[Writing Contest] - THE ARENA

Oryx

bluewolf wrote: »

i nominate oryx for the next round :pac:

Wha? The reason I havent challenged is that my only computer access is at work. And time to write is unpredictable. I'm damned if I'm typing 600 words into my phone

It's not that I'm scared.. Honest

partnership

I liked the Madhatters story best. I have been reading through the thread but haven't worked out how the voting works? Do we just post which one we vote for? This is my first time to post here so want to know the rules and not make an idiot of myself.

Kinski

partnership wrote: »

I liked the Madhatters story best. I have been reading through the thread but haven't worked out how the voting works? Do we just post which one we vote for? This is my first time to post here so want to know the rules and not make an idiot of myself.

You have to 'thank' the post which contains the story you like best. But your post count is too low; you will not have access to this feature yet.

partnership

Kinski wrote: »

You have to 'thank' the post which contains the story you like best. But your post count is too low; you will not have access to this feature yet.

Thanks for letting me know - how many posts do I need to do in order to participate or where are the rules outlined?

pickarooney

It's a sitewide feture. I can't remember if it's 10 or 25 posts but soon you should see a Thumbs Up icon appear under every post and you can use this to vote for stories.

Mr E

Yup its 10 posts for "Thanks", 25 for Signatures.

Slow Show

I've had no internet access for a few days so I probably seem like a sore loser but well done to The Mad Hatter, excellent story.

Six of One

I've been enjoying reading this thread and would be willing to challenge, if The Mad Hatter will take a chance on my low post count? I'm no writer but am excited to see what I can come up with in 24 hours!

The Mad Hatter

Six of One wrote: »

I've been enjoying reading this thread and would be willing to challenge, if The Mad Hatter will take a chance on my low post count? I'm no writer but am excited to see what I can come up with in 24 hours!

Excellent - choose your theme, sir or madam:)

Six of One

Okay, I've an idea for my story so the theme is 'making art'! Oooh.. butterflies! See you tomorrow

Six of One

For better or worse I'm posting now as I won't get to tomorrow! Fairly off theme but here we go...

Six of One

Making Art

They told Marie to draw a horse. “A horse! Me? Do a horse!” She looked at the page and looked at the pencil. Strangers to her. She didn't see how she was going to get a horse out of them.

The woman beside her leaned in bringing a smell of damp clothes, stale alcohol and urine. Combined they made a separate smell; it was a smell she knew too well. “You were in the hostel weren’t you”, the woman said. “I was in the dorm with you a few nights, remember? You have a flat near the park now don’t you? My Brother’s barred from the hostel for the night. Can we stay with you in your place? Get the 23 bus over there we can, no bother.”

Stay in my place! Screw that, thought Marie. I'm not having her and her brother causing trouble for me in the new flat. She blanked the woman and raised her voice, “I’ll do the horse”. As if the horse could keep the woman away, its arrival onto the page prevent this intrusion.

She took the pencil and tried to picture a horse. She pictured him running but he was too fast to get a good look. Standing, picture him standing she told herself. She conjured up a mental image of a horse looking straight at her. It had eyes that reminded her of her son, those big brown eyes that hurt to look into. Get going, she told herself. Draw the head, a long horse head. And ears, do ears. She took up the pencil and did the ears first. Two big points then the round mount in the middle. She filled in the eyes, big ovals looking right at her. She drew the outline of the horse’s head, an angled loop down the page from the ears. It’s not going too badly actually, she thought. There was a distinctly horsey looking shape before her. The body could wait until after she had the head drawn. Now the mouth. The mouth! What did a horse’s mouth look like? Was it like a human mouth? Was it big or small? How should she draw the mouth? If I just draw a smile it’ll look like a poxy alien on the page, she thought, frowning. And the nose! Was it a round nose a horse had, like a dog’s- round and wet? Suddenly she couldn’t picture the horse anymore.

She turned and looked at the woman’s drawing. She’d started with the tail and drawn a side profile of a horse with a curly tail and short legs. She hadn’t drawn a head yet but still, there was more horse on that page than Marie’s. Marie decided to risk the mouth and drew a wide crescent from one side of the horse’s head to the other. Then she drew in a small rounded nose. It definitely did not look like a horse. Maybe a cat. A drugged up cartoon of a cat.

