DISCUSSION -- JULY 2018 300-word Writing Challenge (#30)

Ursa major

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The latest 300-worder is up.

As always with the longer form, entries can be posted from the 10th of the month (in this case July), but that doesn't mean no-one can talk about the challenge until then.

And as ever, the image is only there to provide inspiration; your story does not have to reference it, even indirectly.
 
Oh, darn, Ursa! I was just getting ready fo sleep, after making my concession speech to Ashleyne over at the June 75 Worder, when I saw you'd posted the 300 Worder photo...Don't look at It! I thought, Don't look! But it's impossible to not look, and so I have, and of course it's brilliant, and now my mind will be racing all night. Love the photo, and dang! that was some fast thread creating, UM! :)
 
ooh, good picture. look forward to seeing what people come up with.

Having now entered two challenges and not receiving one vote (I'm not bitter!), I'm feeling that I'm woefully under armed against the weaponized minds of the Chrons!
I need to step up my game...somehow.
The single best thing you could do, in my mind, is post one or more stories here Improving our 75 Word Stories -- READ FIRST POST. The feedback I got here has been absolutely exceptional, and has helped me improve tremendously.
 
This is going to be a wild one. What a photo. When I saw it, my eyebrows raised so high, they're floating over my head. The image is already haunting my mind, in a good way.

Thanks Erin Presley-Froemke.
 
Hi @Fivestrings! JJ's right that posting stories in the Improving thread is a great start. And if you'd be interested in doing a little reading, here are links to Hall of Fame threads for winning stories from older 75, and 300 Worders. They might give you some idea of how to more-successfully structure your entries (if that's needed). (For example, a memorable/striking last line is usually a good thing.) Not that there are any shortcuts...there has to always be a good story there, too.
But the Challenges are great writing/editing practice, and that's another way to be successful in them - look to them as a learning experience (and a good way to meet people at the site). Just hang in there, and keep trying - votes will surely follow. ;) CC

75 Winners
The Seventy-Five Word Writing Challenge Roll of Honour

300 Winners
The Three Hundred Word Challenge Roll of Honour
 
Hi @Fivestrings! JJ's right that posting stories in the Improving thread is a great start. And if you'd be interested in doing a little reading, here are links to Hall of Fame threads for winning stories from older 75, and 300 Worders. They might give you some idea of how to more-successfully structure your entries (if that's needed). (For example, a memorable/striking last line is usually a good thing.) Not that there are any shortcuts...there has to always be a good story there, too.
But the Challenges are great writing/editing practice, and that's another way to be successful in them - look to them as a learning experience (and a good way to meet people at the site). Just hang in there, and keep trying - votes will surely follow. ;) CC

75 Winners
The Seventy-Five Word Writing Challenge Roll of Honour

300 Winners
The Three Hundred Word Challenge Roll of Honour
I forgot about the Rolls of Honour! Good suggestion.
 
Copy paste error: it says is closed until October 10th but last allowed entry is July 31 .
On the other hand, is there any special meaning to this image? Looks like ZZ Top going to a nerd party.
 
Copy-paste error corrected.

(More worrying is that there was another one, one I recall correcting. :confused:)
 
Having now entered two challenges and not receiving one vote (I'm not bitter!), I'm feeling that I'm woefully under armed against the weaponized minds of the Chrons!

Did someone suggest it was going to be easy? Oh, dear that must have been me :(

But I point out that the real challenge is not to beat the other entrants - though I admit that getting a vote is a thrill, and winning still more more, the important challenge is of your own ability to please you - we others are there so you've had your piece read by a number of people - mainly talented and effective people, who share your interests.
 
great image Erin.

Looks like ZZ Top going to a nerd party

:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::LOL::LOL::giggle::sneaky::sneaky::sleep:

oh, and is Erin a chronner? unfamiliar with that name as it relates to the forum.

@Fivestrings, if you have only entered two 75 worders so far, then don't worry. lack of votes in that comp is normal. unless you're one of those scribes who always seem to manage to squeeze in a vote, you get used to not getting them, and instead begin to focus just on the challenge itself.

hmmm... that didn't sound very encouraging... my point was/is that no votes is normal, so don't count that as success or failure. after all, we almost always have less votes than people participating in the challenge and when people like @HoopyFrood go and steal 16 or so of them, there ain't much left for the rest of us... :confused:;)
 
i still say there must have been cake involved. or, you just wrote an amazing story that resonated with a lot of people....

hmmm, definitely cake... :p
 
ooh, good picture. look forward to seeing what people come up with.

Having now entered two challenges and not receiving one vote (I'm not bitter!), I'm feeling that I'm woefully under armed against the weaponized minds of the Chrons!
I need to step up my game...somehow.
The thing is, @Fivestrings, not to expect anything. All of us have experienced, and @The Judge once pointed out, posting the most wonderful piece of prose only for it to gain not a sausage and then the following month, in desperation, rush something in at the last moment and it garner enough for a tie break or a win. There’s just no accounting for the weird taste of your fellow Chronners.

However, as has been pointed out, perusing past, successful entries might give you a clue or two.

Welcome to the Chrons and welcome to the Challenges.
 
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Oh, good image. Prompted an instant story in short and long forms, too. Now to let the prose settle.
 
Thanks everyone.
I shall take a look at those older winners at some point. I never really expected to get any votes so early on, but it is fun having a go.

Currently having a think on this one!
 
Having now entered two challenges and not receiving one vote (I'm not bitter!), I'm feeling that I'm woefully under armed against the weaponized minds of the Chrons!
First, as everyone has said, it's more common than not for most members to go two or more Challenges without any votes, so don't worry about it. A better guide to your writing and whether you're grabbing people's attention is the number of mentions/shortlistings you get, which is one reason why we encourage members to give shortlists when it comes to voting time. Second, if you feel you need to improve, or just want to know what people did or didn't like about your work, do put the entries up in the Improving... thread as Joshua suggests, but don't forget to give your own feedback on others' stories, as, strange as it may seem, critiquing someone else's work is one of the best ways of improving your own.

The Roll of Honour threads are out of date, I'm afraid, but anyway personally I'd encourage you not merely to look at the winners but at all the stories for each month/quarter. Winners have invariably produced a good story, but not necessarily the best one in terms of technique or plot -- which is a reason to console yourself when you don't get votes, since Chrons voters don't always recognise brilliance! (Otherwise I'd win every month... ;))

On the other hand, is there any special meaning to this image?
No special meaning, beyond what you want to give it.

oh, and is Erin a chronner? unfamiliar with that name as it relates to the forum.
Not a Chronner, no; a friend of TDZ's. She also did the spooky image back in October, though that has now mysteriously disappeared from the thread... (Told you it was spooky...) [EDIT: typed this before TDZ popped up to confirm it!]


By the way, if anyone is confused by the image appearing in part at the head of the opening post, as well as in the body as usual, that's because Brian has put the thread on the front page of the forum, where an image as the first thing in the post is more attention-grabbing. Not only does that give the thread and therefore our stories more visibility, but we might also get more newbies -- and voters! -- arriving to join in, which would be excellent.
 

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