I Challenge You

[Appalachian Writer]

In the tradition of Jeremiah Johnson, I offer a challenge. Write a short story with only one human character, a classic man vs. nature story. The rules? Not more than 1500 words, the character is free to interact with an animal or elements of nature (for the sake of dialogue). He/she can talk to themselves, to some unseen being, but cannot interact with a real, live, standing-right-next-to-them person. The story must be set sometime between the Civil War era and 1900, for example the blizzard of '88. I issue this challenge because of a TV episode of The Westerner. I saw the episode when I was just a child. It made such an impact on me that I can still recall the story's premise now that I'm considerably past the half-century mark of my life. Brian Keith, alone in the desert, thristy, tired, possibly dying. His only companions: his horse and dog. Are you guys up to it?

[alleycat]

But no stories about a guy and his sheep!

;-) (j/k)

[Appalachian Writer]

But no stories about a guy and his sheep!

;-) (j/k)

OH! Did I leave out the part that said no sex with said animal? In case I did: Interacting with the animal does not mean that the character can...um, uh...enter! ;)

[Appalachian Writer]

Okay, I've only got 2 people who are willing to submit. How about some more? Anyone up to it? Has anyone heard from Festus lately? Don't make me dance naked to get a response! I just hate it when someone asks, "How'd that lady get all that cottage cheese under her skin?" :D

[alleycat]

It's still early, and it's Friday. A lot of people seem to be "out" on Fridays, at least during the day.

[dpaterso]

Well, now. Guess I gotta mosey in on this one.

-Derek

[JeanneTGC]

Man versus nature? No romantic underpinnings? No real-live-human with the protagonist?

Huh.

*I* know how to get around THOSE rules. *heh heh heh*

Of course, the WORD count...now that I may have some trouble with...

[Puma]

Maybe there can be some flexibility on the word count - i.e., not super long.

But, my question, does it have to be man vs nature or can it be man alone? My thoughts aren't running along the lines of blizzard, tornado, flood, heat wave, ect.

And remember, we still got about nine days of June to get our thoughts together. Puma

[Appalachian Writer]

Okay! Man alone OR man vs. nature. Okay! no set word count, say we just say a short story and leave it up to whoever's writing. See. I'm flexible! We just need to do something. The poor people who're reading western syw must be really bored because they've read my first western ghost story like 510 times! Talk about desperate readers! We really need to give them something else! Help me, please!

[Unique]

Okay, I've only got 2 people who are willing to submit. How about some more? Anyone up to it? Has anyone heard from Festus lately? Don't make me dance naked to get a response! I just hate it when someone asks, "How'd that lady get all that cottage cheese under her skin?" :D

Submit? submit? Isn't that ... isn't that ...:e2cry: ... a whole lot like surrender?

but hey - a good ghost story should be read 510 times. at least!

[Appalachian Writer]

Submit? submit? Isn't that ... isn't that ...:e2cry: ... a whole lot like surrender?

but hey - a good ghost story should be read 510 times. at least!

No! No surrender here. Submit is the name of the game, isn't it? As the Borg used to say, "Those who do not submit will be assimilated."

[Dutch Henry]

Howdy App -

I'm in- So a man and his horse will do? - No word count? Will there be a set time to post? And where do we post it? Are we being judged? It would be darn exciting if we had a designated review panal, and we were named, I dunno, - Best Story Idea - Best Solo Dialog - Most interesting outcome?

Does that sort of thing bogg it down too much? -Dutch

[Puma]

Hi Dutch - I'm not Appy, but, we post them in share your work - you can have your own title but in the title of your post include something like "July Ch" or challenge (depending on how long your title is). Post anytime during July - but one of the rules of the game is that if you post and others comment on or critique your post, you need to return the favor - that way we're all improving our skills. If you can, it's always nice to include the word count at the beginning of your post and if you have specific questions for readers you can state them there (or at the bottom).

There are no prizes, no designations of best. About a year ago there was a major contest in western on a rodeo story with voting for best story and a small prize - but challenges like that are few and far between (for one thing, someone has to get it all organized). Why don't you see how this one goes; then if you're interested in setting up something more major you can test the waters (put a post up like Appy did to find out about interest). We should have had a major challenge on the ghost story because there were a lot of entries and some were very good.

Hope that answers all your questions. We all have a lot of fun with these challenges. Puma

[Dutch Henry]

Thanks Puma

I'm glad we can post any time in July though. This'll take a thinkin' don't ya know.

Are you doin' one? - Dutch

[alleycat]

Just so no one will think I'm trying to be tricky, I thought I would mention that my story does involve only one character (and a horse), but the character will think back to what some other men said to him. It's important to the story that these be direct quotes (that the character remembers); I'm not doing it just to get around the "one character" part of the challenge.

[Appalachian Writer]

Just so no one will think I'm trying to be tricky, I thought I would mention that my story does involve only one character (and a horse), but the character will think back to what some other men said to him. It's important to the story that these be direct quotes (that the character remembers); I'm not doing it just to get around the "one character" part of the challenge.

No one alone fails to remember. Remembering is OK!

[Puma]

Hi Dutch (and everyone else) - Yes, I'm planning to do the July challenge story, but I have a couple other irons in the fire so it will be a bit before I get around to posting. Puma

[Aragon]

Well, I decided to go out my comfort zone and write one of the stories. I have not written a western before, so I am going to see how this goes.

[JeanneTGC]

Great news, Aragon! Looking forward to what you come up with!