Not Quite Right features discussions that are unfiltered and uncensored,
and may include themes that are inappropriate for younger listeners.
Also, I swear a lot.
Something doesn't seem quite right.
Welcome to Not Quite Right.
My name's Ed and I'm Amanda, and welcome to the 5th and final
Daredevil for the April 2026 round of the Not Quite Right Prize for Flash Fiction.
And so Daredevils are those who have signed up on purpose for the dubious
honour of having this story read out on the podcast and getting punished for it.
I mean, why do that to yourself?
So we will read the story and we'll talk about the story.
We'll share our thoughts and hopefully all learn something in the process.
And today's very brave daredevil is Maria Sol Becker.
And it's her first time not only as a daredevil,
but her very first time entering the not quite right prize,
which boggles my mind that all these daredevils just raw dog in it.
Yeah, straight to the daredevil situation like
that is pure unadulterated masochism right there.
No one trying straight into the main course.
No one knows Bush, nothing of that nature.
But we respect that and hopefully we can match your energy.
And Maria has chosen to write for Team Ed this round,
which I'm very appreciative of Maria.
Unfortunately, we didn't win, but we did try.
If only it was the trying that counted.
Finally was.
And my prompts this round were the word disco, the action of freaking out,
And my kicker prompt was that you had to incorporate a disco dance move into the
story prominently.
And apologies in advance for this reading.
There's a fair bit of Spanish here, and I don't know if I'll pronounce it
correctly, but I'll do my best.
I'll help you.
I'll **** in and correct you as you go.
It'll be great.
Gracias then other.
So without further ado, here is the grammar does the rest by
Maria Solbeka.
All week once she has been turning himself in the sun.
By Saturday, Gualagua Chu smells of sunscreen,
hot concrete, frying oil and nerves.
Mary Mary opens tonight.
By noon.
Nico is in the patio with the razor and the bowl of warm water.
Seven years of Saturdays like this one.
She watches his thigh go smooth under Nico's hand,
the water turning cloudy with soap and small black hairs.
Niko's mouth, when it reaches the inside of the knee,
does not stop to ask a baho tambien.
The tiles burn.
The Portenios will be arriving soon, sunglasses still on,
as if they had invented looking afterward.
The oil, the old baby oil bottle, grated carrot floating inside like fish
flesh, warm in Nico's palms, warmer down the spine into the small of
the back, and the inner thighs with a feather belt
will leave its Welt.
His hands have never hesitated.
Not four years ago when he took one chi to buy the first dress.
Not last Tuesday when he stole feathers from Julieta's locker for Millie before
anyone had asked why.
Salimos Los dos juntitos, Nico says.
Como siempre nosos seloso, Nico laughs.
Mari Mari yasabe akin Mira.
He runs his palm flat down the spine.
One more time, Linda.
She turns.
The grammar does the rest.
Backstage smells of Hairspray and vomit.
Kulieta, last year's Reyna body built for stones
and almost nothing else, is freaking out in a plastic chair,
mascara running, a boy holding back her hair.
Niko glances once.
Sinosalea Salemili.
Nobody argues.
The stones are already on.
The feathers are already up.
Nico fixes one last plume, already in his own costume, blue and gold,
his float after hers.
The third Carossa lurches, a disco on wheels, silver mirrored,
obscene.
The speakers boom Mari Mari amaneser prometido,
and the drums come up through the wheels into the soles of her feet.
She's moving before she decides to Hips, shoulders, one arm up, finger to the sky,
sweat running down between her shoulder blades when Niko's thumbs had been an
hour ago.
A mirrored panel catches her, enormous, silvered, curved like a second sky,
And for the first time, she's not Niko's Millie.
Not Huanchi's Millie, but the Millie the club built this float
to frame Her finger slows, lands, points at the girl in the mirror like a
deer.
The crowd reads it as choreography.
She keeps dancing.
The float curves.
The next Carosa is coming the other way, blue and gold, and Nico is on it,
shoulders oiled, feathers up, finding her across the runway with the
same finger she has just used on herself.
He points at her.
She points back.
Two men in feathers in a town that has been practising this since before either
of them was born.
The crowd screams.
The drums do.
The.
So Gracias Maria for your story and Maria has left to say voicemail,
which we will play now.
