WRITING CONTEST

[Duddahs]

Jan 25, 2011 16:12:54 GMT -6 rin68nyr said:

Hi all! I am very sorry...I did not forget! A colleague of mine was killed in a car accident over the weekend, and my mind was kind of taken up with that. Give me a few minutes to re-read, and give my decision.

Thanks!
Erin

My sincere condolence to you and your colleague family.

Duddahs

[Duddahs]

YAY Erin,

Thanks so much for the kind words and a huge Hip, Hip, Hooray to Rallem for his wonderful story...

A well deserved win indeed.

On to the next we go...

[rallem]

Thank you Erin. I am very sorry to hear of your loss. There is a very short introduction this time.

Frustrated Hermione looked back to the others and whispered, “When will you two remember that you’re wizards?”

BASEBALL
BICYCLE
LEATHER JACKET
LIPSTICK
GOAT

[Duddahs]

Frustrated Hermione looked back to the others and whispered, “When will you two remember that you’re wizards?”

“Aw common Hermione, not everyone is as perfect as you are, you know,” Ron spat back at her.

“POOF!”

“That is no excuse Ronald, Seamus is swinging his wand mindlessly around, that he just turned poor Professor Flitwick into a miniature GOAT in a LEATHER JACKET!” Hermione came back just as quickly.

“Ron, she has a point you know… Seamus does have a history of being a little on the dangerous side when it comes to casting spells.” Harry interjected.

“Look, if you guys are going to just talk about me behind my back, would you mind speaking up so I can actually hear what I am not supposed to be hearing?” Seamus requested as he quickly wiped the drops of perspiration that had begun to run down his forehead and pooled in his eyebrows.

“It is all Deans fault. He made a bet with me that if the Gryffindor Quidditch team won their last match with Slytherin that I would have to learn how to play BASEBALL. I bet him that if Gryffindor lost, that he would have to try Quidditch and finally shut up about all this Baseball and BICYCLE stuff once and for all, we Irish play Soccer.” Seamus stammered.

Once again he resumed to waiving his wand back and forth with the ferocity of Madam Rosemerta, applying her brightest Red LIPSTICK on a busy Saturday night.

“Yeah and how did not backing up your own team Gryffindor go for you Seamus?” Ron shot at the crazed form of Seamus.

"POOF!"

“You know Ron, she does have a point there. Even though Hermione and Seamus did not grow up in an all Wizarding family, she is more than capable of figuring out what he is doing wrong with his spell casting.” Harry nodded to his friend as he put his arm around Ron’s shoulder and just stared as Seamus continued his mindless wand waving.

“POOF!”

“Now that is enough! Enough, do you hear me? If you want to learn how to play Baseball correctly, what we have to do is get you the right equipment to begin with.” Hermione shouted out in abject frustration.

“Wah, wah , are you going on about now Hermione?” Seamus snarled from behind gritted teeth.

“I am doing it exactly as Dean told me it was supposed to be done.”

“Whoa, wait one second there Seamus, I told you you had to have a baseball bat to play baseball, not a wand!” Dean piped in to defend himself.

“What’s the difference? A stick is a stick, right?” now a completely befuddled Seamus queried.

Harry just dropped his head to the desk top and began to laugh as quietly to himself as possible. Hermione too could barely contain her amusement.

Poor Ron just sat looking dumbfounded. Not realizing what was so funny to his cohorts.

[grandpalovegood]

Oh I am having fun backreading this thread... But I'll have to peek in a few more times just to get all caught up.

Have fun being creative you guys!

[rallem]

I hope we have at least one more entry. Duddahs is very good, so I would hate for it to win due to it being the only one.

[rin68nyr]

I haven't read Duddah's yet, and I'm hoping to do one this weekend...

Erin

[rallem]

I wouldn't recommend reading other people's entries before writing a rough draft of your story, because it might interfere with your flow. You write wonderful stories Erin, so I have no doubt that you'll be able to come up with one. Because we got a late start this week I will be closing the contest on Monday Evening where I will read all entries and make my decision.

