Signal Boosts: Fleur-de-Lis, Formula One Team Manager and Flower Wars · 1:08am Aug 17th, 2023
We have another entry to the Not-A-Contest! Sock Puppet's back with a sequel to Scootaloo, Formula One Driver:
When we think of racing, we always think of the drivers--that's where the action is. But a winning team has more than a good driver; they've got a good car, a good pit crew, a good owner . . . I personally don't know much about Formula racing (except for the obscenely fast pit stops), I can't tell you who any of the drivers are and I certainly can't tell you about any of the owners or other people that make the cars win (or don't). When it comes to NASCAR, I know a few of the drivers and I also know that Smokey Yunick is the only owner/engineer who's known to the general public . . . mostly for his brilliant cheats. Still, if the rules don't forbid it, it's allowed until they change the rules.
Also speaking of good pit crews, remember the one that Lightning McQueen had in Cars?
It's an amusing look into team ownership featuring a pony I love.
And this brings us to our second recommendation.
Every year at Everfree Northwest, they hold an Iron Writer's competition. How that works is a lot of writers sit in a room and at the appointed time, Xepher announces the prompt. It might be a theme, it might be words you have to use--whatever it is, you then have two hours to write. This year, our prompts were: vibrant vestigial, vexing volcano, verdant vegetable (Xepher loves alliteration).
I've competed several times; I one second place one year, and I've picked up a few honorable mentions (as I did this year, more on that LaterTM). One year I even helped judge!
One thing that I can say from competing and from judging is that authors in the fandom can crank out surprisingly good fics in very little time. Like, better than you'd believe.
One other thing is that every year, the top three winners are read as part of the awards ceremony. Many years, I hear the third place fic read and think to myself, "mine's better than that." [spoiler: it usually isn't] Second feels neck-and-neck . . . and then there's the first place fic.
Every year, the first place fic blows everybody out of the water, it's so clearly superior. Often it's one of those fics where you're only a few paragraphs in and you know it's the real deal, you know you're going on an adventure.
Thus it is with this year's story. I can't imagine there being any debate at all on it being the clear winner. Shaslan knocked it so far out of the park.
Ha, thanks!
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Congratulations on your honorable mention! Those prompts seem especially difficult.
All the writing you’ve already done must help, plus a having a particularly good imagination.