Hello Ed Hello Amanda, this is Saul Maria Solbecker,
Argentinian away from home on assignment, first time not quite right price
participant.
So I had a dog once named Disco.
I was a plough in Afghanistan with the UN and my boss was a DJ who used to play
Disco for the team.
So that was the reason for picking team Ed Nothing personal Amanda.
So I spent most of those 60 hours dancing in my kitchen,
working through YouTube tutorials of every disco move I could find.
Embodiment is called.
So the story is set in the carnival of my hometown.
Well away, too.
And now I'm seriously considering pitching it to one of the comparison
directors.
Let's see what they say.
Listen, one thing I really would like to have
your opinion is on the use of Spanish.
I hesitated the way through, but the stripping the Spanish out of the
story felt like a stripping its soul.
So I'd love to know whether it landed or whether it created more friction than it
was worth.
Be brutal.
Thank you.
Thank you for your message.
And you refer to yourself as Sol there, So we'll call you Sol as well.
And some good questions.
I think we've got a lot to talk about in unpacking this story.
He's a very dense story.
So let's get into it.
And maybe do we want to start with the Spanish?
Yeah, sure.
I mean, Sol brought that up in her questions
there.
And I love Spanish.
I know a little bit of Spanish, but this was still beyond me.
I will say.
Like, I got words here and there, but I didn't get everything.
And I got the gist, I have to say.
But Sol has, Did it create too much friction?
Like more than it was worth?
I do understand this idea of it feeling like it's stripping out the soul of the
story to take out that Spanish.
And it is kind of essential here just to set the scene as well and the tone of the
story.
But I will say that for me, even as someone who loves Spanish and
knows a little bit of Spanish, it was still, yeah, friction.
It was tricky and did Take Me Out of the story a little bit.
Now, that's OK in a way.
Like if I was in this scene and people were speaking Spanish in front of me,
I'm not going to pick up every word that they say.
And that's OK.
But I do think there are ways to keep the Spanish as well while also still allowing
like taking the reader along with that and, you know,
a tiny little bit more hand holding just to allow that tone to come in while also
allowing us to understand what's happening at all times.
Well, look, I'm not a Spanish speaker.
I have studied some Italian.
So a few of the words were familiar and some of them actually I read incorrectly
because of my knowledge of of Italian.
But I do really like the use of Spanish in this story and I think it gives it a
flavour that it would lose otherwise.
So I agree with that.
I have read stories and books that featured a language that I didn't speak
as well in the dialogue.
And I think often the key is making sure that the context of the sentence explains
to the reader or gives enough the reader enough information to follow what's
happening, even if you don't know the exact words
being spoken.
And I think in this case, there were a lot of critical pieces of
dialogue that you really did need to follow and understand what the characters
were saying in order to follow along with the story.
Yeah.
And I think you'll see in some stories where you might have a mix of English and
Spanish, for example, and you know where you need the clarity,
you might have the English and then you would add the Spanish like kind of as a
full stop on the end of that kind of thing.
And that that's one way of doing it.
But I think for example, OK, so we have this moment in the beginning,
Nikko's mouth when it reaches the inside of the knee does not stop to ask abajo
tambien.
I think you could have a little bit more clarity what he means then,
which is like below as well or whatever, And just that little bit of hand holding
so that it's very clear at all times.
And I think this is not just a language issue,
but a common issue to flash fiction in general, which is clarity, right?
How much clarity versus how much poetry and lyricism do you have?
And I think both have their place in flash fiction.
And some stories warrant more straightforward language and others
warrant more poetic language kind of thing.
But we always need to have enough clarity to understand at all times what's going
on, otherwise we can't fully appreciate the
story and watch it unfold.
So yeah, I think there are options for keeping it
while also taking us along and making it clear.
Absolutely.
But I do respect the decision to keep the Spanish in there,
and I think it does help the story.
It is just about clarity.
And I mean, to add on to that, it is quite a complex story in other ways.
There are some gender changes that happen along the way and some name changes.
So I think even if written in English, it would also require close reading.
So it just is another layer on top of that that is a little bit difficult for a
reader, especially a non Spanish native.
And I would probably say that as an overarching statement that friction in
voter commas is probably the main issue with this story.
