A 'hundred word' Contest Story Thread

[cacian]

Let's make this a weekly contest where we can all post a hundred word story then at the end post a poll and vote for the best one.
It is similar to the minimalist poetry contest.
One choses a topic alphabetically and we all proceed to write a 100 word story and post it here. No rules just use the topic as the prompt to write your story.
I am hoping at least few will post why not come and have a go.

http://www.wordcounttool.com/


So out of the hat a word beginning with A and it is ARRIVAL.
so the topic for this week is:
THE ARRIVAL and because it is midweek we have until SATURDAY 27th and the voting begins SATURDAY NIGHT.
Post your story here.

Please GIVE A TITLE your story it makes it easier for the poll.
Thank you.

[MystyrMystyry]

I was walking down the street and I tripped on a banana peel - not intentionally, but as it was obscured by an old newspaper sheet I couldn't see it. My feet went straight up and I landed on my head in the gutter which really hurt. But it could have been worse: last week the newspaper was covering an open manhole and when I stepped on it I fell in and broke all my bones - that really hurt!. When I was down there I was eaten by a very big crocodile and taken out to sea. He burped and I climbed out and swam away. Anyway, I'd arrived!

[MystyrMystyry]

The way I figure it repeat words should count as only one word. Otherwise you'd never get anywhere.

[cacian]

The way I figure it repeat words should count as only one word. Otherwise you'd never get anywhere.

Hi MystyrMystyr that is fine.

[sarah.nichole]

The pain was gone. I struggled, trying to decide if this was good or bad. It was good because the pain was gone. But it was bad, because no pain meant nothing—literally, nothing. My world was now black. Correction; there was no more world. It was only darkness. It was peaceful though. I had had a good life, full of love and laughter. Now it was time to sleep. Sleep without pain. It was a relief, really. I realized that I was ready for this day. No regrets.
He hovered above me, waiting. I knew then.
Death had arrived.


It's a little morbid I suppose, but death was the first thing that came to my mind when I read "the arrival". Sounds kind of ominous to me!

[YesNo]

I was concerned some calculation was incorrect in my thesis when my Aunt Shirley arrived from the waist up. I lived in her home with her impatience through the second grade while my parents arranged their adult lives.

It wasn’t until my father died that I heard the stories and I realized how easily a child misinterprets adult problems. They partially explained why Aunt Shirley moved a thousand miles away from us and why my parents did not learn that she had died that morning until days later.

All she said was, "I'm sorry."

All I said was, "It's OK."

[hillwalker]

The way I figure it repeat words should count as only one word. Otherwise you'd never get anywhere.

What?

So how is anyone supposed to know whether a piece is too long without checking every repeated word? There's one thing literary agents and publishers detest more than bad writing and that's writers who think the submission rules don't apply to them. It's surely easier to restrict the total word count to 100 without exception. If you can't stick to this simple rule then your story doesn't get entered in the competition.

H

[MystyrMystyry]

It's surely easier to restrict the total word count to 100 without exception

Go on then.

The point being it gives you a bit more latitude if it's a hundred unique words rather than being half-consumed by 'and' 'I' 'the' 'a' etc

Also most of us have better things to do than count words, visit other websites to check number of words or become completely anal about a random number which is far too large to ever be useful in daily life.

[hillwalker]

Also most of us have better things to do than count words, visit other websites to check number of words or become completely anal about a random number which is far too large to ever be useful in daily life.

Good luck when you enter any 'real' writing competitions if that's your attitude. If you use most standard word processing programs they have an automatic word counting tool - hardly anal.

H

[Volya]

It's surely easier to restrict the total word count to 100 without exception

Go on then.

The point being it gives you a bit more latitude if it's a hundred unique words rather than being half-consumed by 'and' 'I' 'the' 'a' etc

Also most of us have better things to do than count words, visit other websites to check number of words or become completely anal about a random number which is far too large to ever be useful in daily life.

What on earth is wrong with limiting it to 100 words??? 'and' 'I' and 'the', etc should all be included in a word count...

[hillwalker]

It gives you a bit more latitude if it's a hundred unique words rather than being half-consumed by 'and' 'I' 'the' 'a' etc.

Maybe you're right after all. If your vocabulary was limited to 100 words you could write a story stretching over dozens of pages and still remain within the word-count limit. Reminds me of Jack in 'The Shining' movie writing an entire novel that only consisted of the phrase 'all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'. Booker Prize material using this kind of logic.

H

[Calidore]

If your vocabulary was limited to 100 words you could write a story stretching over dozens of pages and still remain within the word-count limit.

Dr. Seuss famously wrote Green Eggs and Ham on a bet with his publisher, Bennett Cerf, that he couldn't write a book using only 50 words.

Maybe that should be a writing contest; rather than a 100-word-long story, write a story of any length using 100 words.

[miyako73]

Mother's Arrival

After cursing the Holy Virgin in his native tongue, in a weak baritone that sounded like he had a cold, Antonio closed his eyes, forcing himself to fall asleep, but the sagging mattress felt uncomfortable on his slouch.

He used to be a priest whose assignments were in Africa. On his fiftieth birthday, he left the Church. He had seen so much poverty and suffering his God could not alleviate even a little.

Nursing a rare lung disease, he came back to Chicago and lived in a hospice, waiting for the Virgin to arrive, waiting to die in his sleep.

[cacian]

The idea was was to write a short story with the potential to entertain.
I thought of a shocking entrance line to get attention then a lower tone one to losen up the senses a bit.
Like a rockguitar sound it would start off with high shreeking notes and ends on a easy ring tone.
Words came and went and with plenty to vent but hesitations on meanings and plots took up toll.
I eventually arrived at the conclusion that I might not be good at it after all . I have trouble containing my swaying ideas and they have trouble containing me.

[cacian]

Ok guys this contest is closed.