Need 100 Posts to Vote...

[AutumnGal]

Hello, fellow Lit lovers!

As you may have gleened from the title of this post, I need 100 posts under my proverbial belt to be able to vote in this year's Literature Network Short Story Competition, which ends on December 31. I just today became a member of this community, so my work is cut out for me!

I have read all four stories, and I have decided upon my favorite. So, I invite everyone who reads this to post a response that I can then reply to in kind. Hopefully, I will have garnered my 100 posts before the deadline.

Cheers! ;)
AG

[Virgil]

Hello, fellow Lit lovers!

As you may have gleened from the title of this post, I need 100 posts under my proverbial belt to be able to vote in this year's Literature Network Short Story Competition, which ends on December 31. I just today became a member of this community, so my work is cut out for me!

I have read all four stories, and I have decided upon my favorite. So, I invite everyone who reads this to post a response that I can then reply to in kind. Hopefully, I will have garnered my 100 posts before the deadline.

Cheers! ;)
AG

Autumn, why don't you play some of the games. That will get your post counts up. Welcome to lit net, by the way.

[AutumnGal]

Hi, Virgil. Thanks for responding. I am playing the games, as well. This was just one more post to which I could keep checking on and responding.

;-)
AG

[Virgil]

Which of the four stories are you going to vote for?

[B-Mental]

welcome autumngal.. hope you like it here. the word association games will get your post up quickly.

[Jean-Baptiste]

Well, while you're at this, why don't you tell us what you find appealing in literature? Do you find yourself drawn to any particular genres more than others? Do you have a favorite author/book/genre/literary theory/etc?

[AutumnGal]

Which of the four stories are you going to vote for?

I'd love to discuss the stories and my fave with you, but I understood that was a violation of the rules. :p

[AutumnGal]

welcome autumngal.. hope you like it here. the word association games will get your post up quickly.

Hi, B,

Thank you. I have been playing them, but it seems others are occupied elsewhere and do not respond to my last post very quickly. It's no fun to be the only one playing a game. :p

[Virgil]

I'd love to discuss the stories and my fave with you, but I understood that was a violation of the rules. :p

Oh is it? I gave a rough rationale on why I voted the way I voted. I wonder if I broke the rules. Either way, you can clearly see who i voted for.

[AutumnGal]

Well, while you're at this, why don't you tell us what you find appealing in literature? Do you find yourself drawn to any particular genres more than others? Do you have a favorite author/book/genre/literary theory/etc?

Well...*clearing her throat for a lengthy oration* Just kidding. Lately I have been drawn to Austen. I finished The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas in late October, and while I enjoyed it--it also wore me out. One thing I've observed about these "classic" authors is that they used a great deal of words to express a thought when a succinct sentence would have conveyed the meaning just as easily. I feel Dumas could have chopped his tome in half if he had instead employed an economy of words--and he still would have given the world a fantastic story.

My tastes in genres run the literary spectrum: I was on a high-fantasy tear earlier in the year. In the fantasy realm I love Terry Goodkind and George R. R. Martin. In fact, I took up the classics as a way to pass the time until Martin's next book in his latest series came out in early spring. As a newly graduated and emancipated young woman (oh, so many years ago), I worked in a B-Dalton Bookstore where my tastes were somewhat influenced by the handsome Assistant Manager. He had but to mention a book he liked, and I had my nose in it not long after the syllables left his lips. His tastes ran more toward crime novels--I probably never would have read Silence of the Lambs until he uttered the title. His beloved older sister was a lesbian, so he was into Rita Mae Brown to better understand her culture.

I never much minded what a story was about--I just longed to be transported. When I was younger, I remember my older sister (two years separate us) always had a book in her face. I didn't understand what fascinated her so about books--and then I read one. Not one of the little, hard-backed Golden books of my toddlerhood, but a real, Newberry Award Winner: Mrs. Brisby and the Rats of NIMH. I was in fourth grade, and I will never forget how that book transported me. SO, while you can imagine that my tastes run mostly to fiction, I have been known to read non-fiction, as well--if peoples' accounts of their near-death experiences can be counted as non-fiction (seems many scientists want to discount their recountings as fictitious).

Okay, I've gone on long enough. If anything strikes you as reply-worthy, feel free to do so.

