Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Voting Thread

This is topic Voting Thread in forum Writing Challenges at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

I still have not read one of the stories, so I am not going to cast my votes until Thursday. This should give those last-minute people time to send the full-stories out to be read.

Anyone who has read all the stories that posted their 13 lines may vote as of tomorrow.

All add my votes and tally Nov. 1st.

Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :

In the original post, November 7 is mentioned as the date when voting will tentatively conclude. Has that changed? Because I'm probably going to have to opt out if voting concludes on November 1, there's no way I'll be able to read everyone's stories in time (I only have one - have to mail everyone separately since I don't post my email addy here.)

Sorry if I misunderstood the deadlines, but I just re-read the first post and am pretty sure Nov 7 was the deadline we talked about.

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

Okay, if no one opposes, I'm good with extending the voting period to Plan A. Oct.31-Nov.7th.

I figured that with NaNoWriMo coming up, everyone would want this resolved sooner.

Last day is as originally planned: Nov. 7th.

Posted by darklight (Member # 5213) on :

Who's going to start the voting? I don't want to be the first!

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

There's no pecking order, darklight, if you know how you're going to vote, post your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Somebody has to be first.

Posted by Vanderbleek (Member # 6535) on :

1. "Sanitation Blues"-Halogen
2. "Apocalyptic Taco Mix"-Kayti
3. "Tacos and Freshman Year"-Mauvemuse

Hope I voted in the right format...

Posted by darklight (Member # 5213) on :

Before I cast my votes, I want to say that due to a bad depression, I was barely able to write a word during October; those that I did, were for my 'Taco Mix' story. I had thought, because of that, I would be unable to write my NaNo story too, but the wonderful stories I have read for this competition have truly inspired me to write, so I want to say a huge thank you for that, to everyone who entered a story. Thank you all!

Now for my votes:

1. Tacos of the Apocalypse by BoredCrow
2. The Third Rule by InarticulateBabbler
3. Taco by Tigertinite

Actually, I was tied for third place, so I'm going to say, KayTi, I'm giving your story an Honourable Mention, if that's alowed, and well done to all the others; this was very difficult.

I'll be sending out my critiques later today.

Posted by TaleSpinner (Member # 5638) on :

I for one am pleased we're sticking with the original plan for voting by Nov 7th, because I travel on business all the time and internet connections can be hard to find in ye merrie olde England.

Those of you who sent stories out on the 31st should have received my story today. If I've missed anyone please let me know.

Cheers,
Paat

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

I think everyone involved will agree that it was not an easy decision. No story was without merit.

A lot of you misunderstood and thought that the story either had to include, or had to be about the trigger phrase. For future challenges, this is not so. A trigger is a source. Think about the words (any one or all three) and what they bring to mind, and then go off in any direction you're inspired to. Sometimes--like word association--it can lead to completely different ideas. Sometimes those idea will cannibalize other, previous story-ideas and create something bigger and better. There's no wrong way to use a trigger. You can include or base the story on the trigger, but you don't have to.

That said, and without further adieu, my votes are:

1) halogen - Sanitation Blues
2) KayTi - Apocalyptic Taco Mix v3
3) Bored Crow - Tacos of the Apocalypse

Good luck to all.

[Edited for typo: can you believe I misspelled bigger? Just thought I'd share ]

[Edited to add:]

My honorable mention would be tigertinite - Taco, because the disturbing images were very potent. They are still kicking around my head. After the voting, I intend to comment on all the stories' strong points.

[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited November 03, 2007).]

Posted by tigertinite (Member # 4803) on :

Wow, all the stories were great. . .I had three personal favorites though. . .

1. "Apocalyptic Taco Mix" by Vanderbleek
2. The Third Rule by InarticulateBabbler
3. "Apocalyptic Taco Mix"-Kayti

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

quote:

I was barely able to write a word during October; those that I did, were for my 'Taco Mix' story. I had thought, because of that, I would be unable to write my NaNo story too, but the wonderful stories I have read for this competition have truly inspired me to write, so I want to say a huge thank you for that, to everyone who entered a story. Thank you all!

darklight, I'm glad that you wrote for this competition. Thank you. And, I'm glad that you could get some inspiration from this. Keep at it.

Posted by TaleSpinner (Member # 5638) on :

What a wide, wild variety of great stories from one phrase!

Here's my vote:

1 - Tacos of the Apocalypse - BoredCrow
2 - Apocalyptic Taco Mix - KayTi
3 - The Third Rule - InarticulateBabbler

And, honourable mention to Darklight.

Cheers,
Pat

[This message has been edited by TaleSpinner (edited November 03, 2007).]

Posted by BoredCrow (Member # 5675) on :

Definitely a fun read.
My votes are:

1)"Sanitation Blues" - halogen
2)"Tacos and Freshman Year" - Mauvemuse
3)"Apocalyptic Taco Mix v3" - KayTi

I had a hard time deciding for third place, and my honorable mention goes to IB.