Now all the judges who read this story voted it maybe plus,
which means that it was strongly considered for the long list and it
didn't make the long list.
And the reason being that there was just too much that was left confusing or left
unclarified for us as readers.
And so while we all loved the vibe of it, and then the Spanish was part of that
vibe at the end, there was just too many questions that we
had.
And we, we felt like we were outside of this
story and not really ever fully connected with it.
And honestly, I think had there been that bit more hand
holding throughout, it probably would have made the long list.
Because as a vibe, it's really strong.
Yeah.
And I, I want to really make sure that we state
that this is a a really well written story and it's filled with great lines,
great visual imagery and a lot of subtlety that comes through in the
writing.
And it's a great experience to read.
It's just that it is difficult to follow exactly what is taking place.
Yeah.
And look, I was reading it and Googling, you know, the Spanish was part of it.
But as you said, it wasn't just the Spanish that created
the clarity issues.
I think because we've got this story about drag Queens in a parade,
the transition from Huanchi to Milli was not clear.
We sort of just have a new name stated as if it's another character.
And as I'm reading this for the first time, to me, Millie was another character.
So Millie's first mentioned, I believe in the line not last Tuesday
when he stole feathers from Julieta's locker for Millie before anyone had asked
why.
So to me, we've got Julieta then and then Millie as
well.
And it's like as if 2 new characters had been added to the story.
We later figure out that Millie is in fact,
I guess the drag queen persona of Hunchy.
But at that moment when that name's first introduced, that is not clear.
And so we miss it.
We don't understand that Nico's stealing the feathers for Hunchy.
We think it's another character again, so yeah.
And that that sort of clarity issue flowed through.
Like it just feels like multiple different characters being introduced
when in fact it's really just the 2 main characters with Julieta on the side who
is sick and so can't fulfil her role.
But look, I want to just dwell on that sentence
that you that you read there, because there are some long sentences and
sometimes we do critique long sentences in stories and that is often a point of
clarity in itself.
But these are just so well constructed and beautiful.
And that sentence you mentioned there?
His hands never hesitated.
Not four years ago when he took one sheet to buy the first dress.
Not last Tuesday when he stole feathers from Julietes locker.
Familiar before anyone had asked why.
I love the way that that sentence ends in before anyone had asked why,
just to give it a bit of extra kick of intrigue.
And it's hard for me to explain exactly why that appeals to me.
But there's something just poetic about the way that that's phrased that I find
striking.
I mean, there's a lot of poetic sort of phrases
in that very first line.
All week, 1/2 has been turning himself in the sun.
I just like how that's expressed.
And we do find this often, I think, with people who enter our competition who
have English as a second, third, fourth language,
we get these beautiful turns of phrase that are not the way we would normally
phrase something in English, but which feel really beautiful.
And I think sometimes it could be just that's how it's expressed in that
language that's being translated over.
And I don't know if that's the case here, and it would make me feel more normal to
say it that way in Spanish or German or whatever it might be.
But it just comes across as, yeah, quite lyrical and beautiful and
unexpected and very pleasing for that reason.
So, yeah, there's quite a few lines like that.
Even the line her finger slows, lands, points at the girl in the mirror like a
dare, you know, these kinds of unexpected phrasing,
A pleasing to read and kind of, you know, spark that little bit of interest.
Absolutely.
So I want to return for a moment to the title and its meaning to the story
because I do recall talking about this with Elise,
who called out some of the lines in the story as a favourite.
And the title is the grammar does the rest.
And I think it's a really evocative title and unique and intriguing and all of
those kinds of things.
And the fact that it does tie directly into this story, I think,
into a notable moment where we have the use of the word Linda,
which in Spanish means what?
Beautiful.
Yeah.
Pretty.
Yeah.
I'm not sure I understand what it means in this context.
Yeah.
I mean, Elise sort of had strong positive
feelings about that line.
I didn't feel quite the same way.
I found it a little bit confusing.
I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to take from that.
The grammar does the rest, and this is one of those.
Where we say like we're getting that kind of beauty of having something almost
translated into English for us.
That's a little bit different.
But from my perspective, like a one word sentence,
which is Linda doesn't really have a lot of grammar, you know, I mean,
it's not without grammar.
You know, every sentence has grammar.
