red wheelbarrow‘Red Wheelbarrow’ is the WEP/IWSG prompt for August. As you know I’ve been turning out some ‘interesting’ stories in response to these prompts.  I’ve enjoyed them.

I’ve also enjoyed and welcomed the comments on my stories.

Thank you for reading and commenting.

I don’t deserve it

The premise of this type of event is that you present your own story, and go around the other twenty to thirty participants, reading and commenting on their own stories.

This started out fine.

More recent months have been a chore, but not in the way that other commenting is. The reading of the stories has been hard.

The majority are not to my taste. I don’t know whether it’s because I’m sitting in my nice English home surrounded by the absurdity that is Brexit trying to destroy our entire way of life, let alone democracy.  I don’t think most of my US friends are any different, although you have an election which looks increasingly as dysfunctional as ours looming.

But most of these stories seem to be vampires and death or dysfunctional relationships, and not in a crime, thriller or whodunnit way.  Okay, maybe they’re soaps. YA soaps. Gory YA soaps. I don’t want to read them, or at least not in the quantity that is presented each time.  I can comment along the lines of ‘not my scene, but well written’, but someone else wrote that and seems to have caused a stir.

What will they make of red wheelbarrow?

I have no idea how these authors are going to respond to the red wheelbarrow prompt. But I daren’t read them and find out; I find some of them distressing. Especially in quantity.

So I can’t read these stories and comment on them. I can’t, in all honesty, ‘like’ them. And I may be overestimating the number of them in the set.  So, with my apologies to all those who are writing stories I would enjoy, I feel it’s better if I just drop out.

There are other flash fiction networks.  After a year of experience with what seemed to be a really good setup, I’d better find one more to my liking.

Why I’m not writing about a Red Wheelbarrow
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11 thoughts on “Why I’m not writing about a Red Wheelbarrow

  • 19 August, 2019 at 7:04 pm
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    I understand your sentiments, Jemima – especially as some themes are not my taste. And I said so – fortunately, I was polite as you. If a vampire sneaks into my wedding story with a Red Wheelbarrow, he might not be quite what he seems. Or then again, maybe he is. But a real crime for October.

    Are you interested in beta-reading my IWSG MG entry?

    • 20 August, 2019 at 10:00 am
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      That’s true. Maybe my OCD is showing.

  • 20 August, 2019 at 6:36 am
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    I am trying to decide how wrong it would be to just read the stories that appeal from the start, or are from people I really want to support. I just don’t have the bandwidth to read and comment on 20+ stories. I find myself saying the same thing over and over.

    • 20 August, 2019 at 10:01 am
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      Well, perhaps that’s the solution. We’re trying to play by the rules, and maybe we should do what suits us best. I never worried about not seeing half of Chuck’s followers – and maybe they were more my line anyway.

      • 24 August, 2019 at 12:06 am
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        I miss the FF challenges from Chuck! They kept me working outside my comfort zone.

  • 20 August, 2019 at 8:49 pm
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    Rebecca’s comment sounds sensible, especially as many of us have commitments – or health issues – that make it hard to get through 20+ stories in a limited time. I admire those that can, of course.

  • 21 August, 2019 at 7:04 am
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    Hi Jemima – sadly I have to agree … I really struggle reading stories that I can’t relate to or understand without some effort. I have written something for this month … but I’ll have to think about the future dates. Good luck with your books and stories … cheers Hilary

    • 21 August, 2019 at 8:27 pm
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      I think Rebecca’s on the right track. Maybe we should read those authors we trust, and maybe one other to potentially expand our interests!

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