Thanks everyone!
Congratulations to all who put their own, original work out there to be judged. Some terrific pieces came out of this contest, and their writers are to be commended. Well done!
Divine Rapscallion
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magnificent1rascal
Over 90 days ago
United States
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Divine Rapscallion
The Six-Word Story Prize, put on by Fleeting Magazine, intrigued me, so I decided to try my hand at the ultimate in precisely concise writing. Here are my entries:
• Relief came, then tears: "It's benign."
• "I'm sorry."
"I know. Leave anyway."
• "Should I leave?"
"No, I will."
• A mother, dead: Our hearts ache.
• She beamed. Two blue lines — finally!
It is incredibly difficult in just six words to tell a story that is complete enough for the reader to fill in something of a plot. I believe, or at least hope, that I've done a reasonably good job of the assignment.
• Relief came, then tears: "It's benign."
• "I'm sorry."
"I know. Leave anyway."
• "Should I leave?"
"No, I will."
• A mother, dead: Our hearts ache.
• She beamed. Two blue lines — finally!
It is incredibly difficult in just six words to tell a story that is complete enough for the reader to fill in something of a plot. I believe, or at least hope, that I've done a reasonably good job of the assignment.
Divine Rapscallion
I'm going to list everything again, just in case I change my signature one of these days and do away with the links in it. 
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/maggierascal
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/MaggieRascalPage
Twitter: http://twitter.com/maggie1rascal
Website: http://www.maggierascal.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/maggierascal
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/MaggieRascalPage
Twitter: http://twitter.com/maggie1rascal
Website: http://www.maggierascal.com/
Divine Rapscallion
"Goes into a bar" jokes for grammar geeks.
1. A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.
2. A dangling modifier walks into a bar. After finishing a drink, the bartender asks it to leave.
3. A question mark walks into a bar?
4. Two quotation marks “walk into” a bar.
5. A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, planning to drink.
6. The bar was walked into by the passive voice.
7. Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They drink. They leave.
1. A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.
2. A dangling modifier walks into a bar. After finishing a drink, the bartender asks it to leave.
3. A question mark walks into a bar?
4. Two quotation marks “walk into” a bar.
5. A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, planning to drink.
6. The bar was walked into by the passive voice.
7. Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They drink. They leave.
Divine Rapscallion
Congratulations, that's awesome!
When will you find out if you might get a cash prize?
When will you find out if you might get a cash prize?
Divine Rapscallion
Can you make a rule that the winner NOT have an av that creeps me out?
Divine Rapscallion
Well, apparently I am an award-winning artist — a pair of my clay tiles received a prize at a community art show last weekend. 
Divine Rapscallion
Quote by Lisa
Thanks, Maggie! I noticed you've just joined Twitter. It's good to see you there.
Thanks, Lisa! Yes, I decided to fully embrace the whole social media craze and see what comes of it. As of now, folks can:
• Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Maggie1Rascal
• Add me as a Friend or Subscribe to my public posts on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/maggierascal, or
• Like my Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/MaggieRascalPage
(Or they can click on any of the links in my award-worthy signature below.)
Divine Rapscallion
This business of promoting myself does not come easily to me, especially the most effective method I have found, which is...telling people I know in person about my work here. Actually, it's a combination of telling a few people about my only story posted, and taking great care in linking it and my poetry submissions so they follow a smooth progression in terms of both content and style.
Seriously, an email message sent to five people (which they then passed on to who knows how many others) letting them know I had posted a story I thought they might be interested in reading was followed by a substantial increase in both votes and views on all of my pieces. It had to have been more than mere coincidence. And in one case, it resulted in a wonderful opportunity for me that wouldn't have come about otherwise, so I had to grudgingly admit that a little self-promotion can be a good thing.
Seriously, an email message sent to five people (which they then passed on to who knows how many others) letting them know I had posted a story I thought they might be interested in reading was followed by a substantial increase in both votes and views on all of my pieces. It had to have been more than mere coincidence. And in one case, it resulted in a wonderful opportunity for me that wouldn't have come about otherwise, so I had to grudgingly admit that a little self-promotion can be a good thing.
Divine Rapscallion
This is an excellent resource, Lisa! Thanks for posting it.
Divine Rapscallion
Quote by Rumple_deWriter
Not meaning to sound negative -- in fact, I'm pretty positive -- but this thread could set back the craft of writing to the Bulwar-Lytton era.
"It was a dark and stormy night when she picked up her favorite raccoon pen, and put it to her favorite rose-colored paper, and scribbled her favorite opening prose: 'It was a dark and stormy night...'"
Divine Rapscallion
Quote by Rumple_deWriter
Rascal, IMHO you'd win the first place award if there was a 'Longest Sig Line Ever' contest. ;)
I wonder if they'd give me a badge for that...
Divine Rapscallion
I believe anyone fortunate enough to receive an Editor's Pick award on this fine website may rightfully be referred to as an award-winning writer. It's even better than winning a contest, in my opinion — rather like winning a competition you didn't enter.