But I didn't really understand what that exactly meant.
Like, the poetry was just that one step too far
for me to kind of connect with the sentiment.
Yeah.
And And while it was vibey and this whole story is a vibe,
and so it washed over me in that way.
When we're calling it out, I've got question marks.
I'm really not clear.
Yeah.
And that's what I mean.
It is very evocative and it ties into this meaningful moment in the story.
But it does leave me with a feeling of I'm missing something that's happening
here.
That should be the key to the story.
Almost.
It's the title.
It's this moment.
And I'm not quite sure what it means.
But it that is, I think maybe lost in translation.
Yeah, perhaps.
And I'm sure, Saul, could, you know, enlighten us And,
and I would encourage you to do so, please do on social media or what have
you.
Let us know exactly what you were getting at there because no doubt it is beautiful.
And Elise certainly connected with it.
I'd like to connect with it too.
And the other thing I wanted to call out as well is from Sol's message is the
process that she went through in coming up with this idea.
And she described it as embodiment and basically spending 60 hours looking up
disco moves and doing the disco moves and just finding what came to her and as
inspiration to the story, which is a great process.
I feel like that came through.
Is that kind of crazy to say?
Like I feel like sometimes we get stories where I can tell that the person writing
the story was feeling that emotion when they wrote it.
And this is a story where that I feel like the vibe and the energy of that
dancing actually did come through in the writing and felt very real.
And I think that's a really great strategy.
Like if you know, how do you take inspiration where you can
just sit there banging your head against your keyboard,
or you can go with the art of it and just see where it takes you.
And I think that's a beautiful approach.
And you know, if nothing else, you enjoy yourself while you're
struggling to come up with your.
It is.
Well, it certainly worked in this case.
But yeah, like, you know, if you're trying to communicate something,
like that's what writing is, right?
You're expressing something.
What better way to figure out how to express it than to feel it in your body
and then to kind of like detail out exactly what that feels like,
finding a way to very clearly express what it feels like.
I think that's kind of the goal, right, of writing.
And one thing as well that I think I may have called out as a critique somewhere
along the way of some of the stories this round was that, well,
we didn't require you to include actual dancing necessarily.
Could have just been the name of the the dance move being incorporated.
But a lot of people did go for dance moves.
And sometimes that resulted in the dance move feeling a bit shoehorned into the
story, like it was a regular story, and then all of a sudden someone's doing
a disco move out of nowhere.
This was not like that.
This is a case of that move being very natural in the story and central exactly
part of the story.
It didn't come out of nowhere.
It was completely expected and normal.
And as you say, central to the story.
And I think that's a good strategy, right when you're thinking about the
prompts because sometimes, like, look, you get the prompts.
And if you're anything like me, your initial reaction is to rage and say,
these are the dumbest prompts I've ever seen in my entire life.
How am I expected to write a story in response to these prompts?
And very quickly thereafter, if you go with it, you start to twig,
and then you get ideas, and then you go down a path and suddenly
you're excited to write a story.
That's how it goes for me anyway.
And I think it can be tempting sometimes to kind of just hide the prompt or kind
of like brush it aside and just like, ignore it almost.
And while that can be appropriate, I mean, you could certainly get away with losing
the word St, for example, and hiding that somewhere in your story.
I think it's probably a better strategy to find a way to make each of,
in this case, in this competition, 3 prompts quite central and intrinsic to
your story in a way that if they were removed,
the story would no longer make sense.
I don't think that's necessarily needs to be the goal for all three prompts every
time, but certainly to have a prompt being
intrinsic is a really excellent way to look at it,
because otherwise you do run the risk of it feeling shoehorned in or forced.
Yeah.
And yeah, in this case it really wasn't, as a very poignant point, if you will.
No, I agree.
And also the action prompt here, the freaking out prompt was also part of
the plot, but it wasn't, it wasn't shoehorned in.
It was essential to the story.
If you receive this story not knowing what the prompts were,
you would have a hard time reverse engineering what the prompts were for the
story because they didn't stand out.
They weren't visible in that way, although just on that.
So we've got the word disco, which was the word prompt in this story.
And in fact, Saul has put disco in all caps.
Yep.
And I'm not sure why that choice was made, but you don't need to put your word in
all caps.
