Week 292 – Word Bubblewrap, Mood Reading, And Credit Where It’s Due – Blade II Was Rather Good!

This is one of those weeks where I haven’t a clue what I’m going to write about.

Talk amongst yourself if you’d prefer!!

I could sing a wee song…

‘A piston thrust

A moment shared’

Definitely not!! (I’ll come back to that)

I had a glance to see if anything stood out in history but apart from the usual death, destruction, wars and people being shafted by their rulers, there was fuck all happening.

No joy there then!

The submissions are still coming in thick and fast, we get the few discourteous ones and the odd Bell-End but overall it’s a pleasure.

The stories range from the excellent to the bizarre. Oh and bizarre has a couple of subsections as well. We have the brilliant bizarre and the ‘we think that the person has skipped their medication’ bizarre. Sometimes both of them are successful!

I’ve nothing new to report regarding the site, we are plodding along nicely.

What I am now wondering is when it’s obvious that someone is padding a piece of writing out. For the life of me I can’t think why this has came into my head?

I think when we read some submissions, one of the most common complaints that we have is that the story needs cut back. The writer isn’t intentionally padding it out but I think they get wrapped up in the painting a picture idea. ESL writers generally have trouble with this balance. But we’ll never be too hard on them, making any attempt at another language is beyond impressive.

There are some stunning lyrical writers out there that you can immerse yourself into their words and go along for the ride.

I think your enjoyment of this type of writing really does depend on your mood. Sometimes you enjoy them, sometimes you don’t. I do believe that the writers of this type of story take more of a gamble than a traditional writer. It’s the same with those absurdest / mad, whatever you call them stories, when you read them you either get them or you don’t. You either smile or grimace.

Anyone who puts their work out there is brave but the more specialised type of writers are braver still. They need to navigate around that one opinion which may be being affected by the mood of the reader at that specific moment.

There are swings and roundabouts to every part of writing. Lyrically is difficult to resonate to the masses but it takes away from the ‘idea’ issue. Let’s be honest, there are not many new ideas out there so we need to spin out what we have in any way possible that gives the story that wee bit difference.

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve read a few ideas that were that bit different but unfortunately they didn’t make it. The reason that I mention this is that it is comforting to know that there are still a few things out there that we can write about that haven’t been overkilled in the mainstream. We can continue to look for the holy grail of an idea, it’s still out there, probably somewhere between Brigadoon and Shangri La.

Okay onto this weeks stories.

We had three new writers, the legend that is Mr Sheehan and me.

To our three newbies, we welcome them, hope that they have fun on the site and most importantly, we want to see more of their work.

Topics this week include; Tom Robinson being right, an electric character, an eating disorder, intelligence and a friendship.

As always our initial comments follow.

I was first up on Monday.

Thanks to everyone who commented and have read my stories over the years as well as the ever present Nik and Diane.

I had a lot of fun writing ‘Never Being Confused‘ although it did make my head hurt.

Life is simple but we make it much more difficult. And it’s getting much more confusing with the amount of options and considerations that some insist on living by.

Tom Sheehan was next up.

The contribution that this writer has made to our site is exceptional. And he is continually sending us in more of his work.

‘Wingsy’ was published on Tuesday.

‘History and mystery. Tom comes into his own with this type of story.’

‘This was gripping and enthralling.’

‘I liked that it left you with a bit of a mystery.’

Our first new writer broke the back of the week.

‘Two Languages And An Imaginary Number‘ was Jie Wang’s first story on the site.

‘This has something that most AI stories miss.’

‘The issue of living too long was emphasised by the melancholy.’

‘Tiredness and loneliness is all that you are left with when everything else has gone away.’

Dave Canning was next up.

‘Eat‘ was published on Thursday.

‘The sort of fantasy at the end works well.’

‘Body image and food fantasy would always be in conflict.’

‘Dave has done a cracking job with this!’

And on Friday we had Paul McLellan-Young’s first story for us.

Confide / Confine finished off the week.

‘A story written in this POV needs to grab me – This one did!’

‘Poignant, violent and moving.’

‘Him being misjudged just added to his problems.’

That’s another week over.

Usual homage to Miss Anderson’s Spirit Union – I wonder if she is still religious or has turned to the depressing logic of atheism?

Please keep the comments coming.

And if you want a shot at The Sunday Re-Run, pick an older story that you’ve enjoyed, write a spiel or an introduction and throw in a few questions for the writer. We’ll publish exactly what you send us.

To finish off I had a look at the birthdays on the day that I was writing this, which was the 29^th. Four stood out and made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Billy Butlin, Fred West and Matt and Luke Goss were all born on that day in history.

Each of these people have contributed to much misery.

Billy Butlin, well, holiday camps are dictatorial fun with the enthusiastic Red Coats and their overbearing smiles and sugary persona. The best that you can come away with is passive diabetes.

Fred West – One of the sickest individuals ever to have lived. Not that I’m saying that he became what he did after a visit to a holiday camp but it’s something to consider. I think Barry Island has been mentioned many times in his past.

Matt and Luke Goss – They were part of the pop group ‘Bros’.

Fair play to them, they made a fortune and were loved by loads of teenage girls.

I honestly don’t get their popularity and I judge those young ladies more than the twins.

Their singing and songs were absolute mince. If you don’t believe me, get onto YouTube and look up their song, ‘Cat Amongst The Pigeons’ – It is truly abysmal. And if you want a spectacularly bad version, have a look at the live at Hammersmith Odeon 1988.

The late eighties was well dodgy for holidays, renovation and listening to music.

Hugh

Image entitled – Holiday camps get going again. A team of 12 redcoats stride towards the camera ????

Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer / Public domain