Weekly Short Stories Contest and Company! discussion

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Weekly Short Story Contests > Week 113- (Feb 22nd-29th) stories--- Topic: PROMPT DONE

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message 51: by Lydia (new)

Lydia | 109 comments Ah... okay. That clears it up a bit. I was just worried that there was something in my story that sparked controversy or something. You can continue.. :D


message 52: by Guy (new)

Guy (egajd) | 11249 comments Thanks, Al, glad you enjoyed it.


message 53: by M (last edited Mar 01, 2012 04:24PM) (new)

M | 11617 comments My Fair Lady is one of Dad’s favorite movies, and it’s one of the most lavish films I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen it probably ten times, the first time at the theater, when I was a kid. Pygmalion was one of the plays we covered in the senior English classes I taught. I like it a lot better than Lerner and Loewe’s musical.


message 54: by M (new)

M | 11617 comments Goodnight, pirates! I’ve got to go wash dishes.


message 55: by Guy (new)

Guy (egajd) | 11249 comments Have you seen Pygmalion with Wendy Hiller and Leslie Howard? It is excellent.

Here's a link to the movie Pygmalion.


message 56: by Lydia (new)

Lydia | 109 comments Thanks, Al! :D


message 57: by Guy (new)

Guy (egajd) | 11249 comments Thanks M for stepping in and giving Al a hand. She sounds very busy right now.


message 58: by M (new)

M | 11617 comments Thanks, Guy! You know enough about INFP’s to know that they have no talent for administration. You should have seen me try to run a business.


message 59: by Guy (new)

Guy (egajd) | 11249 comments M, I know what you mean. I will have spurts of mostly logical organizational energy. But six months later, I struggle with the form of logic my logic took back then. It is ... odd. And likely a good thing that I did not try to run my own business.


message 60: by Guy (last edited Mar 03, 2012 09:02PM) (new)

Guy (egajd) | 11249 comments Oh. M forgot to include the links to the polls.

Here's the story poll.

Here's the poetry poll.


message 61: by Guy (new)

Guy (egajd) | 11249 comments Here are the next competitions:

Story 114.

Suffrage 114.


message 62: by M (last edited Mar 04, 2012 02:29AM) (new)

M | 11617 comments Have a great week, Alex!

Thanks, Guy. How did you set up the link? The last few times I tried to do that, without just copying the URL, it didn’t work.


message 63: by M (new)

M | 11617 comments The link html? You'll have to show me what that is when you get back from the Bahamas.


message 64: by M (last edited Mar 04, 2012 10:59AM) (new)

M | 11617 comments Sorry to be offline so long! Whatever you want to put in a story is fine with me, Alex. What would you rate my last installment on the Popcorn Served thread? I may try to write another one of those this afternoon. It’s a beautiful afternoon here for writing.

Thanks for showing me where to find out how to do links. I imagine I’ll use that quite a bit once I’ve got it down.


message 65: by Guy (new)

Guy (egajd) | 11249 comments I was away busy, busy busy. M Al, I haven't received an e.mail regarding the polls or the new competition.

Is that something I can do or is that a moderator only function?

As to the links, I don't do it the way Al described. That is the official way. Given the nature of my nature, I actual use the html coding that is working in the background to make my links. This skill allows me to create links on any chat or blog, etc. that supports html.

So, if you are interested here's link creation by Guy. The amount of verbiage makes this look intimidating, but it isn't as bad as it looks and allows for more power and flexibility when creating links.

The sequence of what I'm going to describe doesn't matter, as long as it is put together correctly in the end. To describe I will substitute
'[' and ']' for html's '<' and '>'.

1. In the comment box, begin creating the link. For example, to link to M's comment 106 type the following:

[a href=""]M's Comment 106[/a]

the '[a' opens the anchor/link and the [/a] ultimately closes it.
the 'href=""' sets the anchor/link to be to a url / web address.

** Remember, when doing this us '<' and '>' instead of '[' and ']'. **

2. Now get the URL / Web address. In this case it is M's comment. So I would either go to the link and highlight and copy the address in the address-line of your browser; or opposite button click on the date/time link to M's comment and click on 'Copy Link Address'. In this case, as I wrote this the time showing is '3hours, 15 min ago'. In MS-Windows the exact text is different but the concept and functionality is the same. So, after opposite button clicking on the link you want, click on 'Copy Link Address' from the sub-menu to copy the address that is hidden beneath the link.

In this case I get:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...


3. Now that I've copied the address of the web page into my clipboard, I paste it between the ' "" ' in '2' above:
[a href="click cursor here and paste in the url"]M's Comment 106[/a].

It will look like: [a href="http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8... Comment 106[/a]


4. Do a 'Preview' to make sure there haven't been any typos: the preview even allows you to test the link.

When everything is correct it will look like:
M's Comment 106


While this looks a bit cumbersome it allows for super flexibility whenever I'm doing serious comments or blogs, etc. For example, most complex comments begin in my plain text editor. If I want to create a link to say, C.G. Jung in the Wikipedia or to another page in GR, I do it all by using the html coding, so that when I copy the text into the comment or blog, the links automatically work. This way I don't need to manufacture the link using the internal GR link creator or blogging buttons.


message 66: by Guy (new)

Guy (egajd) | 11249 comments Al as to words used, I really have no prohibitions against any words. My only reservation is when words are inserted simply for gratuitous affectation or prurient shock value.


message 67: by Guy (new)

Guy (egajd) | 11249 comments Al, get some sustenance, please! No fading. I'll be leaving the computer in a few minutes to put together tonights roast chicken with mashed potatoes and salad. Maybe some Brussels Sprouts, too. Delicious - maybe my favourite meal.