“I only came here to keep my keyworker happy anyway”, she said to the woman. "Gets me out. But what do I know about horses?”
“Last week it was bananas and apples and that. Easier. Still, you have to learn don’t you. My Brother now, he can draw.” She stepped back to assess her headless horse. “We could meet you at the park at 7. We’ll bring a load of cans with us.”

“Alright”, conceded Marie. If she couldn't draw a horse she might as well have some company and a drink a few cans. What harm could it do.

FewFew

Six of One wrote: »

For better or worse I'm posting now as I won't get to tomorrow! Fairly off theme but here we go...

... but... but.. you came up with the theme?

The Mad Hatter

Running a bit late, but almost finished! I beg the panel for a little extra time:o

Mr E

Go for it, Hatter. Better late than never.

coffee_cake

i think we'd all rather a story than not

Six of One

Fewcifur wrote: »

... but... but.. you came up with the theme?

But it just didn't work out as planned! Still enough within theme so as not to be shamefully disqualified I reckon!

Mad Hatter, it's fine with me any time this evening, don't rush.

The Mad Hatter

Daniel knows the sun has set because he can no longer see the canvas. He has returned to the studio every evening, knowing something is missing. He knows, even in the dark, every line and shadow on the painting. He can see the colours, the brushstrokes, the sweeping architecture. He sees it, complete in his mind, but there is something defiantly different about the one before him. He gropes in the dark until his hand finds the whiskey bottle and he lifts it to his mouth. As he swallows, he feels the spirit roar down his chest. Without taking his eyes from the canvas, he replaces the bottle beside him.

Daniel fumbles in his pocket for a cigarette. He strikes a match, and freezes. There it is. There it is exactly as it needs to be. That final, perfect interplay of colour, of emotion, of light and darkness. He couldn't believe he hadn't realised it – This isn't a painting at all. It's so much more than that. The cigarette falls from his lips, the match from his hand, but before they even hit the ground he is rummaging through desk drawers. Where is it? Then a glint in the corner of his eye, and he snaps his head around like a bird. The camera is there, buried in a pile of papers on a shelf, the uncapped lens winking at him in the darkness. He grabs it and pulls it clean off the shelf, thinking To Hell with it as the papers fall in a flurry around him.

He picks up the whiskey bottle, uncaps it and douses the painting, pouring the whiskey over the top, throwing it as though from a bucket, drizzling the last of it like a signature in the corner with an almost gleeful mania, and throws the bottle aside. Then he sets a match to the lower right corner – the same corner where the first match had illuminated everything for him – and the painting catches, not immediately but quickly.

The camera records all its stages: the oranges and reds and golds of the fire lighting the stark white architecture of the painting in whole new ways; the paint as it swells and blisters on the canvas; the layers decaying and melting and revealing a hideous monster painting beneath; the fiery rain falling to the linoleum floor; the bright yellow flame as it eats the canvas whole, belching forth thick black smoke.

Daniel turns on his heel, and puts the camera on the desk. Art is emotion, he thinks as he leaves, the flames settling and dying behind him. Art is conflict. It's not the photographs. It's not even the burning painting. The real art is how it would feel if the painting had been mine.

The Mad Hatter

Gah, just noticed a slip of tense in the middle of the story! That's what I get for doing it in a hurry...

furzebush

I'm new to boards.ie, and to the thread, and don't understand how it works, but Thanks to The Mad Hatter for a great story

MagicMarker

Cool thread!!

The Mad Hatter

furzebush wrote: »

I'm new to boards.ie, and to the thread, and don't understand how it works, but Thanks to The Mad Hatter for a great story

Thanks very much

Once you have more than 10 posts, you can "thank" a post. The rules in this thread are that after the second story is posted, you have 24 hours to read both stories and vote for your favourite with the "thank" button.

pickarooney

Much of a muchness here. I liked both stories enough to vote but in the end I went for the one closest to the top of the page.

Mr E

Really great piece, Hatter. Well done!

partnership

Nice one Mad Hatter

Six of One

An excellent piece of writing The Mad Hatter, I'm proud to have been beaten by it! Well done!

The Mad Hatter

Thanks again for the votes and nice things said, folks:)

Mr E

I'm away tomorrow, but would love to give it another bash over the weekend. I challenge the winner of the next one.

pickarooney

Mr E against The Mad Hatter today then, if TMH accepts?

The Mad Hatter

Certainement.