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Sherzahd
2 hours ago
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Quote by Circle_Something
Macavity: The Mystery Cat
by T S Eliot
Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw—
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime—Macavity's not there!
Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime—Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air—
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!
Macavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly domed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake.
Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square—
But when a crime's discovered, then Macavity's not there!
He's outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard's
And when the larder's looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke's been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair
Ay, there's the wonder of the thing! Macavity's not there!
And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty's gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair—
But it's useless to investigate—Macavity's not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
It must have been Macavity!'—but he's a mile away.
You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumb;
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.
Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare:
At whatever time the deed took place—MACAVITY WASN'T THERE !
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!
It's been a while since I read this, it was a favourite of mine as a child. Did you know that Macavity was modeled after both Macheath (a fictional character better known as Mack the Knife) and Moriarty (the villain in the Sherlock stories)?
Administration
Let the thread rest here for a while, but the thread isn't the problem, the posters are. They will pollute another thread soon. I'm all out of suggestions. I will try talking to all parties involved, but that will have to wait until morning. One last attempt at making them see reason.
Administration
Quote by gypsyQuote by Blue
Stories Space Drabble Competition!
This competition will run from Dec 7th, 2014 until Jan 16th, 2015 and the winner announced at the end of January. Late submissions will not be accepted.
Could it be clarified if the competition closes at midnight on the 16th, or at midnight on the 15th?
It seems to me that in previous competitions, the closing time was at the start of the final day announced, not at the end of said day.
I'm embarrassed
to admit that I have no idea, but I will check for and get back to you. Administration
Quote by paulusQuote by the_enchantress
You don't know if it's solely for the sake of money or not.
And if it was, it's their business.
You are right, I don't know. I didn't say I did, I merely stated, how I perceived their membership. People who join this site with the intention to become a member of this community, tend to reveal a few things about themselves. The contestants I refer to provided the absolute minimum for joining, submitted only the competition entry, clicked "like" a few times and fell silent again.
And what they want may be their business, but what this site allows isn't. Stories Space was, as far as I can tell, not created to provide some fast money for opportunists, but to become a community of people who love the written word, to give amateur authors a place to publish their stuff and to enable people to read, enjoy, and when they feel like it, comment en score on stories and poems here.
With every new competition we have new members as entrants and you're right, we don't see them around here until the next competition. It's not fair, but it's not against the rules of the competition. That said, we will take your suggestion under advisement.
Administration
I'm sure that if you enrolled in a course to learn how to be a better writer, they will teach you that planning is important. You're supposed to do a complete draft of your story (chapter by chapter, including word count), flesh out all your characters and plan your 'world' in fine detail. All of this is supposed to happen before you even attempt a first chapter. Well, that's what you're supposed to do...
Here's what I do... I write.
I tend to start writing the moment the opening line pops into my head. To me, that's the most important thing, that first line. It's also the hardest thing to come by, a good opening line that catches your reader's attention. Once you have that, just write. Write anything and everything that pops into your head, it can be tidied later. In my opinion - and this is really just my opinion - it is possible to plan a story to death. Too much thinking shows in your writing, whereas spontaneous writing has a much better flow.
Planning works for some, but there is no right or wrong when deciding which works best for you.
Here's what I do... I write.
I tend to start writing the moment the opening line pops into my head. To me, that's the most important thing, that first line. It's also the hardest thing to come by, a good opening line that catches your reader's attention. Once you have that, just write. Write anything and everything that pops into your head, it can be tidied later. In my opinion - and this is really just my opinion - it is possible to plan a story to death. Too much thinking shows in your writing, whereas spontaneous writing has a much better flow.
Planning works for some, but there is no right or wrong when deciding which works best for you.
Administration
Quote by Circle_SomethingUse straight quotes, not curly quotes.
I'm just curious as to why we have to use straight quotes. My word processing program, by default, uses curly quotes, as do a lot of others. Is it just to make the word-count more accurate?
From an editor's point of view, curly quotes are the correct form to use, but when you're writing something where word count is important, then you should use the straight quotes. Reason for this - and I speak under correction - is that when you're writing dialogue, your system will count the opening quote as one word.
There should be an option to keep your program from auto-correcting it. Click on the Microsoft button and go to 'Options'. It's fairly easy to figure out, but let me know if you're not finding it.
Administration
Quote by Circle_SomethingUse straight quotes, not curly quotes.
I'm just curious as to why we have to use straight quotes. My word processing program, by default, uses curly quotes, as do a lot of others. Is it just to make the word-count more accurate?
From an editor's point of view, curly quotes are the correct form to use, but when you're writing something where word count is important, then you should use the straight quotes. Reason for this - and I speak under correction - is that when you're writing dialogue, your system will count the opening quote as one word.
There should be an option to keep your program from auto-correcting it. Click on the Microsoft button and go to 'Options'. It's fairly easy to figure out, but let me know if you're not finding it.
Administration
Absolutely. I think it's a brilliant idea, it will only boost sales if your readers know that there's an audio included. Sometimes the true meaning of the written word can be lost, but hearing it somehow brings home what the writer is trying to convey. Fiction can be tricky though, especially if there's dialogue involved.