Have fun on your week away. Business or pleasure?


message 68: by Guy (new)

Guy (egajd) | 11249 comments And as to the link creation, it looks more complicated than it is. Copy the little bits and play with them and it all will come clear. Or not. LoL.


message 69: by Guy (new)

Guy (egajd) | 11249 comments M wrote: "Guy, I thoroughly enjoyed this! What subtle but devastating humor. It’s perfectly paced, the character portrayal flawless. You should have a career on the side writing short stories and novels."

M I have about 5/7ths of a novel written. If you are interested I could send you a chapter. You never know, if I can get even one person even semi-interested, I might actually finish it. I caution you that the few people I've shown it to found it ... how shall I put this? Wanting. Except for one person, but he is a bit of an eccentric character so I'm not sure if he counts.


message 70: by M (new)

M | 11617 comments Now I'm curious! Send me a chapter.


message 71: by M (new)

M | 11617 comments Good night, pirates! It’s time for me to head below decks to my creaking cot that sways to the ocean swells. I’ve got galley duty tomorrow morning.


message 72: by Caitlan (new)

Caitlan (lionesserampant) | 2869 comments MEE TOO!


message 73: by Guy (new)

Guy (egajd) | 11249 comments Wow, thanks for such enthusiasm. And it isn't a novel, yet. At least two more chapters to be written. And I am a peculiar writer, so I have no illusions that you will find it a worthy read. However, I would appreciate all feed back, especially the one's that suggest why and how it could be improved. If I get that, oh frabjous day, that would mean there is hope that it is good enough to be made better.

Here's the link to Chapter 1.


message 74: by M (last edited Mar 05, 2012 01:47PM) (new)

M | 11617 comments Guy, if the rest of the novel is like Chapter 1, it’s a vehicle for the author’s interesting but not always subtly presented philosophy. The writing is spectacularly witty and (as someone commenting on Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire remarked of Edward Gibbon) fearlessly opinionated.

The problem I see with it is that it unfolds almost entirely by means of exposition. The sparkling writing can help the story only so much. To make it come alive for the general reader, you may have to turn it into a series of scenes in which the actions and words of the characters tell most of the story. It’s the very problem I’m having with an old story I’ve been posting little by little, except that I don’t have the benefit of the philosophical mind, the astounding learning and acumen, and the marvelously playful writing that give yours its character.


message 75: by Guy (last edited Mar 05, 2012 02:03PM) (new)

Guy (egajd) | 11249 comments Al, I suspect that you have indeed read it, because you poked around in this section of my GR world. I don't remember if we talked about it though.

M, you are absolutely correct about the problem. And that you found it witty and playful gives me hope that there is hope in it. I will think about how I can shift the telling in this chapter.

In subsequent chapters I hope/think that I have created actual scenes with movement. So, again, if you are interested I can post another chapter to get your reaction.

And, thank you taking the time to read this thing. I did tell you it is peculiar. I re-read it for the first time in a couple of years, and I also found my opinions to be too heavy handed. So thanks also for remarking on that, as I will edit that too.


message 76: by M (new)

M | 11617 comments I thought you hated writing summaries.


message 77: by M (new)

M | 11617 comments The part I would hate is having to read the articles. I always avoided doing the reading whenever possible.


message 78: by M (new)

M | 11617 comments And they’re rarely interested in the big picture.


message 79: by M (new)

M | 11617 comments Even with four cohorts, it’s unlikely I’d conform when my mind told me what I was seeing was something different from what the others were saying. I wonder if it’s possible that there’s a temperamental component involved?


message 80: by M (new)

M | 11617 comments Call it a hunch, but I’ll bet ESTJ’s are more likely to conform than INFP’s.


message 81: by M (new)

M | 11617 comments Interesting! If Hanzle’s an ESTJ and you’re an INFP, then you have type codes that not only are exact opposites but that are the ones that represent the scales in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. (Those types themselves aren’t opposites in the sense of being most alien to each other. An extraverted Feeling type would likely be the type most alien to you--your superior function as something outward and mindlessly conventional rather than inward and operating under what seem to be its own laws.)


message 82: by M (last edited Mar 05, 2012 05:12PM) (new)

M | 11617 comments I just made a bad guess. ESFJ is one of the four types that are conventional in the ways they think (if they are T) and feel (if they are F) about things. (The other types that are hidebound by convention are ESTJ, ISFJ, and ISTJ.) An ESFJ has unconventional (introverted) thinking. An ESTJ has unconventional (introverted) feeling.

If Hanzle is an ESFJ, abstract, impersonal, logical thinking is what’s dark for her, what she’s least able to do at length and by sheer willpower, though at the same time it holds a mysterious attraction for her. She may be smart enough to cover up for whatever deficiencies in that area temperamentally, but what she’s naturally good at (extraverted feeling) is knowing what’s appropriate.


message 83: by Guy (last edited Aug 30, 2012 10:21PM) (new)

Guy (egajd) | 11249 comments Al, thanks for re-reading. I'm now thinking about actually looking at it again.

Typography is very interesting. We have some common traits, M. When younger I would get quiet instead of agreeing with a majority that was wrong. But I did not move unless I was convinced, and I'm difficult, not impossible to convince. But now that I'm older I have a tendency to not be quiet.

I relate well to M's comment about being smart enough to mask one's type rings true with my experience. As the only male kid who did well in school, everyone, including me, thought I was a thinker. But it turns out that I'm not, although I have enough brains to fool most people.

Back to the polls! I still haven't received notice of the polls. Is that still just me?

And I actually have another story idea! But my Mac is going into the shop for a few days, so I'm not sure how much chance I'm going to get to put it together - writing on the iPad is HARD! Okay, okay, I'll stop whining.


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