IWT8- The Results!

[dreamshell]

Considering the ideas that I'm leaning toward, and the ideas that a few of you have mentioned, that just makes me lean even closer to the character grab bag. As long as there is enough character variety, I really don't think it will be too much of an issue- especially if you're only choosing 3 out of 15+ characters. I can design several to be custom tailored for specific genres or plotlines, as well as making a stock of background-ish characters. And that's before I open the floor to other people's submissions, where people are making characters to fit their story. Which... is probably why I'll end up limiting everyone else to one character apiece, unless there is severe outcry and/or a really good idea.

Okay, so are we talking about an exclusively character-based "grab bag"? 'Cause the problem with that is people will want to play POVs differently, so you can’t do anything too specific there, and while secondary characters can (and should) be plenty interesting, I don't honestly think you can run an entire contest that's about incorporating them alone. Well, I mean... you could. It just wouldn't be that great, IMO. They're just not enough and don't have the same degree of cohesion as the options in the last contest did. Additional grab bag material such as settings, the words and phrases thing and so on would help out a lot.

[Usoki]

I'm not a big fan of a time period theme, because I'm caught between not wanting to be anachronistic, and not wanting to bother to research the time period. Several of End's suggestions were nifty, but I think we're moving away from that sort of grab bag.

Considering the ideas that I'm leaning toward, and the ideas that a few of you have mentioned, that just makes me lean even closer to the character grab bag. As long as there is enough character variety, I really don't think it will be too much of an issue- especially if you're only choosing 3 out of 15+ characters. I can design several to be custom tailored for specific genres or plotlines, as well as making a stock of background-ish characters. And that's before I open the floor to other people's submissions, where people are making characters to fit their story. Which... is probably why I'll end up limiting everyone else to one character apiece, unless there is severe outcry and/or a really good idea.

Anyway, by this point, I'm pretty much set in what I'm doing, so be on the lookout soon for the official IWT 9 thread. Unless I decide to torment Ves by holding off on that thread for two weeks, while having sent out everyone but her a pm about it in the meantime. If this happens, everybody but Ves should be on the lookout soon for an official IWT 9 message.

[dreamshell]

Writing up characters for the contest sounds fun in theory, but it'd be tricky to find that sweet spot between "too broad" and "too narrow" and the whole creation process could get very involved and possibly frighten people off with the thought of having to do so much work even before the contest begins. Still, I'd be willing to give it a shot, it just seems like there'll be a poor or awkward outcome.

I do, however, like the "Game Chef" idea, Usoki, though it's basically what was just done in the Sci-Fi contest, unless I'm missing something.

I liked DEP's "setting or time period"-centric idea; it's specific but still leaves plenty of room as far as genre and tone. I also like one End Master suggested, perhaps in jest, where the story must have another story within it, though that's probably not enough to base an entire contest around...

Or is it??? =P It could actually be pretty fun and meta to have a contest call for stories about or featuring other stories. Like One Thousand and One Nights with Sheherazade or something.

Also somewhat inspired by his ideas, what about one featuring an Unreliable Narrator (or, more appropriately, POV)? Admittedly, I don't know how this would be done in such a way that we're the ones being misled and not just writing pathological liars. It could possible combine somehow with my idea above, but dunno.

[Usoki]

Yeah, I know. If it were me, I'd be pissed not to be able to submit a character. But there has to be some sort of structure to how that works, or it's going to be a godawful mess of three page psych evaluation sitting next to three short sentences containing more grammatical errors than words. And I'm a power-tripping bastard, so I'd like to have some sort of "Your character is terrible, and so are you" say in the matter. Especially if people try and pass off a near-clone of one of the existing characters as being okay.

I'd be tempted to invoke some sort of "you can't use your own character" rule, but I don't want to follow it, and I'm not so far intoxicated with power as to be a hypocritical asshole. Especially if I also invoke a limit as to how many characters can be made.

[donteatpoop]

And by having others submit characters, they will be more invested in the contest (in theory anyway). If not in the writing, we should get more voters. Maybe.

[Usoki]

I have to admit, that does sound pretty awesome. I'm pretty sure as long as the character list errs on the side of 'huge', it shouldn't be too big of a deal. I mean, it's not like the story is limited to these characters. Or that these characters will be limited to certain genres or plot events.

