Sound
from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael WehuntNovember 21, 2012 - 12:07pm
as well as people taking more time to vote because there isn't the rush of "OMG IT'S STAAARRRRTEEDDD".
I'm on that boat, but I just have 6 matches to go.
Jonathan Riley
from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland November 21, 2012 - 12:07pm
Personally I read slower this time as did many I think. I will finish up the last few tonight. Also none of the matches hit 50+ till Friday last week so there is still hope.
Sound
from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael WehuntNovember 21, 2012 - 12:09pm
@Utah: I just want my prompt for next round. What the hell would I want with everyone's stories? Unless it comes with the rights to publish them as my own. Then $1000 sounds fair.
Wonder Woman
from RI is reading 20th Century GhostsNovember 21, 2012 - 12:10pm
I'm still trying to fit in reading time & will be knocking out several more stories tonight. Hard with the holiday, but I'm determined to get through these just like last week's stories. (Last week was a bit easier for me because I was in bed sick for 3 days, but whatevs...I'm nickel & diming my way through these...I'm thinking with the holiday other people are too?)
OtisTheBulldog
from Somerville, MA is reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot DiazNovember 21, 2012 - 12:31pm
Regarding vote counts - it's only Wednesday. We have til Friday. I myself didn't finish reading last week until late Thursday night. I expect it to be about the same this time around too (I have about 8 or 9 more to read). I'm guessing that will pick up some towards the end of the week, maybe when people can find some time after holiday craziness.
Some of you readers are real losers with nothing else to do go getters and bang it out right away while some of us are busy doing other cool super awesome time consuming type shit procrastinators that are going to push the deadlines.
JEFFREY GRANT BARR
from Central OR is reading Nothing but fucking Shakespeare, for the rest of my lifeNovember 21, 2012 - 12:55pm
No matter what, Friday night the LitReactor is going to be a godamn mess, what with all the losers crying and the winners taunting and jeering. Can we have a separate post-mortem thread to keep things tidy?
Dino Parenti
from Los Angeles is reading Everything He Gets His Hands OnNovember 21, 2012 - 1:05pm
Maybe I missed out on the post, but is there a reason I don't see a #32 on the community page? Have two people dropped out? How will this affect the brackets?
Class Facilitator
Emma C
from Los Angeles is reading Black Spire by Delilah DawsonNovember 21, 2012 - 1:07pm
I read both weeks within 2 days, but I haven't any family and I don't sleep at night. Were it not for this thread I wouldn't know this was a holiday weekend.
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersNovember 21, 2012 - 1:10pm
Yes, Dino, two people dropped out. Which is why Match 17 has two different prompts. It will effect the brackets...maybe a little. Never you mind about that. Momma will fix.
Renfield
from Hell is reading 20th Century GhostsNovember 21, 2012 - 2:28pm
My concern with a War Antho would be that A} the good stories will probably get picked up by good publications paying good money B} there wouldn't be a unified theme or aesthetic to the anthology and it would end up being a messy Litreactor Stories jambalaya that would have little appeal outside of the writers who are in it.
Richard
from St. Louis is reading various anthologiesNovember 21, 2012 - 2:55pm
^well, (A) yes, but there's always the ability to reprint. even if all of the stories have been published, they may be in obscure magazines, scattered all over the world. and it would be nice to have the "best of" war1/2 all in one place, yeah? (B) don't think we need a theme. the aesthetic is probably transgressive fiction, or something close to that, but there doesn't have to be a theme. it's simply the "best of". i think it'd have a lot of appeal, especially to people that weren't here competing and havent read any of them. have you ever read the Best American Short Story anthology that comes out each year? wide range of stories.
my only condition would be that a story had to have WON to be in it. but that does kind of eliminate the really great stories that lost close battles. hmmmmmmm. maybe that's not a condition.
i still think it'd be a great idea to do this.
Jonathan Riley
from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland November 21, 2012 - 3:01pm
Have all of the alternates been exhausted. If so we can put out a call for new ones. THis will be a long war so we will probably need them. Plus I have a feeling J.Y. might not mind coming in late and making a huge run again. You know, if he's asked nicely.
