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Hidden nuggets in your story

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Helou View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Helou Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Hidden nuggets in your story
    Posted: 28 Sep 2019 at 1:45am
The title of my second round story 'The Grapevine' is meant to represent a few things: a vine that grows on the house in the story, the idea that the characters all find out about each other's vices and perpetuate them (like hearing rumours on a grapevine), and also a reference to the MC's alcoholism, because wine comes from grapes which grow on a vine. Obviously.

In hindsight I don't think it's nearly as clever or easy to understand as I did when I came up with it. At the time I was so excited thinking I'd come up with the perfect name, but now so many better ideas come to mind - oh well! Beer
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mhelgens Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Sep 2019 at 9:01pm
Originally posted by justmel justmel wrote:

Originally posted by woodpijn woodpijn wrote:

@mhelgens

So I titled my story The Soles That Survive, and so many people on the forums complimented my word play with the reference to the shoes. But one of my judges thought it was just a typo and proceeded to explain to me the difference between “souls” and “soles.” 

Argh, how incredibly frustrating!
That's quite discouraging to read, as a newbie to this competition.
(note to self: remember to spoonfeed the judges and spell things out for them clearly)
 
I had a similar experience one year in R1 of the SSC.  My character prompt was "housekeeper," and I titled the story The House Keeper (two words) because at the end of it, the housekeeper winds up . . . KEEPING THE HOUSE (as in, its owners die, and she inherits it).
 
The judges hated it--it went right over their heads.  My lack of originality was a major point in their feedback.  Sigh.

Clever! My title this time might not work for them either. It’s called “Working My Way Back to You” which makes sense but seems unoriginal if you don’t recognize it as the title of a song by The Four Seasons, who play a role in the story. I’m sure nobody will catch it, but I’m hopeful they don’t choose to hate on my title too hard. I should have learned my lesson. Bummer.
Read my R1 Story: LINK= https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic51959_post550543.html#550543
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote justmel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Sep 2019 at 8:57pm
Originally posted by woodpijn woodpijn wrote:

@mhelgens

So I titled my story The Soles That Survive, and so many people on the forums complimented my word play with the reference to the shoes. But one of my judges thought it was just a typo and proceeded to explain to me the difference between “souls” and “soles.” 

Argh, how incredibly frustrating!
That's quite discouraging to read, as a newbie to this competition.
(note to self: remember to spoonfeed the judges and spell things out for them clearly)
 
I had a similar experience one year in R1 of the SSC.  My character prompt was "housekeeper," and I titled the story The House Keeper (two words) because at the end of it, the housekeeper winds up . . . KEEPING THE HOUSE (as in, its owners die, and she inherits it).
 
The judges hated it--it went right over their heads.  My lack of originality was a major point in their feedback.  Sigh.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sootfoot5 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Sep 2019 at 2:17pm
I usually put something just to please me in every story that I write. I thought the one this round was obvious, but no one has mentioned it. Don’t feel obligated to read my story to find out because I may not return reviews promptly until after Oct 2. I’m caught up now so I might, but don’t know for sure. But PM me if you glance over the story and just want to know. Maybe if you know something is there, you will find it and not just read over it. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Puckerby Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Sep 2019 at 1:55pm
I spent a lot of time coming up with the perfect name for my toy car character (it's Mother in Greek) which basically gives away my whole plot. No one will ever notice but me but those nuggets are always just for my own enjoyment. And for me to tell my husband about so he can tell me how clever I am (as contractually obligated as per our marriage vows.)

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote woodpijn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Sep 2019 at 6:53am
@mhelgens

So I titled my story The Soles That Survive, and so many people on the forums complimented my word play with the reference to the shoes. But one of my judges thought it was just a typo and proceeded to explain to me the difference between “souls” and “soles.” 

Argh, how incredibly frustrating!
That's quite discouraging to read, as a newbie to this competition.
(note to self: remember to spoonfeed the judges and spell things out for them clearly)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote LyndaD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Sep 2019 at 6:19pm
Originally posted by Littledaylight Littledaylight wrote:

Originally posted by shanan187 shanan187 wrote:

This round, I wrote a historical fiction piece about something that's not a prominent historical event... in fact, the only people it really mattered to were the 20 people involved. If at least one judge doesn't try to DQ me for "not choosing a true event from history" I'll be shocked. LOL

I did try to avoid that possibility through a carefully worded synopsis. Here's hoping! 

I have a similar fear... While mine is based on an actual historical event, it is a little-known one and I doubt the judges have heard of it. Anyone here heard of the dancing plague of 1518? 

The Tarantella?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Littledaylight Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Sep 2019 at 5:17pm
Originally posted by shanan187 shanan187 wrote:

This round, I wrote a historical fiction piece about something that's not a prominent historical event... in fact, the only people it really mattered to were the 20 people involved. If at least one judge doesn't try to DQ me for "not choosing a true event from history" I'll be shocked. LOL

I did try to avoid that possibility through a carefully worded synopsis. Here's hoping! 

I have a similar fear... While mine is based on an actual historical event, it is a little-known one and I doubt the judges have heard of it. Anyone here heard of the dancing plague of 1518? 
Littledaylight
Round 1 Microfiction
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic23907_post302843.html#302843
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote shanan187 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Sep 2019 at 3:59pm
This round, I wrote a historical fiction piece about something that's not a prominent historical event... in fact, the only people it really mattered to were the 20 people involved. If at least one judge doesn't try to DQ me for "not choosing a true event from history" I'll be shocked. LOL

I did try to avoid that possibility through a carefully worded synopsis. Here's hoping! 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote louciferish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Sep 2019 at 3:27pm
My perspective character for round two is gay, and one of the side characters is his ex-boyfriend. I didn't conceive of the characters that way, but as I was writing, I found myself going in that direction and ran with it.

This nugget isn't exactly hidden anymore, though. When I put my draft through beta readers, most of my friends (who are, by and large, LGBT themselves) noticed the detail and remarked on it. However, when I sent it to beta volunteers I don't know personally, they expressed confusion over that aspect or missed it entirely. 

I had to decide if I wanted to keep it subtle or make it so blatant that no reader could possibly miss it, and I decided to go blatant. The story now specifically uses the word boyfriend as well as gendering the characters earlier so no one will mistake my characters for straight. ;)


Edited by louciferish - 18 Sep 2019 at 3:28pm
FF19, R1, Everybody Wants to Rule the World (12pts)
R2, Nothing Good (10 pts)
R3, Painless
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