Competition: Variations on a theme 1 (Kim)

Mr E

I know what you mean, ToasterSparks.... I think the time limit should be no more than a fortnight next time.

pickarooney

Good point, but it's hard enough to get word out and submissions in on time.

Komplett: Marc

Is it still cool to enter? I know I'm a bit late to the party, but I'll have a lot of time on a train over the weekend to work with and I'd really love to give it a try if at all possible

pickarooney

Of course. Just get it in by the 31st and you're laughing.

davyjose

Forgot about this.

Anyway, I blasted off a draft this morning that I'm fairly happy with, so with a few teaks I should be good to go. Will probably hang on for a few days though, just in case any other ideas are laying in wait. I know this won't really matter, because at nine seconds past midnight on the 1st of April, my mind will come up with an amazing idea of Pulitzer proportions

BTW:

How do people feel about the winner of this month's comp picking the "skeleton" for next month's? That should give us a nice spread of ideas over time.

Yay? Nay?

Oryx

@davyjose: Yay. Sounds like a plan. T'wont be moi, naturally.

pickarooney

I was thinking of a different competition for next time, but there's no reason we can't run this again. Would there be enough interest to make it a monthly event though?

Oryx

pickarooney wrote: »

I was thinking of a different competition for next time, but there's no reason we can't run this again. Would there be enough interest to make it a monthly event though?

I like it because it pushes me to write something.. anything! Why dont you try it again and see?

pickarooney

Vee haff vays of makink you write!

davyjose

pickarooney wrote: »

I was thinking of a different competition for next time, but there's no reason we can't run this again.

Well what have you got in mind?

pickarooney wrote: »

Would there be enough interest to make it a monthly event though?

Were there many submissions?

Maybe we could run it every couple of months , or on a whim every once in a while. I had great fun writing this, and it was a challenge putting my own spin on something so precise, in so few words. But it had such narrow scope, I'd definitely see it as more than a one off. I'd need to try a few different ideas to hit my niche, I feel.

pickarooney

11 entries so far with 2-3 confirmed as being in the process of completing one.

davyjose

pickarooney wrote: »

11 entries so far with 2-3 confirmed as being in the process of completing one.

Yup, mine's done. just want to double check a few things.

LegacyUser

I'll be entering too,oops. Meant to post on the thread ages ago. Still haven't written anything but have a few ideas. Will write it later hopefully.

nervous_twitch

I'm also gonna try submit something before the 31st, I'm meant to be in study mode and this seems like a suitable procrastination device

pickarooney

angellll wrote: »

I'll be entering too,oops. Meant to post on the thread ages ago. Still haven't written anything but have a few ideas. Will write it later hopefully.

You'll need a registered account to PM me from, remember.

Mr E

So are you posting them up on Thursday, pickarooney? I might make some tweaks to mine....

Can't wait to read everyone elses.

pickarooney

April Fool's day it is.

bazma8

how do you attach a PDF to a PM?

pickarooney

Presumably you created the PDF from some other format, so just copy and paste from that. It'll be posted in whatever elementary formatting boards can handle in any case.

pickarooney

Some of you have given a title to your story and others haven't.
If anyone wants to send me a title, there's still time, otherwise I'll just number them all.

bazma8

hey pickarooney,

can you just confirm you got mine? I'd hate to think that couple of hours went to complete waste

Ta

Bazma8

pickarooney

Yep, sorry, I meant to confirm by PM, but I got distracted by shiny...

bazma8

thanks

dr.bollocko

We're still ok up to tomorrow midnight right?

pickarooney

Yeah, although realistically up to 8AM on Thursday when I log on.

I think would be best to have the voting by the thanks button and leave it open for 10 days.

Sound all right?

dr.bollocko

I dunno about that one.
Thanks is open to abuse to a certain extent. Maybe thanks + mods decision so something questionable could be over-ruled?

Oryx

Would be wary of the thanks option. Too easy to get your mates to thank your story.