Renfield
from Hell is reading 20th Century GhostsNovember 21, 2012 - 3:08pm
Well, maybe not exactly aesthetic, but the BASS does have the celebrity guest editors, and a vague theme of contemporary fiction trends. I'd be down for the antho, even taking part in the technical stuff, maybe if there were at least some somewhat-impartial editors to shape it into an anthology that makes sense.
OtisTheBulldog
from Somerville, MA is reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot DiazNovember 21, 2012 - 3:13pm
One sweeping criticism I'd like to make - there's a lot of stories (here, and just with writers in general) where people love to reference drug use. Now, I'm by no means and expert nor am I advocating experimenting for the purpose of authenticity, but often times these subjects become too cliched and more often than not just way off base on the affects of the drug (especially the stereotypical lazy forgetful stoner, which leads me to wonder if the writer ever actually smoked).
I guess what i'm trying to say, is once i start reading that, my eyes glaze over, the curtain is lifted, I see the writer writing and I start skimming or give up, because credibility is lost. I would be careful going into those sort of topics if you don't know and are only relying on TV and what you've heard. Not to say don't have your characters dabbling, just might be an area where less detail is more. Just one man's opinion. Of course that could be the quaalude talking.
sean of the dead
from Madisonville, KY is reading Peckerwood, by Jed AyresNovember 21, 2012 - 3:55pm
Damn it Otis...there goes my idea for round 2, about a guy who takes so much grass he ends up on a violent killing spree, finally stopping only when he overdoses.
People do still say take grass, right?
Sound
from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael WehuntNovember 21, 2012 - 3:58pm
I don't think you "take" grass.
Jonathan Riley
from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland November 21, 2012 - 4:00pm
I took so much grass last night I don't even remember doing it.
OtisTheBulldog
from Somerville, MA is reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot DiazNovember 21, 2012 - 4:24pm
That story hits close to home. I'll never forget (well, ok, I did forget) when I took too much grass and nearly overdosed. I woke up in the hospital chained to the bed for my own safety. I swore I'd never take grass again, but there I was, just two weeks later, laying in the alley way behind the whole foods taking grass through a makeshift pipe made of an organic granny smith.
drea
from Rural Alberta, Canada is reading between the linesNovember 21, 2012 - 4:50pm
Ha ha ha! I took grass once. But I did not swallow.
leah_beth
from New Jersey - now in Charleston, SC is reading five different books at once.November 21, 2012 - 4:56pm
I love the idea of an anthology - but how are you going to pick stories? Ohmigosh, there are some AMAZING ones this week....stories that are totally making me question my own worth as a writer, they're so good. SO how to choose?
I'll offer assistance in any way I can!
Also, I can't wait to find out who wrote what - so exciting! And I'm behind on reading (working, family-ing, editing), but I hope to catch up by Thursday night.
Covewriter
from Nashville, Tennessee is reading & SonsNovember 21, 2012 - 4:57pm
Richard, about the WAR anthology, would you let people edit their stories, maybe do one rewrite before publishing or would they run as they were presented in war. I'd vote ( not that there is a vote) for allowing one revision after works hopping
drea
from Rural Alberta, Canada is reading between the linesNovember 21, 2012 - 7:05pm
@Cove, WAR stories are first drafts only.
Liana
from Romania and Texas is reading Naked LunchNovember 21, 2012 - 7:10pm
Hmmmmm... I got excited about an anthology once (psycho), and look what happened. I'll wait and see what develops (plus, I may not even get a story picked for it so I'm holding my tongue for now)
Covewriter
from Nashville, Tennessee is reading & SonsNovember 21, 2012 - 8:13pm
I know they are first drafts when we post them in the contest, but if some went in an anthology it would be. Ice to have a chance to fix them a bit. But, I'm getting way ahead of myself.
Sound
from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael WehuntNovember 21, 2012 - 8:17pm
Oh yeah, that's a must. If the anthology idea does turn into something, we'd have to pretty the stories up. There's still a lot of work to be done to them.
Jonathan Riley
from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland November 21, 2012 - 8:49pm
Yeah, redrafts and final edits for sure.
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersNovember 21, 2012 - 8:54pm
You kids with your cute ideas...
Happy Thanksgiving, go do something.
JEFFREY GRANT BARR
from Central OR is reading Nothing but fucking Shakespeare, for the rest of my lifeNovember 21, 2012 - 10:08pm
I am doing something. I'm drinking. I excel at drinking and singing along to the Avett Brothers.
