Results - Week 11

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Anyone who managed to make it to the Top 10 deserves a round of applause. Heck, anyone who has the courage to step into this Thunderdome at all deserves one. But right now we are looking at the Top 10, so let’s concentrate on them, while we still can.

Because by the end of this post, we will only have a Top 6!

Saying that the people leaving us today are amazing does a disservice to the word. Absolutely top-notched writers, and people - unlike those who are staying, who are all top-notched writers and completely reprobates! ;)

You did yourselves proud, and I hope to continue to see a lot more of your writing in the very near future!

Leaving us this week:

applespicy
halfshellvenus
lrig_rorrim
and the person who came back from the very back of the pack this morning, with fans that managed to help propel her within a few votes of pulling off a comeback, theun4givables


Thank you for coming out for this mini-season. I hope you had fun, and that you will keep cheering down this final stretch, to see how this is going to turn out!

Oh - and make sure you send me your Top 5 requests from the Community Chest! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/633787.html

Comments

[aravfiel.livejournal.com]

First? :O

Congratulations to all. o_o Gary's right, making it this far is AN ACCOMPLISHMENT. I am not often around anymore, no, but I have mad respect for you all. :)

[dreamsreflected.livejournal.com]

this.

[impoetry.livejournal.com]

Those are some amazing writers. This poll was awfully tense, especially at the end!

I am sad, I'm going to miss halfshellvenus. She's lovely!

[eeyore-grrl.livejournal.com]

Seriously, that was tense. So close!

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you! Glad you've found your audience this round, though. Nice to see that this crowd "gets" you. :)

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

Good job, all of you! Definitely top-notch talent going home this week, especially halfshellvenus and lrig_rorrim.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Boy, once you get down to the top 30 or so, it's just never good news.

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks. :) I'm glad to have made it this far.

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Well, I made a fucking effort. ;)

Well, 7th ain't too damn shabby, if you ask me. I won't say I'm not a little disappointed I couldn't pull it out at the last possible second, but I did fucking try to rally the troops, so to speak. And just fell a tiny bit short. That? Still an accomplishment, in my book.

I love the hell out of this competition and it's made me a stronger writer in just the past couple of months -- I always push myself for Idol. To me, that's really the point of it.

...but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to win, either. ;)

[zephyrly.livejournal.com]

It's always that damn Speak 'N' Spell's fault.

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

It really is, man.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

You've written great stuff over the weeks, and even thought this last one wasn't to my taste, it was tight, suspenseful, and well-crafted. And I voted for it! Because those aspects are a big part of what great writing is!

The longer seasons are painful, but they're sure less brutal in terms of losing large chunks of people at once. I.e., one low week doesn't necessarily get you sliced out with the scythe.

Worth it, wasn't it? *hugs*

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :) I think I was banking on previous Idol trends (I don't think my piece was any worse than, say, java_fiend's work in tone). This crowd doesn't seem to favor the creepy and gorey quite as much.

Yeah, they are. I knew that it was gonna be tough for me to stay in this week -- and even when preparing for that mentally I still couldn't push hard enough. Oh well. Time to rest up for season 9. :) Because this was totally worth it.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

I don't think my piece was any worse than, say, java_fiend's work in tone

You're right, it wasn't. That little bit of holding back on the gore and detail was why I was able to read it all the way through.

I'm still debating with myself as to whether doing Season 9 would in any way resemble the faintest form of sanity. :O

But I did discover that at least, this time around, writing across Monday-Thursday suited my creativity better than Thursday-Monday. At least in terms of how hard it was to push the ideas forward.

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Well yay, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought so! I loved java's stuff during s8, though. :)

I tell myself it's because I really enjoy tormenting myself. Because I obviously do.

Yeah, I found that that was true for me, too. There was less time with the Monday-Thursday writing period, but I think that forced me to work faster. When the writing period was on the weekend it was harder for me to come up with ideas and for me to write them -- I think my husband's partially to blame for that, though.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Those are all great writers - you guys did exceptionally well!

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Thank you! At least I'm leaving in good company, which would still have been true weeks ago.

I want those penguins!

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

♥ I do the dance of the furry boots in your honor. :)

[cacophonesque.livejournal.com]

I've been such a slacker with reading, but I'm really heartbroken to see applespicy leaving. She's an amazing writer and one of the few folks out there who make me WANT to read fiction on LJ.

[talon.livejournal.com]

it was a pretty good week for poetry, I guess? I'm sad to see my fellow fiction writers gone :(

[eeyore-grrl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm used to be the only poet around... Was nice to see more, and nice to see it stay! But that's my personal bias!

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Looks like my curse continues, of making it to the Top 10 and then getting voted out. Glad I made it this far, but I'd hoped to make it a little farther. NOoooooooo!

Also very sad and surprised to see lrig_rorrim leaving with me again. She was one of my top two picks to win this round! Aw, guys, what were you thinking?

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

We're top 10 leaving buddies again! *hugs* I'm super sad to see you leaving with me too. Your story this week was awesome, and your offerings throughout have consistently been well written and creative.
(Edited to fix typos. Curse you autocorrect and all that)

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Perhaps voters think you are the same person. Or at very least, a package deal!

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

:P are you saying all of us AMAZING and talented weird fiction writers look the same to you?

There are worse things than being considered a package deal with halfshellvenus. But if that's how it is, we just need to get to the top two and confuse the hell out of everyone!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

All of you "contestants" look alike to me.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Hah! I've had that thought about a couple of other writers in the past, but it turns out that they were dating.