Divine Rapscallion
Quote by DirtyMartini
Oh, I just remembered...I like to have my computer with me when I write...I guess that would be my "thing"...
LOL — But aside from the computer (which is, indeed, a handy "thing" to have), I need a pad and pen within easy reach when I'm writing a poem. Despite my embracement of technology, I compose most of my poems by putting pen to paper.
(And yes, I do have a favorite pen. I suppose it could be considered my thing.)
Divine Rapscallion
Quote by DirtyMartini
Let me go finish that story before it gets pneumonia, or the cockroaches eat it...
And here all along I thought it was dogs that ate stories...oh wait, that's homework...my bad...
To avoid story pneumonia, just be sure you're only writing to one cockroach, or something like that...
Divine Rapscallion
George Orwell's Rules for Writers
1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
http://www.listsofnote.com/2012/03/orwells-rules-for-writers.html
1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
http://www.listsofnote.com/2012/03/orwells-rules-for-writers.html
Divine Rapscallion
Kurt Vonnegut’s Eight Tips on How to Write a Great Story
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things-reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/03/kurt-vonnegut-on-writing-stories/
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things-reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/03/kurt-vonnegut-on-writing-stories/
Divine Rapscallion
Six Tips on Writing from John Steinbeck
1. Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.
2. Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material.
3. Forget your generalized audience. In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn’t exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.
4. If a scene or a section gets the better of you and you still think you want it—bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn’t belong there.
5. Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you, dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.
6. If you are using dialogue—say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/12/john-steinbeck-six-tips-on-writing/
1. Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.
2. Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material.
3. Forget your generalized audience. In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn’t exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.
4. If a scene or a section gets the better of you and you still think you want it—bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn’t belong there.
5. Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you, dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.
6. If you are using dialogue—say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/12/john-steinbeck-six-tips-on-writing/
Divine Rapscallion
Thanks, Lisa and Alan!
I thought it was probably just a matter of common sense, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.
I thought it was probably just a matter of common sense, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Divine Rapscallion
I just posted my first 18+ piece, and before I revise my links I was wondering what the guidelines are as far as linking stories of different ratings? I certainly don't want to offend anyone, but I would like to be able to link my new work to something else in my portfolio.
Most of my poems are G, along with a couple that I selected 13+ for not because of racy content, but because they are a little more "mature" reads than the rest. Right now I have Sensual Encounter, the 18+ piece, linked to one of the 13+ poems (Fragmented, Too). Is that all right? Is it safe to assume you'd prefer an 18+ piece not be linked to one that's rated G?
Thanks!
Most of my poems are G, along with a couple that I selected 13+ for not because of racy content, but because they are a little more "mature" reads than the rest. Right now I have Sensual Encounter, the 18+ piece, linked to one of the 13+ poems (Fragmented, Too). Is that all right? Is it safe to assume you'd prefer an 18+ piece not be linked to one that's rated G?
Thanks!
Divine Rapscallion
Once upon a clear dark night an elderly man with a wicked cat who ate all of his freshly caught shrimp in a most peculiar, yet satisfyingly white china bowl.
There were sounds outside his window as the wind turbine that spins came crashing down, scattering the crows. The sounds of wings, furious and flapping, came through the darkness.
And with that become clear that the old man's home was not a good place, not like before. He chose to ignore it for he already knew the reason: It was time warped. So, instead he joined the circus. There, he became an amazing acrobat who created an entertaining show for the elderly folk who ate watermelons and spit seeds into the offending crowd of onlookers.
Covered in seeds, the acrobat then promptly took his large knives and sliced a huge potato in dodecahedrons — took great care with each 12-sided shape before throwing his knives back to the sous-chef, who swore in six different languages whilst standing on a rotating toadstool, for this was ga ga land.
The knives landed one by one and pierced a cocoon, narrowly missing the butterfly's toenails, which caused its cocoon to pop. Wingless and flightless, the poor butterfly soon became prey to a large timid, lovelorn bat that befriended the...
There were sounds outside his window as the wind turbine that spins came crashing down, scattering the crows. The sounds of wings, furious and flapping, came through the darkness.
And with that become clear that the old man's home was not a good place, not like before. He chose to ignore it for he already knew the reason: It was time warped. So, instead he joined the circus. There, he became an amazing acrobat who created an entertaining show for the elderly folk who ate watermelons and spit seeds into the offending crowd of onlookers.
Covered in seeds, the acrobat then promptly took his large knives and sliced a huge potato in dodecahedrons — took great care with each 12-sided shape before throwing his knives back to the sous-chef, who swore in six different languages whilst standing on a rotating toadstool, for this was ga ga land.
The knives landed one by one and pierced a cocoon, narrowly missing the butterfly's toenails, which caused its cocoon to pop. Wingless and flightless, the poor butterfly soon became prey to a large timid, lovelorn bat that befriended the...