AG

[AutumnGal]

Oh is it? I gave a rough rationale on why I voted the way I voted. I wonder if I broke the rules. Either way, you can clearly see who i voted for.

Yes, I saw that, and let me just say that you and I have similar tastes. ;)

[Virgil]

Autumn, you can also introduce yourself in the introduction thread, if you haven't already. You can tell us a little bit about yourself. I take it you live in the west part of the US, say Colorado, since you were talking about a blizzard.

[AutumnGal]

I take it you live in the west part of the US, say Colorado, since you were talking about a blizzard.

You are correct, my dear Watson. :p Hey, I'm 1/5 of the way to my goal! I think I will go post an introduction. Thank you for the suggestion. ;)

[Jean-Baptiste]

...they used a great deal of words to express a thought when a succinct sentence would have conveyed the meaning just as easily.

Well, yes, some can be quite long winded. Although, I enjoy that most of the time. Your comment made me think of my favorite book _Ulysses_, and wonder what it would be like if James Joyce had chopped out all the unnecessary words. It could probably be chopped down to 55 pages. But what would be the point? If the words are used well, they can often be as powerful a transportation mechanism as the story (plot) itself, if not more so. Of course, there are several authors that I wish would have limited themselves to 2000 words, Thomas Wolfe comes to mind, but the majority of the authors that I've read used just the right amount of words, in my opinion. There was a time that I convicted Henry James of being overly wordy (don't let Jamesian read this;)) but I've since changed my mind and acquitted him. I haven't read anything by Jane Austen, but I was absolutely enthralled by _The Count of Monte Cristo_. I could almost credit Dumas as sparking my interest in reading.

[AutumnGal]

...I was absolutely enthralled by _The Count of Monte Cristo_. I could almost credit Dumas as sparking my interest in reading.

At what age were you when you tackled Dumas' Monte Cristo? As I said, I just finished it in October (just in time for my 36th birthday) and I don't believe I would have had the patience for it in my youth. Even today I'm more enraptured with the idea of the story--the generality of Edmond's "adventures"--and while I think Dumas did a wonderful, painstaking job of setting up the events, there were times when I had to skip over what I felt were superfluous narratives, or I'd be transported to ennui instead of Paris. :p

[Virgil]

Interestingly, Jean-B, The Count was a favorite of Joyce's, if you didn't already know.

[Jean-Baptiste]

At what age were you when you tackled Dumas' Monte Cristo?
I was 16 or 17. I thought reading was an okay thing to do before that. Perhaps, if I had skipped reading that book, I would have a lot more time to do things besides reading today. It kicked off a decade of sitting.:lol:

I did not know that, Virgil. Thanks! It sounds very plausible.

[Virgil]

I did not know that, Virgil. Thanks! It sounds very plausible.

I think he even mentions it in Portrait of the Artist somewhere.

[ShoutGrace]

I think he even mentions it in Portrait of the Artist somewhere.

I remembered that too. I remembered it because of Mercedes -


"His evenings were his own; and he pored over a ragged translation of The Count of Monte Cristo. The figure of that dark avenger stood forth in his mind for whatever he had heard or divined in childhood of the strange and terrible. At night he built up on the parlour table an image of the wonderful island cave out of transfers and paper flowers and coloured tissue paper and strips of the silver and golden paper in which chocolate is wrapped. When he had broken up this scenery, weary of its tinsel, there would come to his mind the bright picture of Marseille, of sunny trellises, and of Mercedes."

[Virgil]

I remembered that too. I remembered it because of Mercedes -


"His evenings were his own; and he pored over a ragged translation of The Count of Monte Cristo. The figure of that dark avenger stood forth in his mind for whatever he had heard or divined in childhood of the strange and terrible. At night he built up on the parlour table an image of the wonderful island cave out of transfers and paper flowers and coloured tissue paper and strips of the silver and golden paper in which chocolate is wrapped. When he had broken up this scenery, weary of its tinsel, there would come to his mind the bright picture of Marseille, of sunny trellises, and of Mercedes."

Great job Shouty. I almost went to find it, but felt a tinge of laziness and decided against it. ;)

[Jean-Baptiste]

That's right! :lol: Thanks, ShoutGrace.