Messages

[integer:]

Well, since no one else jumped on it now that it's obvious....

Spoiler

integer: in = fashionable, teger = "greet" mixed up.  I am currently sustaining head-trauma as I kick myself in the brain for not connecting the dots sooner. 

[close]

Edit: an even more devious clue, with hairpin twists of logic so fraught you'll piss yourself before you get it!

Bad, wild as a bug, in Aussie code (3)

You've got the first part right, but the second part doesn't add up I'm afraid.

No.... I checked my math like twelve times over.  2 + 5 actually does equal 7.

No way!  Is this what I think it is....



Quintaros old buddy, you are one dogged developer!   Welcome back, and I hope this project finally sees fruition.  Good luck!

I'll give it the old college try.

[in+shake -> hankies!]

Well I put a bit more thought into it, now that there is more to put thought into, and I'm thinking...

Spoiler

"fashionable" is a short synonym like "hip", "cool", "chic" or "in", while "welcome you can count on" refers to a way that we greet people with an appendage that we literally count on: our hands.  Thus I'm thinking "wave", or "shake", or maybe a more fashionable method like "five" or "bump".  The "mixed up" bit of the clue means to scramble it all up.  So doing a bit of math to get exactly seven letters I get an answer like in+shake -> hankies!

[close]

A fashionable mixed up welcome... (7)

I don't know....  An incomplete clue begs an incomplete answer.  I'm going to guess:

Spoiler

S------   

[close]

Do you know, I even thought of that, but couldn't wrap my head around the supremacy bit.   NEXT!

What if the quasi-fictional author was a fellow contestant with a dancing cow avatar?  Would that be too far-fetched?

if you literally replace the words with synonyms you'll get it

Oh......!

Spoiler

Dream Lord

[close]

I'm just going to throw some ideas together outside of hide tags with the hope that some of my random thoughts trigger a larger avalanche in someone else's brain.  For "ideal" in terms of AGS I'm thinking icon (something revered), or maybe string (a creed), or even mouse (a species ideally adapted to survive just about anything).  In terms of "supremacy" I get tree (like a dialog tree; implying hierarchy), global (unfortunately six letters, but denoting game-wide importance), and mode, the supreme category of data in terms of number.  My lame-o guess is therefore:

Spoiler

Mouse.Mode

[close]

...but my real purpose here is to jog something in a finer mind than mine.  I'm sure if we work together we can figure this out!

[Sane Co.]

That's it, we're done!  Actually we were already done, since Giraffadon secretly hid his votes in his story post, but that's beside the point.  I'm glad we got so many entries this time around, especially since we were up against the 55-word stories this month, and I'm very happy with the prompt voter turnout.  

RESULTS

Sane Co. with 9 votes!
Sinitrena with 8 votes (or seven if you don't count Myinah's "close second" mention, but there were other instances of double votes so I counted it)
I<3Pindorama! with 7 votes (I didn't count the Stoat.... )
Ponch and Baron with 5 votes (we also voted the exact same way as well.  How ....suspicious. )
kconan with 4 votes (and an entry that I guess only people who've walked with the bumpkins could appreciate. )

I'd distribute trophies but to be perfectly honest I forgot to pester Sinitrena to make her half, and then I forgot to do it myself.  If you are in the top three and really want some hardware to show off then just say so in the thread and I'll get right on that for you.  Congratulations to all the winners, but especial congrats to Mr. Sane Co., who now must shoulder the sacred burden of starting a new topic for the next fortnight.  I, for one, am looking forward to it, and I hope to see some familiar faces from this comp out again in the next exciting instalment of...

The Fortnightly Writing Competition!

End Transmission.

----
Edit:

Oops.  Recommence Transmission.

While I was typing up the competition closing competition I received a PM from my comp-co-coordinator.  Look what Sinitrena has created!
for Sane Co.  Wear it proudly, my son.
for, er.... herself....
for that guy whose name I have to scroll down to copy & paste every time!   I mean, I<3Pindorama!  Enjoy the hardware folks, and a big thank you to Sinitrena!

End Transmission.  Again.

A backless throne for dunces (throne without "e" turned backwards to face the wall = North)

[Best Character:]

Good reads all around!  Very creative (and occasionally disturbing ) takes on the theme.  I am always amazed at how Ponch can pervert just about anything our contributors always manage to create such diverse, surprising, and genuinely inspired literature from just a vague thematic notion.

My votes:

Best Character: Easily knonan's Travis White.  He's the perfect blend of white trash ineptitude and hillbilly gumption.  What a catch, ladies!
Best Use of the Language of Love: Gotta be Sinitrena for ironic yet accurate mimicry of common internet dating site parlance.
Best Hook: I'm going with Sane Co. for his too-over-the-top dramatics: very sly way of getting attention from someone who craves being the centre of attention!
Best Social Commentary: I think I<3Pindorama!'s subtle commentary on society's obsession with finding some sort of perfect superhuman as a dating match wins this category.
Best Overall: I chuckled the most at kconan's, but I also genuinely think there'd be a certain class of backwater female that would find Travis White's antics genuinely charming, so I've got to give him this category.

Remember, you've got until the end of tomorrow to vote.  If we don't have six votes by then, the contest will end at the precise instant that the sixth and final ballot is cast.  Keep those votes coming in!

Maybe he wishes Stu was more right-winged.  Sometimes I wish that too....

[February 24th, 2015]

Freaky!  Ponch just broke his 335 day writing boycott!  

Also.... freaky!

Voting starts six hours from the time of this post, so if anyone has a last-minute entry get it in by then.  Voting runs until it is no longer February 24th, 2015 in your time zone, or until at least six people have voted, whichever comes first.  The categories are as published, above, but I'll repeat them here:

Best Character: (most inept, or most date-able, or most rounded, or most endearing....)
Best Use of the Language of Love: (ie best word-choice/style)
Best Hook: (the strategy the character uses to stand out from the crowd to get attention)
Best Social Commentary: (Who has best revealed the good and ugly about modern society and its ideas of love)
Best Overall: (Most entertaining, sweetest, etc.)

Eligible participants include (I'll update the list if there are any last minute entries):

Myinah: Craigslist Using Narcissist
I<3Pindorama!: Unidentified Realist
kconan: Travis White
Giraffadon: Ugly Virgin
Sane Co.: Uncle Sane
Sinitrena: Grammer-Nazi
Baron: Henry Tudor Jr.
Ponch: John Doe

Trophies will be a weird hybrid artistic fusion created jointly (but separately) by Sinitrena and myself.  Good luck everyone, and happy reading!

Not really my own character, but I fell in love with the concept and tried to portray him in a unique light:

------------

[24 more hours!]

24 more hours!

Ah, good old Australia:



You're checking for this, right?

[Three more days left: let's see some more high-calibre submissions!]

Is that really your own work?

Three more days left:  let's see some more high-calibre submissions!

Baron - I'd like to do a couple based on characters in my games, but I'm not sure that would be fair in view of voting criteria 1?

Sorry, I thought I responded to this.   I would say go ahead and use your characters, so long as you'll portray them in an original work for this competition (It's not a dating game, is it?).  If you can portray either of them as charismatic super-über-mecha-lovers within a format consistent with the competition, I would say you've earned our votes.  Good luck!