Perhaps, it would have been better to have run the short story and poetry threads at slightly different times as well. Having a whole set of stories a...
I think that is a bit unfair! I have been reading the stories and do plan to read the poetry afterwards. I didn't write the comment above to put press...
I just wish to draw attention to the short story/ poetry threads competition. I know that there is a thread on the front page. However, at the moment ...
I am still plodding on but do feel like many people have lost interest. I wonder if it would have been better if people had been able to give comments...
I was a little puzzled by why the narrator committed murder, a bit like Camus's novel, 'The Outsider'. It has a dystopian feel and the character seems...
I enjoyed the story but was a little disappointed when the sick girl didn't exist because I was interested in knowing her and her fate. Generally, the...
While taste is subjective it can also depend on one's mood. Actually, it is not that I dislike the zombie story but had loads of stress on the day I r...
The art of reading the work of others and self criticism is intricate because it involves projective processes and one's sense of self esteem and self...
It is all a learning process and I certainly hope that my feedback has improved from the first competition. In a way, it is easier to give feedback he...
I agree that my comment may have been 'meaningless handwaving' and, if anything it shows how difficult writing constructive reviews is. Sometimes, whe...
That was only my feeling and as it is merely subjective I may be entirely wrong! As for additions, that would come down to the author's imagination as...
I found the story engaging. However, after reading it I was puzzled and had to go back to try to work it out. I am not sure to what extent I understoo...
It is unusual but a bit over the top. It just seems too exaggerated and it would work better, from my point of view, if a few of the ideas were worked...
It is an interesting story with the metal box and the dialogue. The conversational dialogue but I would have liked it broken up, with more white space...
It reminds me of Irvine Welsh, with a slight gothic feel. I like the way it reads but I found the ending a bit disappointing but I felt that the sexua...
I thought that the original ordering was better because it shuffled the threads around. It is a well known idea that many examination markers lose int...
It seems to read like the beginning of a novel and if anything may work better as this. As a short story I think it would work if a little was cut out...
I do like the story and see the museum as a character in it's own right. I partly disagree with the comment above about nothing happening because it i...
Do you think that it is really only about a stick of deodorant? Or, do you think that it could be about more, such as difficult relationships, with th...
Actually, from what I have read at this stage I haven't had any strong guesses about the individual authors. It is probably a good thing if people are...
Are you always right in identifying the stories? One I was convinced in a previous competition was by Kenosha Kid and it turned out to be Benkai's AI ...
I am glad that you think my comments are fine, although yours do seem more intimately involved. It is time consuming to comment on everything and I ha...
It's rather unusual, like a fairy tale with sexuality. The characters are well described and with memorable, distinct names. I found that it took me i...
I think that it probably needed to be the length it is in order to get the necessary details. It is written clearly and the plot appears planned. I wo...
I had a quick read of all the stories, but need another fuller read. I don't think that I could ever give full reviews like you do, but I do hope to m...
Maybe we should let Proof180 work this out. My Maths isn't up to the logistics. It might have been simpler if there was just an 'I enjoyed it', as I a...
Perhaps, the understanding of 'other ways of seeing and being' is the essential value of poetry, fiction , as opposed to the abstraction and rationali...
That is what I am rather confused about. To vote or not vote, and how does it stand? Perhaps, a better way, for future competitions, would be to give ...
I'm struggling a bit to know how to approach the writing fairly and objectively, especially as there are both stories and poems.In the first competiti...
Most of the time I don't have writer's block when writing non-fiction, especially on the forum, but I did when I was a student writing essays. When I ...
Writer's block is the horrible enemy because I suffer with the disease so often. My writing prompt for you is to choose one of your all time favourite...
I wonder about the empirical as opposed to rhetorical numbers, and its interplay with meanings may be significant. Are 'axioms' objective, or are they...
I am writing as someone who is more interested in creativity and language, as opposed to numbers and the quantifiable. However, I am aware of the impo...
To what extent is it helpful to know if a story is disliked? From my own point of view, a certain amount of feedback is useful. However, if a story is...
I hope that the evaluation of stories is not reduced to Maths entirely, as quantification may not be superior to qualitative analysis. I am not sure t...
Yes, numbers do appear as symbols and even the alphabet may be seen as symbolic representations as the basic foundation for language. Julian Jaynes, i...
I hope that my question does not appear too simplistic or too abstract. It is aimed at understanding and thinking about the ways ideas are realised. I...
Happy 40th birthday to U2's 'New Year's Day'. If I remember correctly, it is on 'War' which is great and on the live compilation, 'Under a Blood Red S...
I am sure that the voting does not remain in place, after the authors' identities are made public. It may have been a little different in the summer o...
The names are usually not released until the voting has finished, meaning that comments only can be given in feedback. This makes biases more transpar...
Apparently, it would have skewed it and I was rather surprised when I was told this. It may have been if some people had included the dislikes while o...
Don't you think that the dislike option is just so negative? It's not as if criticism cannot be given in the feedback, and in more depth than just tic...
The closest term to purity in a deeper sense may be asceticism, which may have influence many philosophy traditions and spirituality. It may have been...
I have written and submitted a story, for better or worse, but I can definitely empathise with 'every word is a struggle'. The blank page can be so da...
It it's just me struggling to meet the deadlines, I may just have to delay replying to the couple of threads which I have started until I submit a sto...
It is getting to be a critical deadline. I am hoping to submit in time. It may be part of the new 'fastness' in which there is increasing binds of con...
One aspect underlying the debate about sexuality and 'sin' may go back to Plato's idea of the lower versus the higher self. This may have been carried...
What is corruption and mercy? Is it an idea of 'forgiveness,' in the traditional religious sense, from the lures and desires of the physical aspects o...
The issue of sexuality and religious or spiritual perspectives may be connected to ideas about how pleasure is seen, especially the pleasures of the b...
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