Wouldnt it be better (for the author too) to say your favourite along with a reason you like it?

dr.bollocko

Oryx wrote: »

Would be wary of the thanks option. Too easy to get your mates to thank your story.

Wouldnt it be better (for the author too) to say your favourite along with a reason you like it?

That's a damn fine idee.

pickarooney

I think it's a terrible idea myself; my opinion is no more valid than anyone else's (and BEAT isn't around much) and I said at the outset it would be by popular vote, so it would be unfair to change that now.

It was a toss-up between thanks and poll, but I was naive enough to think anonymously posted stories would be a safeguard against vote-rigging.

It's not like any of you losers have mates to vote for you, is it

We could maybe add a stipulation that everyone who votes has to post a reason why they chose that story...


(edit: I took that 'your favourite' to mean my favourite. Perhaps I misunderstood)

Oryx

pickarooney wrote: »

It's not like any of you losers have mates to vote for you, is it

Very true. Sigh.

No system is perfect, perhaps the poll is a good idea. Feedback will inevitably influence other voters. But personally I think feedback on the stories is a good thing for those who wrote them. If its lousy/brilliance I think its good to know why people thought that.

I mean your favourite as in each voters' favourite, not yours, pickarooney.

ToasterSparks

I think Thanked messages, followed by a post saying why you liked the story best, would work well.

Plus, we'll need a time limit for the voting too!! A week?


Ugh, hurry up March! The deadline is close, finally!

AnBealBocht

Jump-starting a WIP...fun!.
Gaia: An Hypothesis Rising.

Theme--- 1. Chris, is visited by a Zuni mystic Indian, directed to deliver a message regarding an imminent catastrophe.
2. Climate change, is ascribed to global warming due, it is hypothesized, to fossil fuels being sent into the cosmos at an ever more alarming rate.
3.The Earth is a self-regulating system, capable of caring for itself---and has set about that task, to the ultimate detriment of humankind.
4. While most look to the heavens as the source of the climate change, the Zuni imparts the view that it is due to the Earth itself heating its magma core so that life on the surface becomes unbearable for humankind, who are the culprits in despoiling the crust of the planet. Thus it is that humankind is doomed….unless…

5. Dr. Chris is unsure as to why the Zuni came to him, what was the Zuni implying should be done & by whom. Further, it was implied by the Indian that there were forces abroad who clandestinely were working to focus the minds of Earth people on the heavens, rather than where the real danger lurked. Neither was it clear why these people not working openly in consort with others on the Earth to circumvent the impending danger. Had the surface peoples given it some thought, they might have noticed that, what with the ice-bergs melting at an ever-increasing rate, with the heavens pouring down on some climes, with Spring coming earlier to Northern soils, & with crops that were native to the tropics now flowering in temperate lands, that much of the warming was coming from beneath them. Hellish!.

6. Kim, christened ' Kerry ' by here NYC parents, who was Chris' American-born niece, had changed her name to ' Kim ' having secured a place at UCD to study Medicine, knowing that unless she ' Irishised ' ' Kerry ' to something more EU she would be laughed out of Dublin.



Chapter 1.
End of the Quiet Life.

“ That damn tree will come down on my car any day now “..thought Dr. Christopher Madden as he entered his garage. Shade it provided, it is true, but definitely a potential hazard to car & limb should it come crashing down. It was an ancient pepper tree whish had grown to a height of 60 feet or so and served as one leg of The Pillars of Hercules at the entrance to his car-drive. The other leg was non-existent. Still, though, it was a mighty arbor which added cache to his property

