Weekly Short Stories Contest and Company! discussion

You have until May 20th to post a story and on the 21st and 22nd we’ll vote for which one we thought was best.

Please post directly into the topic and not a link. Please don’t use a story previously used in this group.

Your story can be as long or short as you wish (keep in mind that stories longer than 3,000 words are less like to be read).

Mention if your story is PG-13 or R, stating general content (language, violence, sexual themes).

REMEMBER! A short story is NOT a scene. It MUST have a BEGINNING, MIDDLE, and END.

This week’s topic is: Next Best Thing.

The rules are pretty loose. You could write a story about anything that has to do with the subject. I do not care, but it must relate to the story somehow.

Have fun!

LOL, we hafta rate our entries now???

Only if they're high, somewhere close to the R area. There are some people that'd prefer to avoid reading those stories, but there seems little reason to stop anyone from writing them.

Hmm, excellent point. I just find it funny.

I’m shocked. The very idea of writing something unsuitable for general audiences.

I could never bring myself to read something like that. (Why haven’t you posted it yet?)

Nice to meet you, Mickey Mouse.

Don’t mind me. I’m just scrubbing the deck.

M wrote: "I could never bring myself to read something like that. (Why haven’t you posted it yet?)"

I'd be embarrassed the whole time. Haha

Yeah, right, Mickey.

Well, I'm just saying. After a very specific scene with you and Fredricks on the character conversations thread, I highly doubt you could ever find guilt in reading an R rated scene. XD

I don't think so. What was it about? Or do I even wanna know?

Probably not from the sounds of it.

Oh, just tell me what it was about, Al.

...

HEY GUY!!!!!!!!!! CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT AL'S STORY WAS ABOUT????!!!!!!!!!!

Lol. Good ol' M.

*winces because Kyra was right next to him when she yelled*

Edward wrote: "*winces because Kyra was right next to him when she yelled*"

LOL, sorry Edward.

Seriously, now. Where's Guy? He must explain this to me.

LOLLOLLOLLOLLOL.......!!!!!!!!!!

I dunno why, but that made me laugh REEEEAAAALLLLY hard...
So. Could you give a hint, at least?

How come that sounds so much like Guy? Now I'm thinking of Pinkie and the Brain. Haha

Ah. I see.

Well, not really. What's the problem with that???

Great. NOW I'm intrigued. Thanks a lot, guys. Seriously, though, Al. I've posted waaaaay more embarrassing stuff.

I was shocked.

Good evening, Alex! I’ve got one more sail to fold, then I’m rowing ashore to the Mermaid Tavern.

I'll come with. XD Watch out for the sea monsters!!! Saw a couple while Al was throwing me overboard. Now, what's this about Al's story? No one will explain it to me.

It was at the end of January, in the short story contest. The topic was “Seduction,” and it had been the longest thread of any contest. A few minutes ago, I went to see if I could find the infamous story, but it looks as though somebody--and I won’t name any names--has removed it. That probably happened when the contest was still under way.

It’s about Al (the character, I mean) and her homme fatal Frank Putnam. As I recall, she’s lured to his apartment, where he makes inappropriate advances, but he doesn’t get very far. Sometimes Al (the character) gets fed up with being mistreated (not that the real Al doesn’t), and when she does, painful things sometimes happen to the characters who mistreat her, the foremost of which is Dr. Putnam. As I recall, in the story posted she breaks his heart and he jumps from the balcony of his high-rise apartment.

It’s been awhile since I read it, however. I wrote a review of it that I probably shouldn’t have posted, but it was very likely way past my bedtime and late into a cocktail hour. My impression of it (as I remember it) is that if it had merited an R rating, it would have been for violence.

There was also a part where Putman was threatening to jump while she was at the bottom, so that their whole drama was on display to the street. A guy passing by thought they were the best street performers that he'd ever seen.

I literally laughed out loud there.

I had forgotten about that part! It was like something out of a movie.

Well, I thought that was the one in the "Seduction" week.

Thank heavens they have Wi-Fi at the Mermaid Tavern. Whoa! Here come the dancers.

I just ordered a patty of ground beef fried in bacon grease. The waiter looked at me funny and gave me baked salmon instead.

Well ... that works too.

... Yeah, that's right.

Or was that "Morning?"

Yeah, the one about woman's lover killing her husband was "Morning."

Webster’s Dictionary. Morning. 1.b. The time from sunrise to noon.

I don’t, either. It’s always dangerous to put words in God’s mouth. Waiter! Another one of those tall, green ones, please.

I think we were still in the fifth day at that point, so no people to kill the first time.

This is extremely irreverent.

It's irreverent, yes. I'm not sure about extermely, but it is irreverent. But since I can't call people on saying "Oh my God," every day, I see little point in making a point here.

That’s why I got so far in the ministry. By the time I retired, I was The Very Irreverend M.

Well, I do.

Stephanie wrote: "Well, I do."

Okay, that's fair. You're right.

Okay. I revised it. When you’re raised in the Episcopal Church, the most disgraceful thing you can do is to use the dinner fork to eat dessert.

A tall dark one? Uhm, waiter . . .

Alex, I'm ashamed.

No, the green one will be fine, waiter.

Not once have we been on-topic. No stories yet makes it hard, I'll admit, but we haven't really discussed potential stories like we tend to do.

If you can't ________, next best thing is ________.

Me too. So bad. We need a coffee maker.