Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK - A Conundrum (1/1)

Hi all,

I just thought I would try something a little different; something I hope will prove to be fun for the story's readers. "A Conundrum" is obviously short and with somewhat stilted language; the reason for both of these things will become obvious when you realize the challenge I set for myself when writing it.

A virtual Double Fudge Crunch Bar to the first person who can figure out what else is unusual about the story.

cheers,
Lynn

This is indeed a condundrum! I can't figure out the riddle at all.

It doesn't seem to be an Acrostic (unless you were spelling an Acronym I don't know...) The lines aren't all questions, all statements, or all starting with the next letter of the alphabet... I tried counting the syllables in each line, but quickly got lost.

Umm....Was it originally written in Chinese?

<chuckle> 'fraid not. Except for a really poorly pronounced "thank you," I don't know that language at all. But you are correct that the unusual aspect of the story does have something to do with the word choices.

There actually is a technical term for the type of story I wrote; I'll make mention of it if the successful guesser doesn't include it in their post. (Or if no one guesses the answer in a day or two, I'll just go ahead and post it anyway.)

Thanks for playing. :-)

cheers,
Lynn

It's a surprisingly common omission, but difficult to sustain for long without sounding silly. Naturally you know what I am talking about!

.

.

.

.


.

.

.

The letter E

Amazingly, at least two full-length novels have been written without it!

Bravo! I thought it might be fun to write an LnC lipogram. (A lipogram is a passage of writing in which a letter is intentionally omitted.) In fact, not only the story, but the entire post was e-less, including the disclaimer and the posing of the riddle. (Good thing there is no "e" in my name. ;-) )

BTW, I know about "Gadsby," although I have not yet read it. What is the other such lipogramatic novel?

Incidentally, if anyone wants to read a fascinating book that takes lipograms to the extreme, I would highly recommend "Ella Minnow Pea". As the book progresses, the author permits himself to use fewer and fewer letters of the alphabet. On one level, it is a light, fun read. But on another level, it is quite thought provoking. I think it would be an excellent inclusion in any high school or college English or literature class.

cheers,
Lynn

Sorry, I edited while you were posting!

Looks as though we cross-edited then. No apologies necessary.

cheers,
Lynn

.....! Wow! Kudos to you, Lynn!

I'm inspired now; I think I'll do I self-imposed challenge/riddle thingy too.

Thanks!

Cool! I'm looking forward to reading it and seeing whether I can solve it.

cheers,
Lynn

Spoiler space
.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I too thought the letter E was missing at first. Didn't it say 'get' instead of 'put' before. Maybe I imagined it.

Okay, now I see it says 'grab'

Ann99

Hi Ann,

A bonus Double Fudge Crunch bar for you for catching that -- I had thought I had corrected that lapse before anyone saw it. My apologies for throwing a monkey wrench into the works with a forbidden "e". (I have since made a few other tweaks to the story, but they were all along the lines of making it sound less stilted. "Get" was changed to "put on," and it currently is "grab".) I had used "find" in Word to check for any e's before I pasted the story into the MB message text box. But then I decided to add the line about the coat to make the transition out of dialogue and into narrative a bit smoother. I should have paid more attention. Mea culpa!

- Lynn

So funny! One of the things I know about the English language is that "E" is the most common letter there. It takes some doing to dodge them all!

Well done!

Ann

P.S. I googled "E aplenty" and got this - not exactly on topic, but I can still see those dancing ladies as a crazy army of absurdist Eeees!