Administration
Quote by authorised1960
Is this scheme still live?
If not, why not?
Unfortunately not. The site has grown a lot since then, so it is hard for us to keep track of who has read what. It was never a simple task selecting a 'Reader of the Month', it required days of wading through stories and checking who has been reading regularly and leaving constructive feedback.
We will be adding a new feature to replace it soon.
Administration
Quote by Magnetron
What Is A Pome?
For those who incorrectly guessed
A pome is a brief quest
Lasting nowhere near as long as a tome
Unexpectedly ending shortly after it starts
And in the privacy of your own home
May involve K-Y Jelly
A lawn gnome
Perhaps auto parts
Sometimes it feels really good
Mostly it smarts
So, don't be a hero
Like when in Rome
I suggest you do as the Romans do
Except for Nero
Best known for accidentally burning everything down
While lighting his own farts
Love this...
Administration
Poem
noun: poem; plural noun: poems
a piece of writing in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by particular attention to diction (sometimes involving rhyme), rhythm, and imagery.
That's the jist of what all the popular dictionaries say. Nothing wrong with their definition, except that poetry is so much more than that.
A poem isn't something you can describe, not in intellectual terms anyway. It's a form of art, so like any other art-form it's an expression of what resides deep inside the artist. Any poem that's written using only your mind isn't really a poem, is it? A poem is an expression of what lives in your soul, in a place that even you won't understand at times.
I remember my high school English teacher once reading a poem in class and one of the students asked why we have to read poetry - it was an incredibly boring poem. She was quiet for a while, then she smiled and replied, "We don't. Poems read us." I'm not sure any of us really understood what she meant, but I never forgot what she said. Over the years my mind has drifted back to a lot of things she taught me, so I've had time to think about it. I think that I finally understand. It explains why a dozen people can read the same poem and each find a different meaning, some even finding hidden messages that the poet wasn't even consciously aware of while writing it.
I think that many of us have been conditioned to believe that a poem should read like the ones we were taught at school - flowery, puzzling and deep. And through all of that it should also make sense. That's the problem right there, we were taught to study poems and to somehow - despite what we take from it - reach the 'right' conclusion. There was a 'correct' -prescribed - interpretation of each poem and then there was the interpretation that would earn you an easy F. It didn't matter what we thought or felt while reading, so most of us grew to hate poetry. Poetry became just one more useless thing to suffer through at school.
And as usual, I digress... in answer to your question, Andrew - yes, most of your poems are rather pointless, but that does not necessarily make them bad poems. On the contrary, I rather enjoy well-written pointless poetry, it's like a breath of fresh air for the brain and the soul. It's not over-thought or too hard to understand. They make me smile, even when I'm not in the mood to smile. I think of your poetry as a walk on the light side, except for when you're having a rant, but even those are well-written. I remember when you first arrived here and started posting your 'Lady Vodka' poems, I thought, "Hmm... how much can one say about Vodka? He'll run dry soon enough." I was wrong, the poems kept coming and strangely, each of them were interesting and unique. The world needs more poets like you.
Now if you truly want to contemplate what pointless poetry is all about, have a look at Aram Saroyan's poem, 'Lighght'. It's been estimated to be the most expensive word in history. Go figure... I wonder how long it took him to write that one.
Administration
It's an issue we're aware of and we are looking into it. The low scores are all anonymous votes and that should not even be possible - it's not possible to score a 3 or less while not logged in. I assure you this will be sorted, but I cannot tell you how long it will take to investigate the matter. The only solution I can offer right now is for you to inbox me the links to the affected stories and I will remove all anonymous votes.
Really proud of all you've achieved in such a short time, something everyone on here should aspire to. Administration
Our "A Picture Worth A Thousand Words" Story/Poetry Competition is now officially over, and after careful deliberation, the winners have been selected.
The top three entries are:
First place: The Trees Know All Our Secrets by Ruthie
$50 cash prize & a copy of 'I Often Wonder' by Alan Jankowski
Second place: Katie's Cat by Umbriel
$35 cash prize & a custom-made book cover by cover artist Alex Fenris
Third place: To Fly Like A Hawk by An_Occasional_Writer
$15 cash prize & a story edit up to 8k words by Maggie Rascal
Please join me in congratulating our winners. =d>
Thank you to everyone who took part in the competition, the standard of quality in this contest made it a difficult one to judge. I would also like to thank everyone who supported our entrants by reading, voting and commenting on the entries.
And a big thank you to the judges who took the time to read all the entries and help us select the winners.
The top three entries are:
First place: The Trees Know All Our Secrets by Ruthie
$50 cash prize & a copy of 'I Often Wonder' by Alan Jankowski
Second place: Katie's Cat by Umbriel
$35 cash prize & a custom-made book cover by cover artist Alex Fenris
Third place: To Fly Like A Hawk by An_Occasional_Writer
$15 cash prize & a story edit up to 8k words by Maggie Rascal
Please join me in congratulating our winners. =d>
Thank you to everyone who took part in the competition, the standard of quality in this contest made it a difficult one to judge. I would also like to thank everyone who supported our entrants by reading, voting and commenting on the entries.
And a big thank you to the judges who took the time to read all the entries and help us select the winners.