---

0.75 acre in a residential part of Phoenix, called Arcadia. It had proved arcadian for Chris this past fifteen years. In the middle of the desert, a lush greenbelt between Phoenix & Scottsdale, irrigated from private wells, dredged deep into the earth, planted with all manner of fauna & foliage---oleanders & bougainvillea triumphed, in the foothills of Camelback Mountain, a pool ( & room for a pony with equestrian privileges ), a nice-sized diving swimming-pool with the requisite water-feature, a guest house, a view of downtown Phoenix, and a minimum of traffic, Arcadia was quiet & quite convenient for his purposes., being a mere four miles to his offices near St. Ursula’s Hospital & eleven miles from his office at Egalitie Insurance near the I-17 freeway. Further, the drive, morning and evening had the sun behind him & he was driving against the rush-hour traffic---not inconsequential factors to living in Phoenix.
On that day, two weeks after his 52nd. Birthday, he had fulfilled both functions which provided him with the necessities of life. In the am he had seen patients both in his office & at St. Ursula’s ( the latter being a not-for-profit hospital of 250 beds, owned & operated by the Catholic Sisters of Hope) and in the pm had acted as a mentor to nurse case-managers who were delving into files pertaining to injured patients receiving workers’ compensation from the insurance company . All in all, a nicely balanced day & all in all a satisfying one.
Except for that English patient from Kingman, AZ. Well, in truth, it wasn’t the Englishman who was his patient, rather his American wife. A ‘ failed back syndrome ‘ patient, following seven back surgeries, she was in constant pain. The husband, an early surfer, brought with him reams of printed materials, related, he hoped to his wife’s condition, from the Internet. Did he honestly believe, thought Chris, that there was a cure in there somewhere?. And, did Chris have to read it all. After all, he stood by and allowed his wife to undergo seven back surgeries from smooth-talking orthopedic surgeons. Or was it guilt on his part--now?.
As always with Mrs. English Patient, Dr. Chris would promise to read the ‘ stuff ‘ from the WWW & advise---- though surely not an eight back surgery!. He managed her chronic pain as best he could, without compromising her quality of life. What harm was there if she became a bit looped from time-to-time?. Soon, the effects of the Vicodin would pass, she would be relatively pain-free, and then soon thereafter she would brighten up & get about doing the things important to her. What the Hell more did here husband expect?. Chris felt that Mr. English ( ' more Brighton than Brideshead ' as Chris thought of him) was attempting to punishing him for the pain inflicted on his wife by the earlier ministrations of, presumably, well-meaning surgeons.
Dr. Chris was having none of that. He knew damn well how healthcare operated in these United States, having come to the US in 1968 as a young doctor from Dublin. After training he, Chris, had returned to NYC & had he founded the first hospital-based Pain Clinic in that city. By 1982 he felt obliged to migrate West & by dint of his reputation in pain Medicine, easily found a position as a medical director of the Pain Center at St. Ursula’s in Phoenix, Arizona. Here it was that he saw Mrs. English Patient. Now, almost twenty years in the Pain Management field he had encountered it all & new full well how to protect himself emotionally and not be blackmailed into guilt. No, Mr. English Husband, I understand your role & needs very well, &, equally as importantly, fully understand my own, thought Dr. Chris. Dr. Chris implied that he intend to read the ‘ stuff ‘ you brought, file it in your wife’s chart where it will never see the light of day again while fully knowing that he’ll bring a whole ‘nother batch the next time. Dr. Chris had attended every World Congress on Pain triennially since Edinburg in 1981 and there was little that he did not know about the current state of Pain Medicine and if Mr. English Patient’s trawling of the Net afforded him guilt relief, then the batch of ‘ stuff ‘ fulfilled its function.
Now, turning into his driveway, he wanted nothing else but to read a book, & sleep.



Meantime Chris’ American-born niece, Kim, who was studying Medicine at UCD, was at the post-office in Dublin purchasing stamps...



3/30/2010---10:31PM Listowel time.

Antilles

Woah, AnBealBocht - we were supposed to PM them to pickarooney, not post them in this thread. You might want to remove the above post!

Also, I don't think we're allowed supplementary commentary on our stories. That kind of defeats the purpose of a word limit.

Antilles

Just submitted my story to pickarooney (possibly some edits due tomorrow night!) Looking forward to seeing what everyone else came up with

AnBealBocht

Antilles wrote: »

Woah, AnBealBocht - we were supposed to PM them to pickarooney, not post them in this thread. You might want to remove the above post!

