What I read
The BBC News story "'Poo fairy' story among 500 Words winners" (2018) reports the winning short stories from 134,790 entries submitted by British writers aged five to thirteen. Now in its eighth year, the award ceremony this year was presided over by the Duchess of Cornwall at Hampton Court Palace as it was broadcast live by the BBC.
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My response
Who wouldn't want to read about a poo fairy?
Although she (he?) doesn't appear in the young author's fun story, I thought immediately of the tooth fairy, who was perhaps the most popular fairy when I was a child. She beat the sugar plum fairy because she gave money for our teeth. It was only five cents each for me, but back in the early 1960s, that could buy you a bag of lollies that would help more teeth to fall out. Naturally, there are links on the BBC New's report so that you can listen to the winning stories being read by professionals. They are short, and I enjoyed both Gold Award winners.
I was also impressed that so many young writers sent in their work. When I was in primary school, I remember the nuns had us write stories regularly. I don't remember any of mine from primary school, although I do remember one I wrote in high school that attracted my English teacher's praise. I think I was in year 8 or 9 at the time. It was a weird piece of science fiction that reflected my passion for biology at the time. It is now long lost.
I like the idea of young writers being encouraged to have fun while exploring issues that matter to them, and the winning stories do that very well. As the BBC's Chris Evans said, "The stories really are incredible and a joy to read," although I just listened to the two top entries. If you follow the link to my source, you can listen to the winning entries being read. They are both very short stories. And fun.
But do fairies have to be female? Might my generous tooth fairy have been a male fairy? As I learned in high school, fairy was also an abusive term for a gay man because it was seen as feminine, although the gay community gave the term fairy a more positive connotation, just as they did the words queen and faggot when used to talk about themselves. Similarly, African Americans have reclaimed the word nigger since the 1990s, although usually changing the spelling to "nigga" (see this nGram).
Although she (he?) doesn't appear in the young author's fun story, I thought immediately of the tooth fairy, who was perhaps the most popular fairy when I was a child. She beat the sugar plum fairy because she gave money for our teeth. It was only five cents each for me, but back in the early 1960s, that could buy you a bag of lollies that would help more teeth to fall out. Naturally, there are links on the BBC New's report so that you can listen to the winning stories being read by professionals. They are short, and I enjoyed both Gold Award winners.
I was also impressed that so many young writers sent in their work. When I was in primary school, I remember the nuns had us write stories regularly. I don't remember any of mine from primary school, although I do remember one I wrote in high school that attracted my English teacher's praise. I think I was in year 8 or 9 at the time. It was a weird piece of science fiction that reflected my passion for biology at the time. It is now long lost.
But do fairies have to be female? Might my generous tooth fairy have been a male fairy? As I learned in high school, fairy was also an abusive term for a gay man because it was seen as feminine, although the gay community gave the term fairy a more positive connotation, just as they did the words queen and faggot when used to talk about themselves. Similarly, African Americans have reclaimed the word nigger since the 1990s, although usually changing the spelling to "nigga" (see this nGram).
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My question
When did you last write a story?
Before answering my question, you might like to check the various definitions of the English noun story in Oxford Dictionaries.
Before answering my question, you might like to check the various definitions of the English noun story in Oxford Dictionaries.
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Reference
- 'Poo fairy' story among 500 Words winners. (2018, June 8). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-44412775
I last wrote a story last month. It was for a writing assignment in Skillful 3, where we had to write a narrative essay. I write a bit, but not often stories, although I'm thinking of doing a Coursera course in creative writing, which would be mainly about writing stories. I think it would be fun, and I'd learn some new skills. I love reading stories, and often think it would be a fun thing to try doing myself. The story I wrote last term was very short, and it was easy because it was about my own experience. I'd like to try something more imaginative -- maybe a vampire story.
ReplyDeleteI last wrote a story last 2 month. It was for sent to my teacher in creative thinking class in the university. He showed us the picture of one woman and a little boy then he gave us a paper to write one story with 500 words. It was so hard for me to write the story in English because I’m not often to write long sentences. I just use English for talk with my foreign friends but I didn’t practice to write.
ReplyDeleteBut your written English looks to be OK and improving. You wrote a series of strong sentences in this blog comment.
DeleteThank you ❤️
DeleteI like read stories, but I’m not good at Writing. I last wrote a story maybe one year ago, In that time, I was a Art Director in creative team in the advertising agency, we needed to think about a advert for the milk products, we discussed all day, but didn’t get some good ideas, so everyone wrote a story for this, it likes homeworks. I tried to write a interesting story, but I think it so boring...my colleague’s stories as bad as mine. Finally we got a different idea to describe the advert. Copy writes story is better than Art’s.
ReplyDeleteI last wrote a stories last month. I wrote a stories in English subject on final examination. The exam force me to write an hour with 200-250 word. I think is pretty difficult for me because I rarely to wirte long English sentences in everyday life.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about using private vehicles in university for my English's final examination 2 months ago. The students were required to give their opinions about " should we ban using cars in the university ". In that essay, I disagree with that idea because even private cars can cause of pollution but they still important in so many ways. I have lot of ideas about this topic but sadly, I didn't have enough time to wrote that because I take too much time to create the appropriate words.
ReplyDeleteMy last wrote is last 6 months. It's a assignment for my high school. My teacher asked me to wrote about what I am going to do after graduated from high school for 200-250 words. So I wrote about my dream trip around the world because I think we can have a better work if we write about the thing that we into it.
ReplyDeleteI last wrote a English story about 5 months ago because I took a English exam.I have not written a story since graduated university.In fact, I do not like writing story or essay no matter in English or in Chinese and I don't always get high marks on writing.But now, I have to practise writing a English story everyday for improving my English writing level.I think it is so difficult to me.I always fight about English vocabulary and grammar as I write a English story.
ReplyDeleteI rarely wrote a story in my life so I weigh time to do other things more. However, I sometimes have to write an essay in exam tests, it is still needed to apply your story for entertainment in answering. EXP ENG, English subject in my university, in last term is an example of story writing I have to face with.
ReplyDelete