People's Choice: Idol Auditions

[Mr Underhill]

I thought it would be fun to have a "People's Choice" selections from the auditions. That is, pick your personal favorites from the auditions, of the ones that were not either finalists or honorable mention. You may select based on quality of writing, a simpatico theme, or simply whatever floats your boat.

A couple groundrules (for which I have absolutely no means of enforcement):


List your favorite 5-10 audition pieces;
Give one-line explanation of what you liked;
Include post number at least, link if you can;
Cannot select your own (terribly bad form);
Only auditions which have not been recognized by the judges


Remember you can edit your posts, so you can post a couple and come back later to complete your list once you've had time to browse the list. I know it'll take me a couple days to look through them, and I make no representation that I will have read them all by any means.

Since it will take me a while, I'll give an example here:

#11 Untitled WIP chapter by dblteam
– Hard-nosed techno-thriller tone counterpointed by the surreality of fighter jets battling dragons and floating jellyfish with klick-long tentacles, opens with good action scene; what's not to like?

[wurdwise]

I haven't looked at the whole list, but when I read your post, the one that came to mind was Cooking with Betty. I loved that story, it was so original.

[BlueTexas]

I haven't looked at the whole list, but when I read your post, the one that came to mind was Cooking with Betty. I loved that story, it was so original.

I loved the Waffle House story by SFEley. It was funny, original, and having worked the overnight shift in one while still in high school, boy, can I relate! I actually laughed out loud, and that's rare. vbmenu_register("postmenu_123148", true);

[brokenfingers]

I must say that there were many I read that I thought were great. I might add some as time goes on but I’ll start with “While The Devil Sleeps” by Mandiric - #218.

I liked this story a lot. The voice of the narrator drew me into the story immediately. And I liked the way Mandiric kept the narrator unreliable –he would never come right out and admit that he and the devil were the same but kept fooling himself into believing that it wasn’t really him doing all these things. Chilling and gripping…

I thought this was market-ready, myself.

Another one I liked that I can remember off-hand was Gail Kavanaugh’s “Becoming Little Beaver” #28

She had a good confident style and once again, the story pulled me in immediately with the author’s style and the antics with the baby. I especially liked the end when she skews the readers expectations. Usually people who stay at home and live in one place all their lives are considered boring – but the narrator is so used to moving about, that she finds the fact that these people stay in one place fascinating! I liked that twist on the normal perspective.

OK. Next?

I believe everybody who participated came out a winner and there are many, many contributions worthy of being noted here.

[hapsburg]

Terre Aeterna did a very saucy piece that was quite well done I think, edfrz (?) was the piece i did a crit for in the crit writer above thread and I was compelled to keep reading and was surprised by the dark turns it took. Someone whose name I forgot wrote a very sweet story about making friends in Japan that I also enjoyed, I can't seem to find it again to give them proper credit....There were a number of phenomenal pieces.

[TashaGoddard]

Already been mentioned, but Gail Kavanaugh’s “Becoming Little Beaver” #28 jumped out at me more than anything else. I think it was probably the subject matter that did this, rather than writing style (though obviously the writing was also good, because if it were not I wouldn't have kept reading!). I've always been intrigued by this particular culture (though I'm generally intrigued by any culture slightly different from my own) and it's particularly topical at the moment in the UK where travellers' rights are being debated more than usual.

[JAlpha]

#119 Magic Carpet Ride, by Vicky

Well-crafted and a fun read, sure to find a home in the right market.

"Knowing what piece to submit where is a whole other skill set writers need to acquire," she said from personal experience:Headbang:

JAlpha

[JennaGlatzer]

Just from the first page of entries...

Rob-rite (#16): stuck with me

Duncan J Macdonald (#23): I wanted to read more

Zeprosnepsid (#25): Loved the frank language, made me laugh

[108Days]

108 Days is my favorite

[sharon]

only 5 to 10? Impossible... but I'll give it a shot.

Apologies first, as I haven't read them all... yet. (Still reading through them:D
and enjoying myself).

I picked the following five (to start) because each pulled me into the story immediately.

#5 - The Last Dragon by Dave Kuzminski: tightly written, good description and I was impressed with how quickly I liked and was curious about your main character, Keitan. Want more!

#6 - by Underthecity: from your excerpt on 'Entertainment History in Cincinnati.
You brought a lost era to life for me and I'm eager to learn more about Burlesque & Vaudeville. Fascinating subject!

#20 - Also loved the Waffle House story by SFEley. Fast paced and enjoyable read! Great dialogue and characters.

#21 - Kasey Mackenzie's urban fantasy excerpt: Great description, drew me into the story immediately and I want to read more.

#77 - Excerpt from 'Kaytrin's Wish' by Hummingbird. Enjoyable read with interesting characters. Again, want to read more!

If I haven't said it before, I'll say it now... I'm SO GLAD I found AW! This is too much fun!:snoopy:

[Samm]

I'll have to come back to this thread to offer a longer list, but I did want to comment on a couple that stuck out IMHO:

I thought #119 (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=126807&postcount=119) ("Magic Carpet Ride" by Vicky) was tremendously humorous, and #116 (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=126439&postcount=116) "Jamie's Secret" by lindylou45 left me wanting to read more.

Thanks for starting this interesting thread, Mr. U! http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoteThumbs.gif

[Kevin Yarbrough]

Some of the ones that really got my attention made it to the list of finalists or HM's. One that didn't thought was Eussies story. That story is right up my alley. Dark, twisted, different. Wish that one could have made it.

Also, Mandrics story as well.

I am going to have to start a thread that lets the audience pick the top ten between the finalists and the HM's stories. See how close the judges were compared to the audiences. Cause, you know, on American Idol I will think someone was good but the judges didn't agree, and vice versa.

[DeadlyAccurate]

#20 - Also loved the Waffle House story by SFEley. Fast paced and enjoyable read! Great dialogue and characters.

Ditto.