Written by John Davis Frain

A to Z Awards Show

Because everyone loves statistics (when someone else compiles them), we present the final tally to wrap up the 2016 A to Z Blogging Challenge on this blog:

A2Z-BADGE [2016]Most Viewed Letter Award: S for Shoplifter

A record-setter for my blog (begun in February, so not much data yet), this post had 81 views the day it came out, ultimately receiving 88 views by end of month. A record-high 139 website views came that day, including folks from 8 countries. Hello, Slovenia! The post got some helpful buzz via a mention on Janet Reid’s blog, which propelled the numbers higher.

 

How’d This One Get in There Award: R for Realtor

The only Romance entry. Unplanned. And the RWA likely would not allow me to categorize this as Romance although it does have the HEA ending! In the original story, our realtor is killed by a prospective buyer. When I posted it to the blog, she completely took over the story and not only survived, but thrived.

 

Shortest Post Award: F for Fisherman clocked in at 83 words

 

Longest Post Award: Y for Yoga Instructor topped out at 158 words

 

Most Fun to Write: R for Realtor

I could hang out with Carla for 60 sentences. Shame it had to end at six!

 

Personal Favorite Award – Gold Medal: J for Juggler

This is not the best story; I just fell in love with Louie the Lion Tamer so much, he’s the only guy I brought back for a reprise, showing up with the Juggler and the Lawyer

 

Personal Favorite Award – Silver Medal: R for Realtor

Proving that stories are about the characters that populate them, Carla the Realtor was a treat, and I’d stay with her for a novella. I’d have to kill her off at anything novel length, she can’t survive forever.

 

Personal Favorite Award – Bronze Medal: E for Editor

I don’t know if the writer/killer gets away with this murder, since that happened after the sixth sentence, but I enjoyed this entire meal as a witness.

 

Worst Way to Die Award: Although it happens off-stage, this has to belong to our Zookeeper who gets eaten by a famished Gorillaphant in Z is for Zookeeper

 

Best Way to Get Away with Murder Award: Hunter in T is for Taxidermist, closely followed by Cheryl our yoga instructor.

 

And, some raw numbers:

Number of victims who didn’t survive six sentences: 15

Number of people who got away with murder: 4

Top crimes committed:

  1. Murder
  2. Blackmail
  3. Fashion

Average story length: 121 words

Of interest to note here, the average story in Week 1 ran 101 words compared to the average in the final week, which ran 135 words. Either I needed more complicated plots or I stopped editing in the back half of the alphabet. I’m betting on the latter. This challenge wore me out.

Thank you for hanging with me during April. The challenge turned out more daunting than I anticipated, and I wouldn’t have survived it without you. I remember thinking initially, how difficult can it be to write six sentences? But you still have to come up with a story! That’s the hard part. And then whittling it down to six sentences, it turns out, is the even harder part.

If we can trust my memory to forget how exhausting it was, I might give it a go next year.

 

18 thoughts on “A to Z Awards Show”

  1. I enjoyed your stats and analysis, John. You’ve inspired me to take a closer look at my own numbers (which aren’t nearly as good as yours – not that I’m making comparisons or anything!).

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  3. This was one of my favorite A to Z blogs to check out! I was always so anxious to see what you would come up with. It was also interesting to learn the statistics, especially finding how many actually got killed or got away with murder :p I hadn’t found your blog before this challenge so I’m very interested to see what you’ll be posting about next!

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    1. Serena, you’re so kind. Lemme tell you, I was always a little anxious too when I had to come up with something every night!

      Next up? I’m working on a couple ideas right now. In fact, I’m just coming back from a seminar on podcasting to see what other things I can mess up. Stay tuned, I’m a start something this week. Thanks so much for your kind words.

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  4. Well done again, John, for grabbing the challenge by the scruff of the neck and holding on for dear life to the end. I did something like this for last year’s “reflections” post, and I’ll probably do it again this year. It’s always interesting to see which posts caught people’s attention. Especially when you’re experimenting with forms. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

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    1. Holding on for dear life is spot on, Colin! Well struck. I’ll be curious to see your stats from the Challenge. You’re right, it’s interesting to look at the numbers. Not sure I can make any sense out of them yet, but still fun to play with.

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    1. Interesting? Yes. Exhausting? Hell yeah! I never knew six sentences would wear me out, but coming up with the story behind the six sentences — that was the tiring work that I hadn’t thought about.

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  7. Sounds like you enjoyed the challenge even though it was “exhausting” and I like that you went back to sum things up. I’m glad it’s over (every year I say this) but what a way to meet new people!

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    1. Dena, April exhausted me so much I’m just now recovering this late in May. And I’m not stretching a fact here to say your note helped in that recovery. I was down, and a few notes like yours have propelled me back up. Thank you, seriously, for taking the time. It’s much appreciated. Have a great weekend coming up.

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