Like we can find it without that.
I know, like when we release the prompts, we put the words in all caps,
but that doesn't mean it has to be presented that way in the story.
And I think sometimes people do that.
So not sure if that was an intentional choice or if you felt that that needed to
be done, but it didn't.
So just something to be mindful of.
But yeah, as you say, all three prompts quite intrinsic and
central to this story.
So let's talk about the storytelling aspect of this.
And I guess the plots and the pay off here as well,
because there is a moment here that is quite subtle and and powerful.
That is the the core of the story.
And it's like a story of self actualization in a moment of dance and
becoming the thing that you've wanted to be.
And I think it's really powerful.
And I think it's also something that's very hard to pull off successfully in a
story because it's very internal and it's something that happens within the soul of
the character, right?
And it's very hard to make a reader connect with that without there being
considerable action in the scene to justify it.
And I think soul has done a really great job of actually giving us the action and
giving us all of the things that lead into that moment that make it so special
and significant.
I think so.
And it's told in third person as well, right?
So we're not getting those internal thoughts as such.
And I think that's really artful because, you know, we talk about show don't tell,
and that's exactly what this is, right?
We're not getting the internal thoughts and yet we understand exactly what's
going on in the mind of this character.
We're getting that through the narration and through the action and how that
action is described.
And I think that's really clever and I think that's something to strive for.
So you talk about this moment of self actualization and I think it's here,
It's in this line, which I love.
It's a beautiful line.
A mirrored panel catches her, enormous silvered,
curved like a second sky.
And for the first time, she's not Niko's Millie.
Not one.
She's Millie, but the Millie the club built this float
to frame her finger slows, lands, points at the girl in the mirror like a
dare.
So that moment is her coming into her own there as like the star of the show that
maybe she has always dreamt of being or always felt that she was and is only now
just getting the chance to kind of show that.
And that's really the climax of this story.
And then we get that sort of vibey reaction beat after that as well.
I think that works really well in terms of making that moment resonate more fully
and deeply as such a pivotal moment for this character.
And I love those moments as well.
Like the way that sentence ends like a dare.
And we as the reader, you know, we have to unpack what that means and
what that would look like and what that means emotionally.
And it's very complex.
We often talk about not naming an emotion, and I think this is what that looks like.
This is what not naming an emotion, letting the actions speak and also giving
the reader something to chew on and to contemplate.
What is that emotion?
This is very well done.
Yeah.
And then we, you know, we have the next moment.
The crowd reads it as choreography.
And that can be really satisfying as a reader, too,
Like what is happening versus what people perceive to be happening.
The difference between those two things is pretty juicy, right?
It's interesting, like when there's a truth and then like a
misunderstanding and all of those sorts of things that leave room for the reader
to kind of dwell in and imagine.
Like, what does that discrepancy mean in the
context of this story?
There are a couple of sentences that I suppose I would challenge though,
just in terms of how I felt when I read those sentences.
So again, lots of beautiful stuff and I'm just
going to go straight to the gutter because I feel like I have to call this
one out.
But both of us had the the same reaction to this line,
which was the next Carossa is coming the other way,
blue and gold and Nico is on it, shoulders oiled, feathers up,
finding her across the runway with the same finger she has just used on herself.
Now totally in the gutter, totally flesh fiction ruined me and so on.
Yes, but the phrasing of that sentence the the
finger she has just used on herself has a bit of an implication that I'm not sure
if soul intended.
And so if I was beta reading this story, I would be challenging that line and just
being like, oh, I'm not quite sure if you meant that and
if you did, fine.
But useful to be aware that that's kind of the reaction.
It does have a sexual connotation that you maybe didn't mean.
But I think we understand what is being said in that.
And it is a powerful moment as well.
It is.
But you know, you've just got to be careful to not trip
people up with those things.
So always useful to be aware of.
And then the other line I would challenge is that very last sentence.
So we've got the crowd screams.
The drums do.
Now the drums do to me is not a complete sentence.
I'm not exactly sure what that means.
I'm on the fence about this sentence because you're right,
it's not a grammatically complete sentence.
But it is in keeping with the poetic tone of the story and the language that is
evident throughout the story where we have something I think makes more sense,
maybe as stated in Spanish than it does in English.