[rin68nyr]

That's why I haven't read it yet, Rallem..I'm really hoping to get one done. I may have a chance tomorrow, while the kids are in karate class. If I do, I'll have it in by 6:30 pm....I'm really going to try!

Erin

[rin68nyr]

OK...I've written it...I just need to cut out 25 words...I will do that ASAP, but have to get the kids home first! I will get it in shortly after 6:30!

Thanks!
Erin9

[rin68nyr]

OK...here it is! I got my words down to 500!

Erin

*************************************************************************************************

Frustrated Hermione looked back to the others and whispered, “When will you two remember that you’re wizards?” Harry and Ron were attempting to stuff their Zonko’s purchases into their pockets, but were having trouble fitting them all in. “Engorgio might work on those pockets,” she reminded them. As they walked through Hogsmeade, they noticed a new sign further down the street, but could not yet read it. Curious, they headed toward it. As they passed the Hogshead Inn, a stray GOAT crossed their path. Hermoine laughed “Is it bad luck if a black goat crosses your path?” Harry chuckled, but Ron asked “Why would that be bad luck?” Harry explained the muggle superstition, and Ron thought it quite strange. Hermoine smiled ‘It’s because black cats are associated with witches.” They all snickered at that.

The new store “Muggle Mania,” had all sorts of muggle articles. As they entered, the storekeeper greeted them enthusiastically. “Might I interest you in some muggle items, and tell you how they use them?” Harry and Hermoine tried to speak, but the storekeeper was very eager to share his knowledge, and didn’t give them a moment to say a word. “This,” and he waved his hand, “is called a BICYCLE. Muggles use these to improve their balance. They sit on it like so, and try to stay upright.” The shopkeeper sat on the bike and tried to balance on the pedals. He had great difficulty with this, and tried to sit on it backwards, but fell over. As he got up he said “I haven’t figured out how the muggles do this! No matter…”

“And over here, we have a BASEBALL.” He held up the small sphere. This is a game muggles play where they have to balance balls on top of each other. Don’t ask me how they do it…but this is the base ball…it goes on the bottom of the pile. I wish I had the others …maybe then I could figure out how they do it.”

“This” he said, indicating a rack of clothing, “ is a LEATHER JACKET. Muggles get the material by peeling it off a Leather Tree. For this reason, it is great at deflecting rain…keeps you very dry.”

The storekeeper then stepped over to a shelf. “These muggles have come up with creative ways of not using magic. Here we have pens that have ink inside them already! And these are pencils, but I don’t know how they work (Hermoine stifled a giggle…none of the pencils were sharpened). And for fancy writing, we have this LIPSTICK. I’m afraid to find out how they use lips to make it, but it sure is colorful!”

Harry and Hermoine could contain themselves no longer. They uttered a quick “Thank you!” to the shopkeeper, and ran out the door, dragging Ron outside. They doubled over with laughter, as Ron looked at them half quizzically, and half like he thought they were crazy. On the way home, they explained to Ron the real uses of the items. “Well,” he said "I understand why you’re laughing…but I still don’t understand muggles!"

[rallem]

This was a really tough decision. I really enjoyed both stories very much and they both had their strengths. I think that I am going to have to go with Duddah's story though since it had a more complete beginning, middle and end. Erin your story had a very good beginning, and a masterful middle, but in my humble opinion the ending was lacking somehow. Did your ending destroy the entire story? No! I think your story works Erin, but I would revisit Ron's part in it though. I hope my words weren't too harsh. I think the purpose behind this contest besides allowing us a way to read more Harry Potter fan fiction stories, is to make all of us better authors. I wish that I could better articulate my decisions and reasons for them, but perhaps this contest will also help us become better judges of good stories too.

[rin68nyr]

Thanks, Rallem. It's hard to choose, and to explain why...that' s the part I don't like about being the judge. Just because we choose one doesn't mean we didn't like the other(s). This is for fun as well as working on our writing, and I will continue to participate in this as often as I can. It's a really good thread. What I find most challenging is sticking to under 500 words...that's hard! We also have to remember that different "judges" have different preferences, just as different writers have different styles. But most of all, we're here for fun.

