Thank you to everyone who submitted something for BrevityQuest. Bounty has now been awarded. But please, more than anything, keep writing. Short can be good.






Good things come in small packages.


Sometimes, you don't need a long, involved factual. Sometimes, you don't have the attention span for a 3,000 word story. Brevity has a certain appeal.


What?

  • BrevityQuest07
  • We're looking for well-researched and tightly-written writeups of 300 words maximum
  • Fact and fiction are acceptable; poetry or continuous prose
  • New writeups only, please

When?

  • 00:00:00 Thursday 15 November — 23:59:59 Friday 14 December 2007, server time

Who?

How many?

  • Flood new writeups and you will be punished
  • Produce a solid writeup each day and you'll be rewarded
  • If you prefer to submit just a few writeups — or even only one — for the entire quest that's fine too.

Why?

  • First prize will be something fun landing through your mailbox
  • Second and third prizes will be golden trinkets of the traditional variety
  • Every entry will receive a 10xp bounty
  • Judgement is entirely arbitrary, and depends on what we see as contributing the most to e2

Inspiration?

66 ~ 69 ~ 98 ~ 212 ~ 220 ~ 263

Hop to it!




Keeping things brief

  1. sodriety - originalzin
  2. The Cryptic Corporation - Serial Number
  3. revolution - Noung
  4. gyokuro - Oolong
  5. permalancer - Scribe
  6. Don't lick stuff when it's cold - the.web.hermit
  7. Going to the hardware store to buy a loaf of bread - originalzin
  8. God on learning to play music - themanwho
  9. hieros gamos - Ancientsnow
  10. Intellectual property - GlowingFish
  11. Gethsemane - hapax
  12. Skidaddle - The Debutante (ineligible for bounty or prizes)
  13. Musicovery.com - Apollyon
  14. apex predator - originalzin
  15. Obturator nerve - Rai Tai
  16. Is The Golden Compass against religion? - AspieDad
  17. The customs of your tribe are not laws of nature - Noung
  18. Workhouse - Noung
  19. lacrimal bone - no_one
  20. The man in the hole - originalzin
  21. Corbett - Wntrmute
  22. Polyculture - Noung
  23. The Faith to ask for Faith - originalzin
  24. A step out of time - The Debutante (ineligible for bounty or prizes)
  25. monoculture - Noung
  26. Why are people afraid of touching? - TheLady
  27. Chabudai Gaeshi - Condoriano
  28. The Nature of Home - originalzin
  29. Manic Times - Condoriano
  30. negative contracting - originalzin
  31. permanent makeup - libertas
  32. If you're not in the picture you can't get framed. - originalzin
  33. The nurses wear white. - momomom
  34. kulak - Noung
  35. beeline - chappyzoodle
  36. You have won second prize in a beauty contest! Collect $10. - libertas
  37. The Cobbler and his Family - mywiseman.com
  38. Olkiluoto - Serial Number
  39. Arachibutyrophobia - kanoodle
  40. colorway - hapax
  41. the stars are wreckers' lamps - fallensparks
  42. Onan - CheshireMog
  43. gubbertush - kanoodle
  44. Split for spine - SharQ
  45. If I don't save the wee turtles who will? - libertas
  46. smitty - oringinalzin
  47. The Sultan and the Harem - mywiseman.com
  48. Abraham - Noung
  49. the tiniest desert in the world - hapax
  50. The Politically Incorrect Houseplant - oringinalzin
  51. sand table - smartalix
  52. two-word poem - Glowing Fish
  53. polis - Noung
  54. Uffizi - TheLady
  55. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Glowing Fish
  56. pea soup - ascorbic
  57. Tolerate intolerance - oringinalzin
  58. Ginger Nuts - Andrew Aguecheek
  59. Theotokos of Vladimir - evilmoxie
  60. Chicken soup - TheLady
  61. Faithfulness - DonJaime
  62. November 4, 2007 - Ysardo
  63. Eudaimonia - Noung
  64. Qiviut - hapax
  65. concept - creases
  66. intuition - creases
  67. Poeas - kanoodle
  68. Label whore - originalzin
  69. Hairy Bittercress - kanoodle
  70. Everybody is in too many pieces - eien_meru
  71. Coyote arm - XWiz
  72. post hoc ergo propter hoc - originalzin
  73. surname - Noung
  74. Cray-3 - moosemanmoo
  75. Cockatoos eating you out of house and home - telni
  76. The Most Offensive Civil War Memorial, Ever - originalzin
  77. the Road - Ereneta
  78. One Thousand Ounces of Gold Classic - chappyzoodle
  79. The Baby-Sitters Club - libertas
  80. BFF - bewilderbeast
  81. What a Treatment Center is Like - originalzin
  82. Sensual Holocaust - telni
  83. weeds - hapax
  84. pumpkin pie spice - LaggedyAnne
  85. NFFNSNC - hapax
  86. Thrum - hapax
  87. Flirty Fishing - Ancientsnow
  88. Rubik's Perpetual Calendar Cube - TenMinJoe
  89. Two-word poem - waverider37
  90. invisible friend - Sinepyriah
  91. Weight, weightless, and the scalpel's blade in-between - SharQ
  92. Two-word poem - TheLady
  93. Two-word poem - Oni no Ng
  94. jenkem - aionaever
  95. Small but still a person - Endperform
  96. You Are My Sunshine - Danneeness
  97. fleshlight - aionaever
  98. 100-word psychological thriller - colonelmustard
  99. Two-word poem - ushdfgakjasgh
  100. Oswald Tschirtner - Serial Number
  101. If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some of the Others - Danneeness
  102. Two-word poem - Tom Rook
  103. brief thoughts on some long-standing misconceptions - Mitzi
  104. phone call - etouffee
  105. low tide - graceness
  106. Fusensho - Dimview
  107. Two-word poem - Mortuorum Dialogi
  108. Bowler - The Custodian
  109. An Unseen Enemy - BookReader
  110. American football - Hazelnut
  111. Samantha in the Moonlight - Don Jaime
  112. Arto SalminenSerial Number
  113. Space Gunner Hank Saves the DayDon Jaime
  114. All In Your Hands - graceness
  115. The shortest detective story ever - Apollyon
  116. Aetiology - hapax
  117. Sagari - Dimview
  118. Nebuchadnezzar II - passport
  119. Shrug - hapax
  120. stupid wars - Gorgonzola
  121. If it be your will - graceness
  122. tanguin - Apollyon
  123. Tell me a story about clouds - moosemanmoo

