Rory or A Guy Called Bloke has created this, What’s Your Story writing challenge for interested writers, where the writer has to create a 300-word work of believable fiction, then the readers rate it on a scale of 1-10 on believeability. This seems contradictory as the reader knows it’s fiction going into it, but I’ll play anyway.
The Question.
“I caught a fish … it was THIS big?!”
Michigan has many inland lakes, rivers, and the mighty Lake MI to fish in. I and my family have grown up fishing. Everyone fishes, from my grandparents down to my own children. Catching fish is a good way to add healthy protein to a diet at no cost. Have you seen the price of fish in the store lately??
Catching the kind of fish you want you need to know a couple of important things. One is where the species of fish you like makes their home. Perch and bluegill love to hang out under docks or in the tall seaweed in inland lakes. Trout like rivers and streams. Salmon and whitefish like the big lake, but salmon also go back up the rivers for spawning at certain times of the year.
Another thing you need to know is what kind of hook, spinner, or other lure you need, and what kind of bait to put on it. Perch and bluegill love worms and crickets. Carp, believe it or not, love corn. The salmon and whitefish bite on frogs, or lures that look like frogs.
The biggest whitefish I ever caught on Lake MI weighed 6 pounds and was 2 feet long as I weighed and measured it in the boat. It was right about this time of year in 2016. I was out on the lake in my brother’s boat, which was/is all decked out with the poles, sonar, you name it. We saw a school of them with the sonar then threw out our lines and waited.
The fish hit and hit hard. It fought me every step of the way, but I finally got her in the net. She was heavy with eggs and I gave the caviar to my sister in-law as she loves it.
Out of Ten, how believable do you think my story is?
Tao Talk 
I think it’s a 10. Sound like a true story
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:) Thanks Sadje
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A pleasure 👍
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I love you, but no. I’ll be generous and give it a 5. 😂
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lmao. I can’t wait to see what you rank Fandango’s!
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Ooooh! Did he post?! Running right over there!!!
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Ooooo.. I so believe you! It’s a 10!❤️❤️
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Thanks Richa!
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Well, I’d believe it. I give it a strong 8. Only because I’ve never heard a fish story that was actually true ;-)
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lmao I love that response <3
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I read that the fish eggs processed along Lake Michigan and Lake Superior from chub, lake herring and whitefish are a prized delicacy.
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Yes, that’s true. What do you rate my story, Jim??
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Well so far obviously l don’t know what Jim is going to rate you with but you have 33.
Interesting tail indeed, l happen to know whitefish and the lengths they can get to … so very interesting indeed!
As to your contradictory’ mention – this is the trial run, it’s a tester it’ll make more sense when we launch the game live for – excuse my pun here but – reel :)
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OK cool. I’m not complaining or critiquing, but when you want us to tell fiction but try to convince someone it’s true that seems contradictory…
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Of course, but as said this is the trial :)
There are things that need ironing out, but and however we are in WP, so we have to have some leeway.
But let’s take Fandango’s story as an example – you scored him nothing even know it was fiction … so clever game playing or not believeable even though it was fiction? :)
See …
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Just throwing this out there, but how about 2 scores, one for believability and one for creativity? I thought Fandango’s story was extremely creative but not believable.
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If we have too many scores, it becomes complicated, in the trial run of any new game l start to introduce, l use the trial to see where the flaws are. This is going to be a tricky game to sort out right anyway. But l will judge how this travels before l decide which changes need to be made or included for a smoother finish. The scoring isn’t the glitch, it’s the wording, a yarn is supposed to be a tall tale, that’s the true beauty of a yarn.
I liked Fandangos story for creativity and humour, and whilst of course l don’t bite into the story, l had something similar happen many years ago when fishing for flathead in Australia, similar – not the same though. But it comes down to wording, it always does. Also, the nature of this game has other aspects that l need to see the cogs working on and how that pans out.
Good yarning is an art, which does have to take into consideration, humour, believability, creativity and impact – so whilst l am not saying your idea doesn’t hold water as l can see it would if we had the platform to support it, the WP audience in things like this doesn’t want something too complicated – as in the readership. But l think your idea is a good idea and l may work and word something similar.
Look how many people are either ‘liking’ but not commenting, or commenting but not scoring? So l need to configure it to such a degree that we have a simple and effective way for the readership to react to it which is fair to all parties if that makes sense :)
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Thanks for taking the time to explain. I’m sure you will get it sorted out.
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I will because responses like yours make me think the way l need to think to address the flaws – so my thanks to you Li :)
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You are welcome.
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:)
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Reblogged this on A Guy Called Bloke and K9 Doodlepip! and commented:
Li wants to have us believe her own take on fishing tails – what do you think?
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I’m going to give this a strong 8 as well. I’ve never heard of a fish diet of frog. Quite interesting.
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the big predator fish eat frogs. Thanks for reading :)
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Hmm. You gave my story a goose egg. I could be vindictive and give you a 1 or 2, but it was actually pretty believable. So I Award you an 8.
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Thanks for your mercy :) I loved your story but just didn’t believe it. Maybe once the rules get tweaked you’ll get a higher rating.
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I have absolutely no idea if it’s true or not but it sounds believable (apart from the frog eating fish) so I’ll give it an 8 :O) x
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https://www.gameandfishmag.com/editorial/fishing_bass-fishing_ra_0506_04/244689
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https://www.untamedscience.com/biodiversity/northern-pike/ It is true that fish eat frogs, but the story is fictitious (but based on fact).
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Well I learned something today 😊 x
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We have some big hungry fish in Michigan’s waters!
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Well, I thought that was quite convincing so I will go with an 8 out of ten. I am not really used to this rating thing…
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I’m not crazy about rating others’ work either, especially if I don’t know if it is based on how well it’s written or how much is a lie… Thanks Kristian!
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Very believable – 10. :)
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Thanks! :)
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