with so many folks on here - I might be wrong but I think it got mentioned or voted for in almost all the shortlists. In fact 48% of people who voted, voted for you - an incredible achievement. Really well done indeed.

As for my entry, in truth I'm a bit staggered I finished where I did in the bronze medal position - I was convinced my odd little story would be far too acquired a taste to get many votes, so I was bowled over by the votes from Victoria, Perp, Robert Mackay, Ihe, Wruter, Ashleyne, the great VB, and our esteemed winner herself, Juliana. I feel like a million gallons!

 

[Zoe Mackay]

Congratulations, Juliana! And many thanks to

• The Judge
• Rafellin
• Ashleyne. B. Watts
• Cascade
• J D Foster

for the lovely votes - Five was more than I was expecting, and I'm grateful.

 

[Juliana]

Thank you all, you're all lovely.

I was convinced my odd little story would be far too acquired a taste to get many votes

It was a great story, DG!

 

[The Judge]

Congratulations, Juliana!! I had you pegged as the winner as soon as I read your story -- I'm glad you proved me right.

Juliana's magnificent 21 votes has propelled her up the table of the most-votes-in-a-single-Challenge to join Hex in second place. I'm a bit swamped now after being away for a week, but if I get time and Bob the accountant doesn't beat me to it, I might do some further stats on the issue in the next day or two.


More tasty seede cake thanks for the short-listings/mentions Shyrka, Starbeast, Phyrebrat, Cat's Cradle and Ursa, and mega skorched-fether eksettera thanks for the lovely votes farntfar, crystal, LittleStar and Robert, which were lovely to find when I logged in today.


And for those who had a go at my Find The Birde contest, here are the answers:

• Obvious (though mostly mis-spelt): hummingbird, osprey, owl, shearwater, eagle
• En clair (though again mis-spelt), but perhaps less well known birds: merlin, martin, erne (an old name for the sea eagle), booby, swift, dowitcher (yes, really), ruff, petrel, daw (an old name for the jackdaw)
• Hidden
  • by language – aigle = French for eagle
    
  • inside other words – ternned = tern; aukkward = auk
    
  • as homophones – skuwer = skua; J = jay

 

[Juliana]

Juliana's magnificent 21 votes has propelled her up the table of the most-votes-in-a-single-Challenge to join Hex in second place.

Flattering!

As for your Find the Birde, I had a lot of fun looking for them when you posted your entry, TJ. I'm pleased to see I got quite a few of them. I missed erne, skua, jay (I just thought the J Daw was jackdaw - genius having two birds in one!), dowitcher, ruff and the 'inside words' ones, tern and auk.

 

[StilLearning]

Well done Juliana, that' an amazing score! Thank you to Ihe and Cathbad for the votes, and to everyone who gave me a mention or listing. My own short list was:

Ellie Hood and the dig -- J D Foster
Fractured -- Glen
The Bone Forest -- Venusian Broon
Museum at the End of a Universe -- TitaniumTi
The Zoo (for Animals that probably shouldn't be in a Zoo) -- Moonbat
Atchoktol -- willwallace
Parchment Out of Time -- johnnyjet
Fantastic Taxonomy and How to Conceal It -- Rafellin
Dare to Write? -- Perpetual Man

Votes in bold. Well done everyone, there wasn't a single story I didn't enjoy reading

 

[J D Foster]

Well done Juliana a very well deserved win! You story was super creepy (in a good way) You smashed it!

Thanks to Jo and Still learning for their votes, very much appreciated!

 

[mosaix]

Thank you Victoria, VB, Juliana, DG, farntfar and Starbeast for the mentions / short lists.

And thanks so much to Phyrebrat and UM for the votes.

 

[Perpetual Man]

I'd like to say a quick thanks to those precious few who mentioned my entry, greatly appreciated, and an either bigger thanks to the fantastic foursome who gave me a vote: TitaniumTi, DG Jones, Cathbad & Duttster.

The story itself was meant to be a writer's horror story. Any one considering the challenge would face their imagination being consumed by an entity that escaped from a metaphysical realm where stories are made flesh.

It was very oblique and I'm pretty sure that not many people actually saw it as that. In her review Victoria saw it as a metaphor for Writer's Block, which worked just as well, if not a little better, because it made it look rather clever and connected with everyone who has ever suffered from said blockage.

I did get a bit carried away with the words over the actual story, and tried to make them as delicious as possible. Obviously this is a subjective thing and there is a strong chance that it resonated more with me than any of the readers!

 

[pambaddeley]

Just seen this - Congrats Juliana.

 

[Luiglin]

Oh and I forgot to add a thanks to @Juliana for the inspiration of the ships name - The Happy Dance. So blame her for the Dark Lord's first and possibly last attempt at piracy.

 

[Juliana]

Oh and I forgot to add a thanks to @Juliana for the inspiration of the ships name - The Happy Dance. So blame her for the Dark Lord's first and possibly last attempt at piracy.

I do like my happy dances....
But I'm not taking the blame for any Dark Lord Pirates!

 

[Culhwch]

Congrats, Juliana!

I'm disappointed that real life intervened, and I wasn't able to contribute this month. I had intended to vote, and then those fifteen days slipped away too, I'm terribly ashamed to say. I'm definitely going to read through the stories, though, to see what wondrous stories my picture inspired!

 

[johnnyjet]

Been away for a while. Combination of work & vacation. But now that I'm back:

CONGRATULATIONS, @Juliana, for the win! Well deserved & one of my favorites.

Thanks for the mentions by Victoria Silverwolf, Wruter, Vaz, Venusian Broon, Starbeast, Phyrebrat & StilLearning. And a special thanks to Rafellin, Luiglin, LittleStar & Cat's Cradle for the awesome votes!