"Go!" croaked professor Nevermore McCaw from her perch at the front of the classroom.
[The prompt called for something modern in past times,] posted Watifa the octopus. [Past times seems like medieval Europe here. The new thing is electricity.]
"Hold!" croaked the professor. [First, the writing, the characterization?]
"Tis medieval, I agree," said Friggin, "but t'language tis more 17th century puritan."
[example ...] posted Nevermore.
Friggin looked puzzled. "Old texts use strange words n wordings. Chaucer's Tales be unreadable. But naught here grabt me so."
"What aboo Shakespeare?" asked Shiheed. "T' King James Bible?"
Friggin frowned. "I dnoo. Tis no Beowulf. I canna defend it bein puritan."
Yomamma rolled her eyes. "Tis SOME old fashion."
[Does it matter which?] asked the professor.
"No? T'plot doona care?" ventured Omigaw. Yomamma pumped a fist at her little victory.
[The plot then ...] allowed the prof.
"Tis no shoot-em-up," said Dood. "T priest walks into town, finds t'host family, hears t'bells, n realizes this is sometin new."
[Characterization?]
"Minimal? Beside t'point?" said Omigaw.
[Little plot, little characterization, so was it a bad story?]
Most of the class objected simultaneously to defend it.
[So it was a good story? What makes it so?]
[The point,] posted Watifa, [was world building. Who are the demons? What exactly did they install? Those bells aren't telephones or telegraphs or bongo drums or anything else I recognize. It's not just new to medieval times, it's NEW.]
"Me guess is Morse code, but w'bells, no dashes n dots," said Shiheed. "P'raps it exists, tis just obscure."
"Who are t'demons?" asked Omigaw. "Men? Monsters? Are t'townspeople ugly monsters n t'demons men?"
"'The tall one gave me a ribbon'" quoted Yomamma.
[Is the new invention what makes it a good story? Is that the same as worldbuilding?]
"T'priest," said Dood, "E says t'people ha found sometin new. What e SHOULD be notin is t'demons know who e is." The classes nodded in agreement.
[These demons have weather prediction.] posted Watifa. [Our priest is good and caught. What I liked about the story is actually wondering what he should do next.]
[Ah, so, latent plot? What should he do next?]
"Run?" ventured Omigaw.
"No point," answered Dood. "Tey coulda killed im before e reached t'village. Tey knew.Have t'family teach im t'read t'bells?"
"Who spoke trough t'bells?" asked Friggin. "A demon? Or a villager?"
"He could ask t'see t'demons directly," observed Shiheed. "If tey know im, tey know t'whole order. Nuttin t'lose."
"T'wife?" noted Omigaw, "She spoke first?"
The professor gave a happy cackle and ruffled her feathers. [She did, didn't she?]
"Canna tell if tis worldbuildin? or characterization?" said Omigaw.
The class continued discussing how the priest could best proceed from his predicament until the bell rang signaling End Of Class.
This was a discussion of soemone else's reply to a reddit.com r/WritingPrompts, "Taking a modern day concept and applying it to a past era. (An example would be Mass production in the Middle Ages)"