[This message has been edited by BoredCrow (edited November 03, 2007).]

Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :

Awesome, really awesome. This was a great experience. Hard to pick favorites, and in my case favorites are partly style choices since I think all the stories were well-written. But here they are:

1. Tacos of the Apocalypse - BoredCrow
2. Sanitation Blues - Halogen
3. Taco - Tigertnite

Nice work, everyone, really nice work. It was hard to choose just three. I'll be sending out crits in a minute. And, by the way, when my arms ache tomorrow because I have to put in 5k words to make up for my nano deficit today...I'll be thinking about all of you!

Posted by halogen (Member # 6494) on :

Vanderbleek ("Apocalyptic Taco Mix)
Kayti (Apocalyptic Taco Mix)
InarticulateBabbler (The Third Rule)

All of them were really good stories!

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

We're missing two votes: Mauvemuse and meg.stout.

Posted by Mauvemuse (Member # 5488) on :

Um, I'm not sure that I can vote because I seem to have not gotten (or misplace--sorry!!) a few peoples stories. I emailed them and will be sure to read them by tonight (weird college schedule and all) and will vote before midnight. Will report back.

Oh, dear. I'm sorry about the timing guys. So here's my vote-->

1-halogen-Sanitation Blues
2-meg.stout- Crying
3-InarticulateBlabber-the Third Rule

Although everyone's were amazing

[This message has been edited by Mauvemuse (edited November 08, 2007).]

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

meg.stout, calling meg.stout. You are the last unaccounted for voter. And, so far, a day late.

[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited November 08, 2007).]

Posted by meg.stout (Member # 6193) on :

Hi dudes -

Sorry! Had a car accident and someone close to me is getting a divorce (physical abuse and other assorted ugliness).

Feel free to tally votes without me, though I'll try to post tomorrow.

Ciao!

P.S. - my screen was just showing me as having editing privileges on all the posts... but I promise I didn't edit my story into anyone else's post.

[This message has been edited by meg.stout (edited November 09, 2007).]

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

Not including Honorable mentions, the votes are:

1st Place with 6 votes goes to KayTi - Apocalyptic Taco Mix V3

Tied at 2nd Place, with 5 votes apiece are - halogen - Sanitary Blues & InarticulateBabbler - The Third Rule (Boy, it's wierd writing yourself in third-person.)

3rd Place with 4 votes goes to BoredCrow - Tacos of the Apocalypse

Thanks to all who competed. Again, everyone that completed the challenge is a winner. I hope that all the stories get cleaned up and polished, and submitted to market, and I wish you all luck.

I hope to see as many turn out for the next Trigger Challenge. Which brings me to:

KayTi, Congratulations!!!
I look forward to the topic with your trigger.

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

quote:

Sorry! Had a car accident and someone close to me is getting a divorce (physical abuse and other assorted ugliness).

That's horrible. I hope you're okay. Too bad about the friend's unfortunate situation. Take all the time you need.

Posted by BoredCrow (Member # 5675) on :

Congratulations, KayTi! And of course to IB and halogen as well.
And thanks to everyone who voted for me; I'm really happy to seem my name up on the board there.

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

Yes, halogen and BoredCrow, you also have my congratulations!

If we can manage a 1st draft/Trigger Challenge once or twice a month, we can build up the amount of stories we can polish and submit. Once again, the purpose is to keep writers writing. In fact, I've given serious thought to mixing some of the Liberty Hall (90 minute) Flash Challenges into one longer story. The angles this can be good from are unlimited.

Posted by darklight (Member # 5213) on :

Congratulations too all the winners, and to everyone who wrote a story for this challenge. And thank you all for the critiques of my story.

I'm now looking forward to the next challenge. KayTi, I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :

Oooh, thank you! I'm honored. What a great bunch of stories this was.

If you haven't already, please be sure to get critiques to the writers. We learn as much from receiving critiques as we do from writing or critting others, in my opinion. I sent all mine out, so if you didn't receive mine it's because of an email glitch. Let me know so I can resend it.

I will work on another trigger. I hope to have something up before Thanksgiving. I think it can be helpful to have goals during the busy holiday months to keep momentum going.

Thanks again, I am deeply honored. Congratulations to everyone. No matter what else - the world is 10 stories richer for our challenge!

Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :

Hey everyone - I will have a trigger (I have two in mind, actually - just debating whether to use the photo trigger or not. Have to take the photo and have someone else look at it and see if they see what I see or something similar, then I'll know if that would fly.)

But meanwhile, Skadder has a sub-1000 word challenge he wants to run so I think I will hold off on a new trigger for a short story challenge until after the holidays. Is that OK with everyone? I want to give ppl the max chance to participate, and I think once we get another week or two into Dec it gets hard. Plus, I suspect a few of us might be working on WOTF entries...