[donteatpoop]

They can't be too detailed though, or it'll be too much of a challenge and people won't play. So they would have to be detailed enough to be clearly seperate characters, but vague enough that it won't take too much work to incorporate them into the story.

[Vesnic]

Create 10-15 character profiles (or even characters) and have everyone incorporate at least three of said characters in the story.

Just thought of that one and figured I'd throw it out there.

If you don't feel like making those characters, have everyone pitch in and make a few.

If you don't choose this, and I ever win; I am going with that.

Yes! This idea is awesome! We need something that will be similar enough in each story to make an intelligent comparison, yet interesting enough to motivate people to participate. As long as these characters, or character types, are engaging and writable, then I think this is the best idea yet. I throw my lot in with the poopyman.

[zac6251]

No way bat, no way in hell am I ever going to write a romance story.

[donteatpoop]

Create 10-15 character profiles (or even characters) and have everyone incorporate at least three of said characters in the story.

Just thought of that one and figured I'd throw it out there.

If you don't feel like making those characters, have everyone pitch in and make a few.

If you don't choose this, and I ever win; I am going with that.

[BatCountry]

I say you do an anything theme with a grab bag of ten, non-technical items. Prophecy, Cynic and Clueless Outsider could be part of those ten grab bag themes.



Like I said before you could narrow it down by making an "anything" theme into one of the larger genres of writing. Horror, Adventure and Romance are big ones I don't think have been used in the contest before. I for one would love to read a romance story by zac!


I see there was a "From Hell" contest. Maybe a "From Heaven" contest would be interesting.

[End Master]

We tried the technical thing with the Infinite Loop story and everyone got unmotivated pretty fast with it, even you who originally suggested it!

We also tried the whole artsy thing with attempting a story with deeper meaning and such but again everyone lost motivation and Ves had to slap on porn just to get people to submit something.

The grab bag approach seemed to work well with getting more people to join. I actually didn't mind Drag's suggestion and could still see it working for a larger story. I'd say make the words or phrase choice an even 10 though just to give a little extra breathing room for story variance.

As for your ideas:

Prophecy: I don't think anyone on here has actually written a contest story concerning one so maybe it would be okay. Despite the challenge of trying to NOT make it cliche you'll probably get some grumbles about it being a "boring" idea.

Clueless Outsider: I'm guessing this one might be leaning towards since you are asking for something a little different than the norm around here. People might appreciate this one more than the prophecy one, but then again you could still get grumbles about it.

The Cynic: Pretty sure this is every protagonist I've ever written and at least one character that everyone else has written on here as well. Anyway this one is going to be the easiest for everyone to do if you choose this one. (And then get grumbles about it for not being different enough. You can't win, just pick what you want!)

[Locke]

I see your point, and I'm not arguing with it. But I'd like to hear other people chime in on what they think of the possibilities and/or the technical/half-tech/non-tech grab bag.

Of the three potential themes you listed, I'd choose The Cynic; it's the most malleable to my mind. As BatCountry mentioned, all three have a strong say in the direction of the story, arguably more than "Science Fiction." My opinion probably counts for less, because I have yet to participate in the tournament, but you asked, and all other things being equal, I'd prefer a theme with a little more ambiguity.

I'm not necessarily opposed to the technical limitations (as long as they are reasonable), but I don't find myself drawn to any of them, and I'm not sure they will benefit the quality of the entries or enjoyment of the tournament. I have always enjoyed the somewhat lax and open-ended nature of the contest/rules.

I'll be happy with just a theme, a theme with a grab bag, or several "a la carte" grab bags (eg one for character, one for scenery, one for whatever randomness you come up with, etc). I'd prefer at least a vague theme to tie the whole thing together, even if it's just a couple of cryptic words, but I suppose the "grab bag" approach or some other kind of direction could also work in the absence of a theme.

[Usoki]

Usoki, please hurry up with the damn topic already. I know it's fun to relish the in-charginess feeling and so on, but there's really no point in dragging this out for too long. If my experience is any indicator, the brilliant idea is not going to flash in your face just because you sit around for an additional week or two.

I see your point, and I'm not arguing with it. But I'd like to hear other people chime in on what they think of the possibilities and/or the technical/half-tech/non-tech grab bag. I am the final say in the matter, but there's not much point in having a contest if everyone hates the option I chose.

[End Master]

That would seem sort of odd for Candy Man as he's always been a thick skinned roll with the punches sort.