Covewriter
from Nashville, Tennessee is reading & SonsNovember 21, 2012 - 10:15pm
Hey the Avett Brothers are my favorite. saw them last year in the Rhyman. LOVE THEM
JEFFREY GRANT BARR
from Central OR is reading Nothing but fucking Shakespeare, for the rest of my lifeNovember 21, 2012 - 10:21pm
They really are wonderful. And so handsome! Plaster cute puppy pictures all over the cover of their next album, and they might just take over the world.
Covewriter
from Nashville, Tennessee is reading & SonsNovember 21, 2012 - 10:27pm
At the concert I went to everyone was singing all the words along with them. When they sang "decide what to be and...." the whole crowd yelled out GO BE IT. It was great. I'm a serious fan. Glad to find another.
H.I.Marcuson
from Toulouse is reading a book on spellingNovember 22, 2012 - 9:08am
Happy thanksgiving you colonial types. Enjoy it while it last's. We will be re-integrating you all in 5... 4... 3...
Richard
from St. Louis is reading various anthologiesNovember 22, 2012 - 5:07pm
well, i'm not in charge of the anthology, but i know it's been batted around before. definitely would allow people to polish them up, i imagine.
leah_beth
from New Jersey - now in Charleston, SC is reading five different books at once.November 22, 2012 - 5:43pm
Avetts!! They're only, like, one of my favorite bands!!!!!!!!!! I keep missing them when they come to town. Boooo...
H.I.Marcuson
from Toulouse is reading a book on spellingNovember 23, 2012 - 7:55am
Golly, only two posts since I was on yesterday. You guys really like to digest.
wickedvoodoo
from Mansfield, England is reading stuff.November 23, 2012 - 8:06am
The Americanos had their thanksgiving day, so I guess they were all busy.
It be the day of the big reveal today though. Should be a lot of fun. More fun than thanksgiving, anyway, because this time we get to join in!
Sound
from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael WehuntNovember 23, 2012 - 8:28am
I'm still digesting...but I'm excited to see how the brackets look today.
Fritz
November 23, 2012 - 8:35am
So... Reveal , new brackets, and new prompts - today?
just seeking confirm
wickedvoodoo
from Mansfield, England is reading stuff.November 23, 2012 - 8:45am
I think so.
No Utah or Avery yet today to confirm. They are probably sleeping off hang-overs and meat-sweats from consuming too much turkey and wine.
Dino Parenti
from Los Angeles is reading Everything He Gets His Hands OnNovember 23, 2012 - 8:48am
Thanks Wicked--I think I'll name a short story collection "Meat sweats."
H.I.Marcuson
from Toulouse is reading a book on spellingNovember 23, 2012 - 8:52am
It would make a nice prompt.
Matt
from New Zealand is reading This is how you lose her by Junot DiazNovember 23, 2012 - 9:19am
No Utah or Avery yet today to confirm. They are probably sleeping off hang-overs and meat-sweats from consuming too much turkey and wine.
Maybe they're trying to make sense of the 32 drunken prompts they prepared last night. I can see it now:
Utah: "This one just says 'chug, chug, chug!'
Avery: "I can't even read my handwriting."
Good luck in round 2, everybody.
Class Facilitator
ReneeAPickup
from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck WendigNovember 23, 2012 - 11:05am
Ahhhh I want reveals and new prompts!!!!!
Mess_Jess
from Sydney, Australia, living in Toronto, Canada is reading Perfect by Rachael JoyceNovember 23, 2012 - 11:37am
Me too. I don't know whether I'm more excited about the reveals or the new prompts. I feel so nerdy wishing the day away!
Mess_Jess
from Sydney, Australia, living in Toronto, Canada is reading Perfect by Rachael JoyceNovember 23, 2012 - 11:39am
Me too. I don't know whether I'm more excited about the reveals or the new prompts. I feel so nerdy wishing the day away!
wickedvoodoo
from Mansfield, England is reading stuff.November 23, 2012 - 11:46am
said Jess and her identical twin sister :)
SConley
from Texas is reading Coin Locker BabiesNovember 23, 2012 - 11:55am
Is there an echo in here?
Mess_Jess
from Sydney, Australia, living in Toronto, Canada is reading Perfect by Rachael JoyceNovember 23, 2012 - 12:18pm
Oops. I really wish we had the ability to delete our posts.
