#ThursThreads - Week 52 - Winners

 

Week 52 of #ThursThreads had some terrific tales! Thanks to all who entered on our first anniversary. I'm honored to see all of you returning and read your stories. Thank you for coming back again and again to write. And great thanks go to Emily Drew for reading the stories. :)

Entries:

• Rafe B. | @etcet
• Jeffrey Hollar | @klingorengi
• @LupusAnthropos
• Charles W. Jones | @ChuckWesJ
• Cara Michaels | @caramichaels
• Antonio Angelo | @AntonioAngelo21
• Michelle Graham | @MichelleGAuthor
• Rebecca R. Kovar | @RRKovar
• Susan Hayes | @capricia13
• Siobhan Muir | @SiobhanMuir 
• Miranda Kate | @PurpleQueenNL
• Megan E. Clark | @TheWriterMegan
• Kel Heinen | @Aightball
• Lisa McCourt Hollar | @jezri1
• David A Ludwig | @DavidALudwig
• Nellie Batz | @solimond
• Jalisa Blackman | @J_M_Blackman

Emily says: What a tough batch of stories to choose from! I was thoroughly entertained by them all, and had seven tied for my favorite. I loved the crisp, stand-alone shorts as much as the intriguing scenes that make me want to read more. Plenty of clever uses of the key phrase, too!

Winners Announcement:

Honorable Mentions

 

 Michelle Graham | @MichelleGAuthor

Emily says: This understated short was one that stayed with me for a while after I read it. The first paragraph is nicely crafted. . .in a few short words you know who the character is, the quietness of the evening as she watches the spider on the wall, and have an immediate sense of both external (don’t wake the hubby) and internal (why is she pretending to sleep?) conflict. The following paragraphs continue to build on her internal struggles with what she should do, what’s expected, and what she just might want. I also liked how the sentences keep a nice rhythm that seems consistent with slow, late-night musings, then they tighten up towards the end to indicate clear, crisp end and resolution to the story.

Cara Michaels | @caramichaels

Emily says: This short added the key phrase with a very clever twist that felt natural and central to the story. I like that in the first few sentences, you have a good sense of place and know you’re in a therapist’s office without being told directly. There are very few setting details, but they are vivid and successfully me feel like I’m in the scene, such as the musty smells of the chair and the sound of a scratching of pen on paper. The narration transfers smoothly from external dialogue to internal and back again. During this dialogue, I learned a lot about this character’s troubled life, and am very intrigued by his imaginary (or not?) mystery lady. A very crisp, well-charged story that stayed with me after reading it.

 David A Ludwig | @DavidALudwig

Emily says: Again, I’m pulled in by a good fairy tale with a twist. A first line that makes me chuckle always gets me too. David’s amusing narrator had a vivid voice that intrigued me immediately. Within the first paragraph, I knew that the narrator was a bad guy but great fun to listen to, and I knew there would be conflict (“get the job done? what job?”). The story was a nice mix of amusing dialogue and an entertaining villain’s musings. It was a silly story, but nicely started and ended, and the silly place names were amusing because the author made fun of them by how they were used in dialog, etc. “Vrog, why do you not have the Orb of Sunlight?” had me giggling. And the image of an apologetic troll describing his fear of a little girl just killed me.

Week 52 Winner

@LupusAnthropos

Emily says: I can’t help it. . .I’m a sucker for a well-written fairy tale with a twist. Right away I knew it was a red-riding hood tale (thus you know there will be conflict!), but I was also immediately intrigued by whether the narrator was the wolf (my suspicions added to the subtle suspense). When he munches the lumberjack I laughed out loud at the surprise at the delightful phrasing, and was intrigued at the werewolf twist. The ear-scratching detail made me imagine a great image of wolf/man and lady curled by the fire content in their relationship. I liked that this short told a complete story, had a fun twist, had consistent pacing and voice, and had a distinct, vivid narrator. Thoroughly entertaining.

There's this girl, you see. The first time I met her was in the woods. She caught my eye not only because she wore a red cap and cape, but also because her beauty outshone anything I had ever seen before. She had a basket in which she was taking some food to her ailing grandmother and she walked along without a care in the world.

We hit it off right away, exchanging blushes as I accompanied her along the forest path to her grandmother's house.

Not wanting to interfere with her visit, I suggested we could meet, again, some other time and she coquettishly agreed.

By then, I was quite hungry so, upon encountering a lumberjack farther down the path, I transformed and made a quick meal of him, leaving very little of his carcass.

Red knows my dual nature, now, but we're still together. Her grandmother never did get better and now Red is living off her inheritance.

Sometimes, as she scratches behind my ears - regardless of which form I'm in - my thoughts go back to that first day when I decided she was much too good to become my lunch but made her my bride, instead.

Congratulations Lupus, Michelle, Cara, and David! Claim your badges and display them with pride. You certainly earned it! :)

Pass on the great news on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, shiny mirrors, Morse Code, and signal flags. Check out all the stories here. Thanks for stopping by and happy reading! :)