I still want to know who the double-writer last season was. Or was that a LIE that you used to pique our interest for no good reason? :O

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Double writer from last season?

Do you mean someone with more than one account?

If so, I think I recall who you mean, and they opted *not* to "out" themselves. (Unless they did, and I just never saw it/don't remember!)

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Yes-- someone who was writing two tracks of entries every week.

You mean to tell me that you raised that suggestion and it wasn't even true?!? Or known?!? I've been wondering who that was for months now!!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

It was definitely *true*. But if they changed their mind about doing the "reveal" there's not much I can do about it.

The seasons do tend to blend together (you all look alike!) but I seem to recall that there was someone who was "setting up an alt" in one season to be their main ID the following season, and didn't want to be associated with their main account. Don't know if it was this one or not.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Ah, this makes more sense now.

The real question, of course, is HOW. Do these people never sleep?!?

[audreybuttercup.livejournal.com]

:( I don't even know what to say. I love you four and am very very saddened by this.

I really hate this part of this game.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

I do take solace in the thought that my three companions here are all really good, solid writers. We've seen SO much talent over this round, and while every week tortures us in what to write, it brings us great stories to read as well. :)

[cacophonesque.livejournal.com]

I've been such a slacker with reading, but I'm really heartbroken to see applespicy leaving. She's an amazing writer and one of the few folks out there who make me WANT to read fiction on LJ.

[kandigurl.livejournal.com]

WHAAAAAAAAAAT HOW DID THIS HAPPEN. I HATE MYSELF FOR FORGETTING TO READ TODAY.

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

So, I tried to stay up late to get the results. I made it until one local time and fell asleep. My amazing powers of staying up late are much diminished over here. I woke up in the middle of the night, saw this post and the poll, said "aw shit", went back to bed and tried to sleep more.

Writing while traveling is hard, and my admiration for season 8 winner whipchick, who managed to do her magic while on the road all over the world and working, has only gone up during this last week (and it was pretty darn high to begin with).

Oh, and for the record, it was my own topic that got my eliminated. I think there's a curse or something. ;)

It's been amazingly fun writing with all of you! Thank you guys for reading my weird little stories, and for your support and comments.

[zephyrly.livejournal.com]

I honestly thought that you were going to win, so the fact that you're out deeply confuses me.

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

I was certainly hoping to win it, but you just never know how things are going to swing with the poll! Last season I was solidly middle of the pack the entire time I played, and made it to the top 10. This time around I managed to top quite a few polls - which was really neat and surprising for me - and got exactly as far. Some combination of me being away (and therefore not as interactive and stuff), a longish and surreal story which got mixed reactions, and a lot of VERY strong competition made for a tight squeeze there at the end.

I got two rejection letters this morning, too, for two different stories, so that was fun, I'm feeling a little bit like it might be time to pull back from writing and go full force into editing and chopping things up to make them better somehow. I dunno. We'll see.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling a little bit like it might be time to pull back from writing and go full force into editing

NOT AT ALL. This is a temporary delusion.

I shared your "Ashes to Ashes" story with my husband, who also thought it was amazing, and I mentioned one that I thought you really should get published. He thought it was that one (I agree! Send it out!), but it's the one about the Minotaur's daughter. I'm going to share that one with him too!

Which is to say... part of Idol is also Friends' lists and the changing psychological mood of what people want to read or what "grabs" them in a particular week, and it's very unpredictable.

Now I just need to remind myself of that!

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

I know you're right. And it's probably a good thing I am well distracted by London right now, because I'm just feeling hyper-critical due to the synchronicity of this all. One of the rejection letters was for that Minotaur's daughter story, btw. :) I took it down and put it out into circulation pretty much right away. I know it's a matter of luck and tiiming with the fiction markets, and I'm doing well to submit at all - and getting these personal letters instead of form letters back is a very good sign. I just sort of feel like stomping my wittle feet and crying out "but I want what I want NOW". Heh. I'll get over it. And words like yours help ENORMOUSLY, I promise you.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

:D Well, that means I can't show HalfshellHusband the story, but I am SO happy you've submitted it! I think that one will find a home-- it just may take time. Moody, unusual, and just fascinating. :)

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Ditto! Her or you!

[zephyrly.livejournal.com]

No way. I'm not going to win, but I'm not in it to win. Actually, I kind of hope that I don't win so I can do Exhibit B.

You have no idea how much LJI has helped me over these past few months.

[porn-this-way.livejournal.com]

Boooooooo! You're not allowed to be eliminated yet. Seriously, just....go home, poll! You're drunk!

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

Drunk poll doesn't care for your recriminations. Drunk poll eliminates whoever it damn well pleases. Maybe I should have posted that "shiny metal ass" story draft I sent you instead... ;)

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Wait. Does this exist? I need to see it. *koff*

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

*laughs* ohhhh man, I don't know. I was pretty much completely loopy, jet lagged like whoa and I'd been up for about 30 hours straight. I was convinced the first draft of the story I eventually posted was utter trash, and so I whipped up this completely sarcastic sorta kinda six sentence thing. It's not so much a "story draft" as it is a peek into my deranged brain at that point in time. The things porn_this_way puts up with... heh...

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

That's EXACTLY the sort of thing I need to be part of. Plz, email it to me. Just for the LULZ, if nothing else. :)