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    Posted: 19 May 2019 at 10:34am
Originally posted by Holdo Holdo wrote:

I mean, I don't HATE mine. I just know it won't win. It's not 'neat' enough, not clever enough, not surprising enough by half. It's entirely predictable, in fact, from the very first sentence. So I will downgrade my expectations dramatically and hope to maybe somehow just get on the leaderboard. But probably not.

Having experienced the 24-hour limit now, I really marvel at some of the winning stories from previous years. A couple of them are so neat and so polished. How?


Probably a rhetorical questions, but I think part of the answer is the right friends to beta read, plus a prompt that hits your sweet spot. I like my story, but as others have said above, I don't feel I have the depth yet that I see in those winning stories. My betas (drafts 2 and 4) asked questions, poked at the character, and said when I'd failed to give them the payoff, and left a plot thread dangling. On my own, I'd have figured out some of that, but certainly not in the constraint of the contest.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SEHBicycle Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2019 at 10:27am
Originally posted by Briana Una Briana Una wrote:

I'm shocked to say it, but I actually wrote a story and submitted it. This was my first time in round 3 and, man, writing 1,500 GOOD words in 24 hours is haaaaaaaaard. I kind of like mine, I guess -- I got to write a gothic, which is my specialty, but also feels like the obvious route... (I've also read it too many times and have no perspective/hate it right now.)

What I wonder (now that it's too late, of course) is whether my "side effects" come off more as "symptoms." God, don't let the judges be picky about that.


I'm swimming that lake of terror with you. I did the heavy-handed "call this out as side effects, cuz its your character's point of view" at the start and end of the piece.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SEHBicycle Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2019 at 10:25am
Originally posted by regannoelle regannoelle wrote:

Originally posted by Mystic Platypus Mystic Platypus wrote:

Yeah I’m learning to hate mine too. Anyone else feeling insecure about sharing on the forum this round?


Yeah, I definitely am. I'll still share, but I'm really unsure how to feel about what I've created. As silly as it sounds, I've never written anything based on my own personal experiences before (largely due to a fear of becoming Fitzgerald, the man who shared so much that he died feeling like he had nothing left). I'm not sure why I decided to do it for the first time in the finals round of a writing competition, but once I had the idea for the story, I couldn't stop writing it. I don't know. The whole story just felt iffy.
It seems a lot of people are feeling a bit iffy about their stories, but I'm super excited to devour them all once we can post them! I feel like these prompts could go a million different ways, and I'm excited to read some of the ways people took!


Stories from the heart resonate when we pour our emotion into it. It's helped me advance with stories last year and this year. Good job with this round. I concur, lots of good titles and loglines in that other thread.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SEHBicycle Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2019 at 10:22am
Originally posted by roccapia roccapia wrote:

Originally posted by regannoelle regannoelle wrote:

1,497 words, four cups of coffee, and one sleepless night later - I'm done! I think I've read this story so many times in search of errors that I've begun to hate it. Like, vehemently hate it. Not sure whether that's a good sign, but I'm just happy to have finished.


I'm beginning to hate mine too. It must be a side effect of this contest. Get it??!! Side effect??!! Hahahah...oh bleh. I'm now drinking rum to drown my sorrows :P


Hah! My side effect of writing all day: tunnel vision. Though I took breaks to run, water plants, I had tunnel vision on whatever "break task" I had. This morning I looked out the kitchen window, next to the garden where I watered the plants, and thought, "well, iris, you clearly opened yesterday. Aren't you beautiful."
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Cosima Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2019 at 1:48am
I basically had no time this weekend, and am not that happy with what I turned in. But I did the best I could. It is what it is.

*Breathes big sigh of relief that it's over.*
SSC 2021 R2: Complex Fracture
SSC 2021 R1: Before Her Time 2nd
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SLK43 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2019 at 1:24am
Originally posted by Holdo Holdo wrote:

I mean, I don't HATE mine. I just know it won't win. It's not 'neat' enough, not clever enough, not surprising enough by half. It's entirely predictable, in fact, from the very first sentence. So I will downgrade my expectations dramatically and hope to maybe somehow just get on the leaderboard. But probably not.

Having experienced the 24-hour limit now, I really marvel at some of the winning stories from previous years. A couple of them are so neat and so polished. How?

I concur.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Holdo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2019 at 1:15am
I mean, I don't HATE mine. I just know it won't win. It's not 'neat' enough, not clever enough, not surprising enough by half. It's entirely predictable, in fact, from the very first sentence. So I will downgrade my expectations dramatically and hope to maybe somehow just get on the leaderboard. But probably not.

Having experienced the 24-hour limit now, I really marvel at some of the winning stories from previous years. A couple of them are so neat and so polished. How?
SSC 2019: R1 R2 R3
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SLK43 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2019 at 1:05am
I feel like when I post mine I should add a caveat. This story comes with no illusions and no expectations. I've decided I'm never going to read it again Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jdadams1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2019 at 12:12am
Submitted! Wow, that was weird. 

Idea #1: Had an idea I loved. Got about 250 words in. Still loved the idea, but wasn't sure I could fit it in 1,500 words, and the prompts, though usable, could be easily excised. 

Idea #2: Came up with another idea. Abandoned after one sentence.

Idea #3: Came up with a third idea, inspired slightly by the second idea. (Though oddly, very different use of the prompts.) Wrote diligently for a few hours. Took a nap. Woke to found out I somehow hadn't saved it. Struggled. Panicked. Finally found what I'd written (*phew*!). Finished it. Didn't love it. Sent it out to beta. 

Back to Idea #1: Meanwhile, went back to idea #1, and got to about 1,000 words. Still not sure it \would fit in 1,500 words but still liked it better than idea #3. 

Hooray, betas: But my betas who'd been reading #3 like it and gave some great feedback that made me like it quite a bit more. So, I rolled with that one. 

And now, I have #3 submitted and a good start on #1 if I want to use it for anything else. (Hello, betas?) 

Thanks, all! :D 

Edited by jdadams1 - 19 May 2019 at 12:13am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JBone3000 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2019 at 12:10am
Honestly, I liked mine. Not perfect, but it is what it is, and I'm happy with the effort. I'm sure everyone second-guessing their own stories in post-writing delirium will feel better about them tomorrow.

Edited by JBone3000 - 19 May 2019 at 12:11am
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