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Sunday, February 3, 2013

Exquisite banality

The 55 word story competition: I'd like to thank all who took the time to vote for me and I APOLOGISE from the bottom of my heart for not winning a dime. I didn't get them 55 bucks. I didn't even get 30 (massive applause). However, my story 'Not Me' is No.1 on his 'Top 10 Flash Stories Ever' list (+70 out of 78 votes). 74 people out of 78 liked it. He wasn't one of them. This is what he wrote...
I know that on top of brilliant writing, some folks like  really drove exposure to this contest, for which I’m deeply grateful. Please write again, who knows, you may win next month!
...which basically says in his opinion my story was shit.
I'm not going to write to him, not going to comment, what's the point. It's just as I wrote here on Paul Dorset's website 'Definition of 'good' literature'. It's all down to the internal and external influences of the judge. If he has a reading level of a 6 year old, so be it.
My own thoughts of my story is...
'A vulgar glimpse of young urban English life with a profusion of linking pronouns, culminating in a punchline with yet another simple pronoun'. In my opinion, that's literature. Clone, dull and lame it is not. (go on, read between the words of that last sentence :-)) ....if you wanna see it all, and see the stories which won, here's the link...http://austinbriggs.com/blog/january-2013-winners/
So, that made me think whether I'm a good writer. It certainly made me pause in writing my 5th (yes, I know I said 4th, but TDX2 is so 'big' I consider it my 4th now)
Why am I writing? To make money? (laughs from my partner in the background) No. I started because I wanted to prove to myself I could do it. Now I look for the perfect sentence. They only come through the process of writing. They 'appear'. From exquisite banality comes a gem. It's those gems I crave for. And sometimes they appear, among the corny, cheesey sardonic dialogues and bleak sparse descriptions.
Go, look for them :-) http://amzn.to/14wkkew and here for free https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/273975

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