NikKorpon
from Baltimore is reading Book and books and books andNovember 23, 2012 - 12:22pm
I feel like I missed a lot. So, the winners are the same and losers have flash due in four days? We're getting these prompts this evening, yeah? Just so I know when to stop grading papers and focus brainpower on something I actually care about.
Bekanator
from Kamloops, British Columbia is reading Ugly Girls by Lindsay HunterNovember 23, 2012 - 12:23pm
From what I understand, the FIRST round in the losers bracket is still 2500 words. After that, then it goes to 1200.
I'm on that boat, but I just have 6 matches to go.
Personally I read slower this time as did many I think. I will finish up the last few tonight. Also none of the matches hit 50+ till Friday last week so there is still hope.
@Utah: I just want my prompt for next round. What the hell would I want with everyone's stories? Unless it comes with the rights to publish them as my own. Then $1000 sounds fair.
I'm still trying to fit in reading time & will be knocking out several more stories tonight. Hard with the holiday, but I'm determined to get through these just like last week's stories. (Last week was a bit easier for me because I was in bed sick for 3 days, but whatevs...I'm nickel & diming my way through these...I'm thinking with the holiday other people are too?)
Regarding vote counts - it's only Wednesday. We have til Friday. I myself didn't finish reading last week until late Thursday night. I expect it to be about the same this time around too (I have about 8 or 9 more to read). I'm guessing that will pick up some towards the end of the week, maybe when people can find some time after holiday craziness.
Some of you readers are
real losers with nothing else to dogo getters and bang it out right away while some of us arebusy doing other cool super awesome time consuming type shitprocrastinators that are going to push the deadlines.No matter what, Friday night the LitReactor is going to be a godamn mess, what with all the losers crying and the winners taunting and jeering. Can we have a separate post-mortem thread to keep things tidy?
Maybe I missed out on the post, but is there a reason I don't see a #32 on the community page? Have two people dropped out? How will this affect the brackets?
I read both weeks within 2 days, but I haven't any family and I don't sleep at night. Were it not for this thread I wouldn't know this was a holiday weekend.
Yes, Dino, two people dropped out. Which is why Match 17 has two different prompts. It will effect the brackets...maybe a little. Never you mind about that. Momma will fix.
My concern with a War Antho would be that A} the good stories will probably get picked up by good publications paying good money B} there wouldn't be a unified theme or aesthetic to the anthology and it would end up being a messy Litreactor Stories jambalaya that would have little appeal outside of the writers who are in it.
^well, (A) yes, but there's always the ability to reprint. even if all of the stories have been published, they may be in obscure magazines, scattered all over the world. and it would be nice to have the "best of" war1/2 all in one place, yeah? (B) don't think we need a theme. the aesthetic is probably transgressive fiction, or something close to that, but there doesn't have to be a theme. it's simply the "best of". i think it'd have a lot of appeal, especially to people that weren't here competing and havent read any of them. have you ever read the Best American Short Story anthology that comes out each year? wide range of stories.
my only condition would be that a story had to have WON to be in it. but that does kind of eliminate the really great stories that lost close battles. hmmmmmmm. maybe that's not a condition.
i still think it'd be a great idea to do this.
Have all of the alternates been exhausted. If so we can put out a call for new ones. THis will be a long war so we will probably need them. Plus I have a feeling J.Y. might not mind coming in late and making a huge run again. You know, if he's asked nicely.
Well, maybe not exactly aesthetic, but the BASS does have the celebrity guest editors, and a vague theme of contemporary fiction trends. I'd be down for the antho, even taking part in the technical stuff, maybe if there were at least some somewhat-impartial editors to shape it into an anthology that makes sense.
One sweeping criticism I'd like to make - there's a lot of stories (here, and just with writers in general) where people love to reference drug use. Now, I'm by no means and expert nor am I advocating experimenting for the purpose of authenticity, but often times these subjects become too cliched and more often than not just way off base on the affects of the drug (especially the stereotypical lazy forgetful stoner, which leads me to wonder if the writer ever actually smoked).
I guess what i'm trying to say, is once i start reading that, my eyes glaze over, the curtain is lifted, I see the writer writing and I start skimming or give up, because credibility is lost. I would be careful going into those sort of topics if you don't know and are only relying on TV and what you've heard. Not to say don't have your characters dabbling, just might be an area where less detail is more. Just one man's opinion. Of course that could be the quaalude talking.