Honourable mentions

Debriefing about the Briefness

Running a quest takes quite a lot of work! Reading, voting, and keeping track of all the submissions was time-consuming—but quite a lot of fun! I'm just glad it wasn't "Verbosity Quest." It was an absolute treat to get a chance to work alongside the darling and delightful Debutante, she really helped to make it a good time (and, between that and her Claus duties, I'm thinking she's ready for an extended holiday).

We did have a bit of controversy over the two-word poems. I am pretty equivocal on the matter, but we everythingians need to be very careful not to come across as a bunch of spoilsports, party-poopers, and sticks-in-the-proverbial mud. Still, the whole thing was pretty silly, and got old really quickly, but a couple of the entries were quite clever.

But even with the minor squabbles, it ultimately turned out to be a very successful quest—over 120 entries, from more than sixty skillful noders. Some of the entries were funny (we even had a couple of silly cheap-laughs in there), some were very serious, many were absolutely amazing. I would like to thank every one of the participants and everyone who voted and C!d the entries. This has been a terrific experience for me. I would also like to thank The Debutante for being the best co-host that I could have possibly hoped to work with.

Because, to quote the Queen from Black Adder, we: "...just couldn't choose between our faves..." we have chosen to declare a three-way tie for first place, and a two-way tie for third place...and here are our winners (each to receive something fun in their real mailbox—but we will need addresses):

First Place

Second Place Kanoodle (one of E2's rising stars, his contributions were sterling as always)

and, tied for third place

Thanks again, everyone! Trinkets, both real and virtual will be sent soon!

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