Also, I don't think we're allowed supplementary commentary on our stories. That kind of defeats the purpose of a word limit.

I TRIED to PM it unsuccessfully. Agree. WAY over the ? 1000 word suggestion. No problem. Just ignore it. I shall not be devastated, I assure you. :-)

davyjose

Pickarooney,

If we use the thanks system, we're not gonna get an accurate result, IMO. Look at any AH thread - the instinct is to thank the first few posts. I think too many people will get to a story they like and instantly thank it. I also feel we should have a one vote per person system, which is impossible to guarantee with the thanks system.

A poll, or a post stating the voter's favourite is a better way to go, IMO.

pickarooney

davyjose wrote: »

Pickarooney,

If we use the thanks system, we're not gonna get an accurate result, IMO. Look at any AH thread - the instinct is to thank the first few posts. I think too many people will get to a story they like and instantly thank it.

They could just as easily read one story and vote for it though, so it doesn't really change that much if a poll is used.

Common consensus seems to be that a minimum of feedback is required for a vote to count, which I think is fair. If a person has several favourites I don't see any harm in voting for more than one story, again provided a reason is given.

I'm still open to fine-tuning the voting process if there are any obvious flaws, bearing in mind there's no perfect system.


Fifteen entries now, by the way.

bazma8

not to openly display my technological ignorance....what's the thanks button? and where is it???

Oryx

bazma8 wrote: »

not to openly display my technological ignorance....what's the thanks button? and where is it???

See that thumbs up there on the bottom right of this post? Thats your man.

bazma8

Yeah, I don't have that, Is that going to cause a problem in the voting...aside from the fact i can't vote for myself, thereby ensuring i may not even get a single vote (...hanging head in shame)

It's probably not there because i have less than 25 posts on this account. I had to set up a new account. Couldn't remember my password or set up email address when the boards went down.

Oryx

Then post like crazy for the afternoon. I recommend AH.

nervous_twitch

bah, this isnt gonna happen for me. i look forward to reading!

bazma8

hey the thumb just appeared...maybe 10 was the limit nice one.

One vote for me ...yipee

pickarooney

bazma8 wrote: »

hey the thumb just appeared...maybe 10 was the limit nice one.

One vote for me ...yipee

Don't forget, you have to give yourself feedback

Killer_banana

I decided I'd give this a go last night hoping it would help with my writers block. It helped with my block on my other stuff but now Kim's stuck mid-story and I have no idea what's going to happen to her or how I'll end this within word limit...I really really need to plan out plots beforehand. Ah well. Good luck to everyone who managed to submit an entry before it the deadline cos from the looks of it I won't.

Memnoch

pickarooney wrote: »

Don't forget, you have to give yourself feedback

Should be easy.

An outstanding entry, and obvious choice to win the whole thing. It's probably Ian McEwan posting under a pseudonym. Definitely gets my vote!

pickarooney

Killer_banana wrote: »

I decided I'd give this a go last night hoping it would help with my writers block. It helped with my block on my other stuff but now Kim's stuck mid-story and I have no idea what's going to happen to her or how I'll end this within word limit...I really really need to plan out plots beforehand. Ah well. Good luck to everyone who managed to submit an entry before it the deadline cos from the looks of it I won't.

Explosions and helicopters are a quick and exciting way to end any story within the word limit!

Oryx

pickarooney wrote: »

Explosions and helicopters are a quick and exciting way to end any story within the word limit!

Oh grrreat. Thanks man, for giving my ending away. Sheesh.

Killer_banana, just do something crazy to her. She wont mind, and its only a wee competition between posters, you may as well let us see what you did, not do the work for nothing.

pickarooney

That reminds me of something the maths teacher would say to the kids who got so stressed out they ended up eating their exams papers instead of submitting their partial work.

Don't eat it KB!

Killer_banana

Haha thanks guys. Sure I'll have another go at it and if I can't think of a decent ending I'll just give it a cliffhanger ending and submit it.