Damn it Otis...there goes my idea for round 2, about a guy who takes so much grass he ends up on a violent killing spree, finally stopping only when he overdoses.
People do still say take grass, right?
I don't think you "take" grass.
I took so much grass last night I don't even remember doing it.
That story hits close to home. I'll never forget (well, ok, I did forget) when I took too much grass and nearly overdosed. I woke up in the hospital chained to the bed for my own safety. I swore I'd never take grass again, but there I was, just two weeks later, laying in the alley way behind the whole foods taking grass through a makeshift pipe made of an organic granny smith.
Ha ha ha! I took grass once. But I did not swallow.
I love the idea of an anthology - but how are you going to pick stories? Ohmigosh, there are some AMAZING ones this week....stories that are totally making me question my own worth as a writer, they're so good. SO how to choose?
I'll offer assistance in any way I can!
Also, I can't wait to find out who wrote what - so exciting! And I'm behind on reading (working, family-ing, editing), but I hope to catch up by Thursday night.
Richard, about the WAR anthology, would you let people edit their stories, maybe do one rewrite before publishing or would they run as they were presented in war. I'd vote ( not that there is a vote) for allowing one revision after works hopping
@Cove, WAR stories are first drafts only.
Hmmmmm... I got excited about an anthology once (psycho), and look what happened. I'll wait and see what develops (plus, I may not even get a story picked for it so I'm holding my tongue for now)
I know they are first drafts when we post them in the contest, but if some went in an anthology it would be. Ice to have a chance to fix them a bit. But, I'm getting way ahead of myself.
Oh yeah, that's a must. If the anthology idea does turn into something, we'd have to pretty the stories up. There's still a lot of work to be done to them.
Yeah, redrafts and final edits for sure.
You kids with your cute ideas...
Happy Thanksgiving, go do something.
I am doing something. I'm drinking. I excel at drinking and singing along to the Avett Brothers.
Hey the Avett Brothers are my favorite. saw them last year in the Rhyman. LOVE THEM
They really are wonderful. And so handsome! Plaster cute puppy pictures all over the cover of their next album, and they might just take over the world.
At the concert I went to everyone was singing all the words along with them. When they sang "decide what to be and...." the whole crowd yelled out GO BE IT. It was great. I'm a serious fan. Glad to find another.
Happy thanksgiving you colonial types. Enjoy it while it last's. We will be re-integrating you all in 5... 4... 3...
well, i'm not in charge of the anthology, but i know it's been batted around before. definitely would allow people to polish them up, i imagine.
Avetts!! They're only, like, one of my favorite bands!!!!!!!!!! I keep missing them when they come to town. Boooo...
Golly, only two posts since I was on yesterday. You guys really like to digest.
The Americanos had their thanksgiving day, so I guess they were all busy.
It be the day of the big reveal today though. Should be a lot of fun. More fun than thanksgiving, anyway, because this time we get to join in!
I'm still digesting...but I'm excited to see how the brackets look today.
So... Reveal , new brackets, and new prompts - today?
just seeking confirm
I think so.
No Utah or Avery yet today to confirm. They are probably sleeping off hang-overs and meat-sweats from consuming too much turkey and wine.
Thanks Wicked--I think I'll name a short story collection "Meat sweats."
It would make a nice prompt.
Maybe they're trying to make sense of the 32 drunken prompts they prepared last night. I can see it now:
Utah: "This one just says 'chug, chug, chug!'
Avery: "I can't even read my handwriting."
Good luck in round 2, everybody.
Ahhhh I want reveals and new prompts!!!!!
Me too. I don't know whether I'm more excited about the reveals or the new prompts. I feel so nerdy wishing the day away!
Me too. I don't know whether I'm more excited about the reveals or the new prompts. I feel so nerdy wishing the day away!
said Jess and her identical twin sister :)
Is there an echo in here?
Oops. I really wish we had the ability to delete our posts.
I feel like I missed a lot. So, the winners are the same and losers have flash due in four days? We're getting these prompts this evening, yeah? Just so I know when to stop grading papers and focus brainpower on something I actually care about.
From what I understand, the FIRST round in the losers bracket is still 2500 words. After that, then it goes to 1200.