We had over 20 participants, including a few first-timers; a few kibitzers, and loads of fun! Members (and admins) also discussed the distinction between brevity and verbosity; ShadowedAcolyte in particular had a number of interesting questions about minimalit’s purpose and focus.
And somehow during all the shenanigans we still managed to write a collective total of 23,851 words!
Speedy Writers!
Cecilia-vas-ilion took First Place with 5,256 total words! 
Exnihilo-nihil took Second Place with 3,665 total words! Missing-ninSasuke took Third Place with 2,992 total words!Prizes!
ShadowedAcolyte won the Super Secret Prize by writing the smallest average word count over at least 3 rounds! The Super Secret Prize from minimalit was 175 points. mirz333 won a three month premium membership from the Chat Tour! LionesseRampant won 100 points from HaveTales-WillTell! megan24601 won 100 points from HaveTales-WillTell! LeSuricat won 100 points from thorns! neurotype-on-discord won 50 points from thorns! ChristalKitto won 50 points from thorns!Interview with HaveTales-WillTell!
We learned a little about the group with our short interview.
Can you tell visitors, who aren't familiar with the group, a little about minimalit? Sure! We're a relatively new group, experimenting with the theme of super-short literature: micropoetry of just two words, and three-word haiku and senryu. We held our first poem-a-day contest in April, as part of NaPoWriMo.
Is the group doing anything of interest at the moment or in the near future? We are! At the end of this Word Wars, we'll be opening a new folder at minimalit: Four-Word Microprose! Flash fiction and six-word stories have become tremendously popular on dA; we're eager to see how well everyone handles an even shorter prose challenge.
If you have any questions about minimalit, now is the time to ask HaveTales-WillTell!<drippingwords> HaveTales-WillTell: Do you get discouraged when people call #minimalit out because they don't think that poetry can consist of two or three words?
<havetales-willtell> DrippingWords: It's not to everyone's taste. I don't have a problem with disagree-ers, so long as they're not haters or trolls.
<grimface242> DrippingWords: i don't. they're just people that don't understand something new and don't want to give it a chance
<shadowedacolyte>HaveTales-WillTell: why glorify minimalism?
<havetales-willtell>ShadowedAcolyte: It's not so much that, as trying to pare poetry down to its bare essence. I love sonnets and epic poems as much as haiku.
<lombregrise> HaveTales-WillTell : will you open new folders like "4 words poetry" or "one syllab sonnet"?
<havetales-willtell> lombregrise: We'll see what the future brings. ^nicswaner made an interesting suggestion, which we'll be looking into.
<thorns> HaveTales-WillTell: Cassildra: do you have any tips or tutorial on how to create EFFECTIVE micro prose or poetry?
<cassildra>thorns: I think the point of micro prose/poetry is to craft something, not just slap words on a page. I will point again to Hemingway's famous six-word story. It's easy to write something fast in a few words, but it takes time to craft something that is effective.
<havetales-willtell>thorns: The biggest tip I can think of is to think about your words: what makes one stand out more than another.
<shadowedacolyte>HaveTales-WillTell: I don't mean to sound...err, overly negative. "glorify" was perhaps a provocative word. Why celebrate the 'bare essence?
<havetales-willtell>ShadowedAcolyte: I believe tight writing makes for better writing. Even without a restrictive word count.
<shadowedacolyte>HaveTales-WillTell: but is there a point where "tightness" morphs into "curtailing"?
<havetales-willtell>ShadowedAcolyte: There could be. But nobody's required to attempt a micropoem; it's one of several ways to challenge oneself.
<shadowedacolyte>HaveTales-WillTell: what makes a three-word poem a haiku vs. a senryu vs. neither?
<havetales-willtell>ShadowedAcolyte: Haiku vs. senryu comes down to theme: nature vs. philosophical. But is any three-word collection a poem? No; there has to be a juxtaposition, a balancing-point, in the same way that a plank isn't necessarily a see-saw.
<shadowedacolyte>HaveTales-WillTell: that sounds...neat, I suppose. And I promise I am not trying to provoke or troll or anything, just understand. Looking through the #minimalit galleries I am not seeing that fulcrum in many of the pieces gathered there.
<havetales-willtell>ShadowedAcolyte: That's a fair assessment. As an experimental style, a lot of what's being written can be considered a work in progress.
<shadowedacolyte>HaveTales-WillTell: I know a point of contention among the distressingly popular "six word story" movement is the role of a title, and whether it says too much, or even belongs on a piece of minimalist literature. How does #minimalit feel about titles?
<havetales-willtell>ShadowedAcolyte: Having learned from SWS's title issues, we've adopted their policy: there's no restriction on a title's length, but the piece must be able to stand on its own without it.
<shadowedacolyte>HaveTales-WillTell: again, that doesn't seem to be entirely true of the galleries
<havetales-willtell>ShadowedAcolyte: And it doesn't always work out in practice for groups like SWS either. But it's a goal to work toward; and it's better to encourage steps in the right direction than to slap someone down for not being perfect from the get-go</havetales-willtell></shadowedacolyte></havetales-willtell></shadowedacolyte></havetales-willtell></shadowedacolyte></havetales-willtell></shadowedacolyte></havetales-willtell></shadowedacolyte></havetales-willtell></shadowedacolyte></havetales-willtell></cassildra></thorns></havetales-willtell></lombregrise></havetales-willtell></shadowedacolyte></grimface242></havetales-willtell></drippingwords>
And that wraps up our latest chat stop at WordWars, courtesy of minimalit! Thank you to the staff, donors, and participants. We appreciate all the loyal participants and new faces who jumped in this month. The staff and I had a great time with you all, and hope you'll continue to participate.
Hope to see you (later) in June!
thorns, inknalcohol, HugQueen, & HaveTales-WillTell
