SSS: My occupation on Sundays for near future

PART 1:

INTRODUCTION:

I'm working on a novel. A novel is NOT a short story -- but they are similar in that they possess certain essential ingredients (desiderata!) except that a SS by definition is SHORT! While a novel is not -- is this latter part of sentence redundant?

And what is SS you dare aRsEk? Shrt Story-lah!
And SSS? Sunday Short Story-lah2!

So to demonstrate what is a GOoD short story, I reprise the first part of my post of 4(sei-loL!)  years ago, which follows:)

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Somethin' Sexy:) Somethin' Non:(

I read a sexy peAce of A Short Story today, and
it brought back some FFFF. The last is not an "F" word, okay; ask Tom Jones if you need the fool story!

_____________________________

A college professor was lecturing his students on writing a good, short story. He stressed that four features must be present.


First, one ingredient is Sex -- for without it, there would be no human race, so there is no academic pursuit.
Second, one must have Religion, for this differentiates Homo Sapiens from animals, as religion governs humankind's way of daily living and leads to his/her civilization process. Otherwise, there is no history.
Third, there must be Mystery, for this challenges the reader to read on to test his imagination and detection power if he could transcend the writer's creative prowess and guess the ending.
Lastly, by definition, a short story must have brevity;otherwise, ..... it's not wise to underestimate your reader's intelligence.

So the class of Nobel laureate-aspirants set to work, and except for the rustle of pens on paper, there was pin-drop silence.

From where he sat on the front table, the professor spied a restless youth watching the courtyard outside through the window, obviously contemplating the old banyan trees, the chirping birds, both the feathered and human kind (with lads in tow, holding hands, and picnic baskets, what else). And the young man's thoughts strayed.

The professor tapped the young-man, deep-in-reflection, on his shoulder, enquiring if he had problem with his assignment.

"No, professor, I have accomplished my mission," the bespectacled lad proudly replied, handing over a page of paper. All eyes of his course mates were now focused on the potential winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

On the piece of paper was written the following:




>

>

>

>

The Duchess of Kent is pregnant, O' God!

I wonder who did it? 

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PART 2:

One blog I visit occasionally is the clarityof night.blogspot.com where its host attorney-writer Jason Evans occasionally runs SS Contests, and my attempts helped me to hone my SS writing skills:).

From participating in these friendly competitions, I must admit I did hone my SS skills, and the following example made me specially proud as I made it to the FORTIES CLUB!:)

FRIDAY, JULY 03, 2009

"In Vino Veritas (Truth in Wine)" Short Fiction Contest

Now, down to business. Here's how the contest works. Using the photograph above for inspiration, compose a short fiction (or poetry) piece of no more than 250 words in any genre or style. After the contest opens, send your entry to me by email at jevanswriter at yahoo dot com before 11:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 15th (Eastern Time, United States). I'd prefer attachments formatted in Microsoft Word or Word Perfect (please see the format request below), but if you have something more exotic, you can paste the text into the body of an email. Each entry will be posted and indexed.

Now for the goodies. The following prizes are up for grabs:

• 1st Place: $50 Amazon gift certificate and a signed copy of RED-HEADED STEPHCHILD
• 2nd Place: $30 Amazon gift certificate
• 3rd Place: $25 Amazon gift certificate
• 4th Place: $20 Amazon gift certificate
• 5th Place: $15 Amazon gift certificate
• Readers' Choice Award 1st Place: $30 Amazon Gift certificate and a signed copy of RED-HEADED STEPCHILD

But this is about more than prizes. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity to meet and interact with your fellow writers. Our different perspectives, styles, and skills shine when we all start at the same place. It's a great opportunity to learn from each other.

Rules:

1. 250 words maximum.
2. Titles are optional, but encouraged. Titles do not count toward your word count.
3. One entry per person.
4. Any genre or style is welcome. If you choose to submit poetry, you must have narrative movement within the poem if you wish to compete with the prose pieces for the prizes.
5. The copyright remains with you, the author; however, you grant me worldwide first electronic publishing rights to post your entry on this blog indefinitely.
6. Judging will be conducted by me, Jason Evans. For an explanation of the judging criteria and scoring system, seeA Note on Judging. You can also read the winning entries from past contests. Judging will also be conducted by Jaye Wells as co-host. (See below.)
7. Please provide a name for your byline. If you have a website or a blog, I'd be happy to link your site to your byline. If you don't have a website or blog, feel free to include a short bio. A bio does not count towards your word count.
8. At the close of the contest, I will give the date and time for the announcement of winners.
9. After the winners are announced, I will post what I liked most about each entry in the comments.
10. The Readers' Choice Award is awarded by vote of the contest participants. The entry with the highest number of votes wins. The rules for this portion of the contest will be posted after the entry period closes.
11. Public critiques in comments are encouraged, but must remain respectful. I reserve the right to delete comments and ban participants who do not abide by the collegial spirit of Clarity of Night contests.
12. For prior contests and their results, see the links on the sidebar.

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PART 3:

Desi's entry which qualified for the Forties Club -- meaning the writer scores at least 40 points out of maximum 50 -- follows, based on the beaut PICTURE ABOVE; and you can take my word for it, it's darn'd/damned difficult to get there/dare!

 FOR THE WORDS IN A QUIET CORNER OF THE NIGHT. THE FICTION, POETRY, AND PHOTOGRAPHY OF JASON EVANS.

SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2009

Entry #84

Wine Sublime, Truth Divine
by YL Chong


CONFESSION1:

Naomi: Father, it's not good. The last time I did it with you, I felt guilty. Now I feel bad coming back ...

Pastor Parissh: Now, now, my child. That's perfectly normal. Eve after succumbing to temptation, she first felt shame. Adam too, but soon they began to enjoy the excitement of discovery. After all, we are all human...

Naomi: But I wronged my boyfriend...

Parissh: Let me fill you in. Garrett sleeps around too. He does it with the boys too...it gives him a different high.

Naomi: Father, you mean Garrett's has been confessing too?

Parissh: Oh yes!

Naomi: Oh, I see! No wonder he says he's not free on Friday nights...playing poker.

Parissh: You don't join him at the pub?

Naomi: No, I hate the taste of beer! But I enjoy our Communion wine. And last week, it was so ecstatic!

Parissh: Oh yes, we finished one whole bottle.

Naomi: The "blesssed" liquid, you said. Christ's sacrifice. Our bonding--'twas so divine!


CONFESSION2:

Garrett: Father, I feel so ashamed. I think I'm paying a price for my wandering ways.

Parissh: I worry for you, my son. It's been twelve months ...

Garrett: Father, My playing around...it has finally caught up with me...

(A pause)

I went for my annual medical last week--you know, Company's policy--and the results just came back...

(Another pause)

I have contracted AIDS. And I've been having such great sex with Naomi! Poor Naomi, she...