Divine Rapscallion
Once upon a clear dark night an elderly man with a wicked cat who ate all of his freshly caught shrimp in a most peculiar, yet satisfyingly white china bowl.
There were sounds outside his window as the wind turbine that spins came crashing down, scattering the crows. The sounds of wings, furious and flapping, came through the darkness.
And with that become clear that the old man's home was not a good place, not like before. He chose to ignore it for he already knew the reason: It was time warped. So, instead he joined the circus. There, he became an amazing acrobat who created an entertaining show for the elderly folk who ate watermelons and spit seeds into the offending crowd of onlookers.
Covered in seeds, the acrobat then promptly took his large knives and sliced a huge potato in dodecahedrons — took great care with each 12-sided shape before throwing his knives back to the sous-chef, who swore in six different languages whilst standing on a rotating toadstool, for this was ga ga land.
The knives landed one by one and pierced a cocoon, narrowly missing the butterfly's toenails, which caused its cocoon to pop. Wingless and flightless, the poor butterfly...
There were sounds outside his window as the wind turbine that spins came crashing down, scattering the crows. The sounds of wings, furious and flapping, came through the darkness.
And with that become clear that the old man's home was not a good place, not like before. He chose to ignore it for he already knew the reason: It was time warped. So, instead he joined the circus. There, he became an amazing acrobat who created an entertaining show for the elderly folk who ate watermelons and spit seeds into the offending crowd of onlookers.
Covered in seeds, the acrobat then promptly took his large knives and sliced a huge potato in dodecahedrons — took great care with each 12-sided shape before throwing his knives back to the sous-chef, who swore in six different languages whilst standing on a rotating toadstool, for this was ga ga land.
The knives landed one by one and pierced a cocoon, narrowly missing the butterfly's toenails, which caused its cocoon to pop. Wingless and flightless, the poor butterfly...
Divine Rapscallion
Once upon a clear dark night an elderly man with a wicked cat who ate all of his freshly caught shrimp in a most peculiar, yet satisfyingly white china bowl.
There were sounds outside his window as the wind turbine that spins came crashing down scattering the crows. The sounds of wings, furious and flapping came through the darkness.
And with that become clear that the old man's home was not a good place, not like before. He chose to ignore it for he already knew the reason for it was time warped. So, instead he joined the circus. There, he became an amazing acrobat who created a entertaining show for the elderly folk who ate watermelons and spit seeds into the offending crowd of onlookers.
Covered in seeds, the acrobat then promptly took his large knives and sliced a huge potato in dodecahedrons — took great care with each 12-sided shape before throwing his knives back to the sous-chef, who swore in six different languages whilst standing on a rotating toadstool, for this was ga ga land.
The knives landed one by one and pierced a cocoon, narrowly missing
There were sounds outside his window as the wind turbine that spins came crashing down scattering the crows. The sounds of wings, furious and flapping came through the darkness.
And with that become clear that the old man's home was not a good place, not like before. He chose to ignore it for he already knew the reason for it was time warped. So, instead he joined the circus. There, he became an amazing acrobat who created a entertaining show for the elderly folk who ate watermelons and spit seeds into the offending crowd of onlookers.
Covered in seeds, the acrobat then promptly took his large knives and sliced a huge potato in dodecahedrons — took great care with each 12-sided shape before throwing his knives back to the sous-chef, who swore in six different languages whilst standing on a rotating toadstool, for this was ga ga land.
The knives landed one by one and pierced a cocoon, narrowly missing
Divine Rapscallion
Once upon a clear dark night an elderly man with a wicked cat who ate all of his freshly caught shrimp in a most peculiar, yet satisfyingly white china bowl.
There were sounds outside his window as the wind turbine that spins came crashing down scattering the crows. The sounds of wings, furious and flapping came through the darkness.
And with that become clear that the old man's home was not a good place, not like before. He chose to ignore it for he already knew the reason for it was time warped. So, instead he joined the circus. There, he became an amazing acrobat who created a entertaining show for the elderly folk who ate watermelons and spit seeds into the offending crowd of onlookers.
Covered in seeds, the acrobat then promptly took his large knives and sliced a huge potato in dodecahedrons — took great care with each 12-sided shape before throwing his knives back to the sous-chef, who swore in six different languages whilst standing on a rotating toadstool, for this was
There were sounds outside his window as the wind turbine that spins came crashing down scattering the crows. The sounds of wings, furious and flapping came through the darkness.
And with that become clear that the old man's home was not a good place, not like before. He chose to ignore it for he already knew the reason for it was time warped. So, instead he joined the circus. There, he became an amazing acrobat who created a entertaining show for the elderly folk who ate watermelons and spit seeds into the offending crowd of onlookers.
Covered in seeds, the acrobat then promptly took his large knives and sliced a huge potato in dodecahedrons — took great care with each 12-sided shape before throwing his knives back to the sous-chef, who swore in six different languages whilst standing on a rotating toadstool, for this was