Yeah, it's an unusual frame and I think one
that makes the ending all the more ambiguous, maybe unknowable, interesting,
but I agree.
It also does leave you with a moment of the drums.
Do what?
Yeah.
So both of those are true at once.
So as with the use of Spanish here, like it's a double edged sword.
It is evocative.
It does lend so much character to the story,
but it's also a little bit confusing.
So I would say what I imagine Seoul's intention was with this final line,
and I'm happy to be corrected.
It's not my story.
I'm just guessing the vibe of this final line was meant to be like and the drums
continue kind of thing and the drums play on kind of thing.
And so in English phrasing, what I might suggest there is something
more along the lines of like the drums roll on or something like that to suggest
that the drums are just playing, you know, and that's the vibe that we're left on
this, these beating drums or the drums beat on
or something like that.
Well, I, I, I take it as meaning the drums do scream
as well because the crowd screams.
The drums do scream as well.
Well, look, again, it's just useful to be aware that that's
what your reader is experiencing.
So if you have some beta readers, if you're in the forum and so on,
and you're getting that kind of feedback, then maybe that's something that needs to
be addressed.
But yeah, ultimately you're the artist and you get
to decide the effect you want to leave us with.
I do think that what we always want to avoid is tripping the reader up.
And for me, those couple of things that I mentioned
trip me up.
There are other poetic lines here that didn't trip me up.
I am just one reader.
But I think a good rule of thumb, and this is just in general,
if you're getting feedback from people and two people say the same thing,
you should listen.
If it's just one, absolutely take it with a grain of salt
potentially like listen and then make your own call.
But if you're getting it back from more than one person,
then you're probably not communicating what you wanted to communicate
effectively.
And if both of us are saying that same thing,
then I suggest it's probably a problem that needs to be corrected in terms of
communicating what you meant to communicate.
So look, to wrap this up, entire nice little boa around it.
Wow.
I've got nothing but high praise for this writing,
for the story itself and the way this has been constructed.
I think this is very imaginative, beautiful phrasing and some characters
here as well that feel very real to me.
And I think the emotional impact is there.
The main thing that kept this off the long list and even potentially further is
the clarity that we've discussed.
Yeah, absolutely.
Again, it's that balance between clarity and
poetry that we come across in flash fiction.
But also, like, there's nothing wrong with needing to put
a little bit more effort into reading a story, right?
That can be a really satisfying experience and I,
I guess I don't want to give off the impression that all we want is to be
spoon fed, right.
That's that's absolutely not what I'm saying.
I do think in a competition setting, you always have the challenge that judges
are reading quickly that you kind of do need to drop someone into a scene and get
them like connected with your story in a way that perhaps in a lip mag,
you might have a little bit more freedom on, you know, in a lip mag,
maybe you've got a picture to accompany your story.
Maybe there's a theme to that lip mag that's sort of where already in the right
frame of mind or there's a little bit more context around it when we're reading
it without even the name of the author and it's just coming out of the clear
blue sky kind of thing.
Then I would say we do need to err a little bit more on the side of clarity
then perhaps you would elsewhere.
But if we talk about what takes a story from long list to shortlist,
sometimes it is those moments of like not knowing and not being fully sure what a
story is about and being able to kind of put your own interpretation on it and all
of that sort of stuff.
That feels very, very satisfying.
So there's definitely a balance to be struck there,
and I don't think there's one way of doing it.
Yeah, I think it comes down to getting some
beta reading help on your story to identify any clarity issues that are
creating stumbling blocks as opposed to creating intrigue.
The ones that are creating stumbling blocks where people feel like it's taken
them out of the story instead of perhaps taking them deeper in,
those are the ones that need attention to correct,
I guess before you submit your story.
But I agree with you completely.
Absolutely believe the vibes were on with this story.
It was very vibey.
The characters were interesting, rich, the emotional aspect was there.
You could feel that kind of gritty sort of aspect to it.
And and this moment of, as you say, self actualization is quite powerful.
And, you know, we talk sometimes about you don't always
need a car chase and all of that sort of stuff.
It's a quiet story in that way, but nevertheless powerful.
So absolutely, so many boxes being ticked here.
It was one that was quite close to the long list.