Congrats, Duddahs! I will probably have time to write again this week...we already are going to close school early today, and most likely I will have a snow day tomorrow as well...so...let's see that intro.!
...and hopefully MORE people will participate this week!!!! (HINT! HINT!)

Erin

[Duddahs]

Rallem, Erin and everyone else, I too am scared to the point of an upset stomach when doing what is judging. It really is so subjective it is not funny. I have already learned something regarding the boring nature of my writing at times.

I can very easily see that both Erin and Rallem have some Semi to complete Professional training when it comes to writing. It goes back to our schooling I believe. English, language and Lit were always my weakest subjects right through University, so I honestly expect to be gutted like a trout, so no worry's about hurting my feelings, honestly.

I am writing these stories because I find it to be fun to do and even more so fun to read others work. So, if I stick my head out of my Barn, this ole Owl will get to see the rest of the Harry Pottering world around where he nests.

Thank you Rallem and Erin both for your encouragement. It really does mean a great deal to me too, and Erin, I really did enjoy your story..

[Duddahs]

Here is this weeks prompt;

Pansy nervously began to wring her hands as she leaned closer to her fellow Slytherin. "Where did you get that filthy thing Draco? I don't believe that Professor Snape is going to allow you to keep it in your dorm."


Steal
Sled
Tractor Trailer
Wind
Fluoride

Good Luck and have fun!

[rallem]

I'll start working on this tomorrow after work.

[rin68nyr]

Thanks, Duddahs...I was a double major in college, and one of mine was...you got it...English Lit.! I like this kind of writing much better than having to analyze works. not that I haven't had tons fo fun analyzing HP, but some of the writers I had to write about were....well...let's just say...not my favorites! LOL

This should be an interesting one! Flouride, huh? Okay......

Erin

[grandpalovegood]

Jan 7, 2011 10:34:40 GMT -6 Duddahs said:

Miss Charlotte,

What I did was cut and pasted what Rallem had set forth as the beginning of the story onto a blank WORD page.

I wrote my story from there until I had come to the word count of about 495 and then cut and pasted the story to this page.

I am not sure if that is what Rallem was originally looking for because he commented that my story had stayed well below the 500 count and I thought I had it only 5 below.

It may be possible that he is not counting the entry to the story that he put forth and only what we write ourselves should count in the total..

Which ever way, if you do it this way, you will be able to figure out how much you need to write or how much you will need to prune.

OK.... so what you are telling me.. This "WORD" page actually keeps count of how many words you have typed up? This is so odd to concieve, still it might be because I use Wordpad and it does not do this for me.

I'll figure it out eventually. At the moment I'm trying to backread the stories you guys have already written. I keep having trouble with this site kicking me off.. but I think/hope it's only my computer acting up. I figured I'd have already caught up on everything here at this site by now.

Got to go for a while. Hugs to all.

[rallem]

The 500 words are not counting the words of the intro, and yes Microsoft Word will count the words in a document. If you want to exclude certain words simply highlight the words you want counted and then use the word count option to report. How to get a word count is dependant upon which version you use. At home I have 2003 which has word count in the tools section. I haven't quite found it in the 2007 version I have at work.

Oh and I do not have any real "training" for stories. In college at VTC I first learned to write as if I were going to be an electrical engineer which was what I was studying, and then in Champlain College I learned to write for businesses even though my major was computer programming. I am now studying how to make films at Burlington College and I started my first class on writing which is Intro to Script Writing. Next semester I think I that I will take the class How to Tell a Story.

In the past I started a writing club called the [glow=red,2,300]Speculative Fiction Writing Club of Central Vermont[/glow] where every week we would meet at a pub for a few drinks and a meal to discuss stories we've read and wrote. One person would then give the requirements for the next week's story everone was supposed to write on. The problem with the club is that people only showed up to drink beer and socialize and in the end I was the only one writing stories. I could share a Christmas story I wrote for the club if you like.

[rin68nyr]

I'd love to read it, Rallem!

And I hope to find the time to write this week's entry. When is the deadline? (yes, I often work best under pressure!) LOL

Erin