So yeah, I'm not sure if that's a good thing to
hear or a bad thing, you know, frustrating, I suppose.
But it just goes to show that you're not far off like from our perspective when we
read this story.
And I would encourage you to bring your own culture into this and the things that
interest you and your history and all of that, because that's uniquely your own.
And that can be really rewarding and interesting to read about.
So I hope that you do continue to bring your Spanish influence in and your
Argentinian heritage into your storytelling and perhaps just finding
that balance to help us appreciate and understand as well.
Absolutely.
And you can definitely write, that's for sure.
Your talent is shining through in this story.
So we hope you do write for us again.
And we hope we have answered some of your questions as well, Sol,
and this experience hasn't been too painful for you.
Do you think maybe she's screaming, crying, throwing up in the maybe stage,
freaking out as it were?
But that about wraps it up for our April Daredevils and our April Round.
Maybe just a couple of reminders.
Our July round tickets are on sale.
We have revealed our theme for the July round,
so you should have received an email or follow us on social media to see what
that's all about.
Giving you a little bit of a sneak peek.
This round couldn't help it.
It's very beautiful, the artwork.
So we have our artist in residence, Nora, who has drawn our artworks this year and
this one, it's just so pretty.
It's colourful, very vibrant.
So yeah, take a look at that image and and maybe
take a leaf out of Seoul's book and embody that theme with a few weeks to go
until our next round.
And if you're not signed up, head over to Not Quite Right prize.com.
Get yourself a ticket.
It's shaping up to be a great round.
I can't wait.
And also a reminder that Flesh Fiction Volume 1 is now out.
So if you've been waiting for the chance to read some of those spicy flesh fiction
stories for yourself now as your chance, head over to the website and pick
yourself up a copy of Flesh Fiction Volume 1.
And lastly, just to mention, we got Amanda, you got some workshops.
Tell us about your workshops.
I've been having a great time so far.
I've just come back from Melbourne as of the time of recording and I meant you're
not quite right as there, which was lovely.
And Chloe again came along, a really lovely group of people and a lot
of enthusiasm.
And I know several of them will be entering the July round.
So it's great to have some fresh meat and I hope they have been listening back to
these Daredevil episodes to get some hints and tips about what we might be
expecting.
But yeah, I've got some more workshops coming up on
the Central Coast and in Sydney and in Port Stephens actually.
So a few different things going on.
If you go to the What's On section of our website,
or in fact if you go on to Instagram, there's a little summary there of where
I'll be and when, and I'd love to meet some more of our
writers.
Yeah, it's always good fun.
We just basically talk flash fiction for a couple of hours or more.
I'm really in particular looking forward to the workshop I'm doing on behalf of
Writing NSW, which is actually a full day, full day of flash fiction, which, yeah,
is very, very exciting.
And so plenty of time to actually write and produce and perhaps edit a piece of
work.
And yeah, I'm hoping to see some friendly faces
there too.
So do go to notquiteright. com and check out our events page there
to find out all of the dates.
And the other thing that we have is our interviews from Words on the Waves.
They will now be coming out on our second podcast stream.
Not quite right interviews.
Just go over to the website to find that we interviewed 12 authors.
I believe it was at Words on the Waves this year.
So those interviews will be up on that podcast stream.
Yeah, we had some great chats.
It's always really fascinating at A at a writers festival.
You're getting people to just basically talk about something they've been
obsessed with long enough and hard enough to write a whole book about it.
So you always get such a wonderful diversity of subjects, and we did.
So, yeah, it's fun to relive those moments from the
festival.
But that about wraps it up for the April round.
We do have a regular episode coming out, and I'm hoping, sure,
because we recorded it some time ago, but my editing backlog, it's backing up.
There's a lot, but I do plan on releasing that before we
get underway with the July round, if I can manage it.
So hopefully they'll be hitting the airwaves.
Very.
Soon, and we'll be talking about my best friend
Your Bestie, so expect that to drop fairly soon.
But until then, right on, right on.
We hope you enjoyed this special Daredevil episode of Not Quite Right.
If you have thoughts on this story, follow us on social media and join the
conversation.
And if you'd like to participate in the next round of the competition,
head over to ourwebsite@notquiteright.com.
That's WRITE something doesn't seem quite right.