IWT8- The Results!

[donteatpoop]

Me, not a fan of the grab bag. It was alright, I guess; but I'd hate to do it every IWT. For that reason I vote not doing it for the next one, but perhaps another one in the future.

Not that my vote counts, as Usoki has clearly stated that this is a dictatorship; but I figured I'd get it out there.

I understand the need to narrow the theme, but I strongly recommend keeping it a wide open theme. The more narrow the theme, the less likely people are to join.

I'll throw in the option of setting or time period. A theme like "Industrial Revolution Era Fiction" works great for me. It could be a romance, fantasy, drama, horror, whatever; so long as it takes place during the industrial revolution.

Please note that I am not in any way suggesting Industrial Revolution as a theme, I simply used that as an example.

Or you could make it a broad general term that can be interpreted in any number of ways. "Death," for example. Think of all the possibilities that could come from that. "Addiction," is another one.

In fact I'd like to suggest Addiction. If that gets added to a grab bag fine, but I fear that the narrow grab bag that dragovan suggests above would make people less likely to enter since it could be viewed as limiting or confining. But perhaps that's just me.

[Threadkiller]

In fact I'd like to suggest Addiction.

right on man, drugs ftw

also old ppl,. should be 1 in every stry.

[Usoki]

Not that my vote counts, as Usoki has clearly stated that this is a dictatorship; but I figured I'd get it out there.

Don't get me wrong; I do care about what you think. If everybody hates the contest idea, then no one is going to submit anything, and then the contest would be a disaster. Kinda like how the 'True Infinite Story' theme turned into a "screw it, just do whatever" theme when it became clear nobody was going to pull off a story in time.

But, yes, you have no actual vote in the matter. At the end of the day, I have to be able to write a solid piece for next year's contest in an attempt to continue my victory streak. I'm not about to pick something like 'terror' or 'drug abuse' just because it's popular- I'd never be able to write that. Gritty things are right out.

That being said, I am partial to the 'grab bag' style of contest. Drag's suggestion really works best for short stories in my mind, so that one's out. And I do see Ves's point about how tropes are, by definition, tired and cliche. But, I'm probably not going to approach anywhere close to full departure from previous contests.

In fact, I'm kinda considering having an 'anything' theme, with a grab bag that includes technical things, like "there are no loose ends or story end rooms" or "there are x more choices than rooms" or "there are x rooms which split into 6 separate and unique choices". I can't decide if that would be interesting, or obnoxious.

[Locke]

As for me, I would like something distinctly non-tropey.

But yes: departure is the word for the IWT 9. This must be a bullet-train zippity doo-da removed from the usual faff.

Agreed. Rather than setting a genre or category, I like the idea of a theme consisting of a few words that could be interpreted any number of ways (like the "From Hell" contest a few years back, but I'm sure you could coin a phrase to outdo that one).

"there are x more choices than rooms" or "there are x rooms which split into 6 separate and unique choices".

I'm not against this idea, per se - having to choose from a "technical" grab bag as part of the theme - but the two potential rules I quoted seem really painfully specific. I liked your first idea, though, "no loose ends or story end rooms." Or, "there is only one ending." I'm sure there are better ones.

I did like DEP's "Addiction" suggestion (if not as an outright theme, then potentially as part of a grab bag if you choose that approach), not least because it could be drugs, power, collecting marbles, whatever. Or, "choose a vice/flaw" could be (an example of) another grab bag list in addition to the technical one and whatever else (e.g. choose a limitation: slavery, OCD, old age, alcoholism; choose a type of weather, scenery, etc)

I think the grab bag this time around was good for generating ideas, but so broad/with so many choices that it could be applied to almost anything; I didn't feel like the "theme" category really came into its own for that reason.

I might also consider setting one minor but completely gratuitous requirement, like "all stories must include at least one character with an obvious mustache." I'd like to see how people work that guy in. Could mean a theme point or two during judging.

I'm not "strongly recommending" any of this, just throwing it out there to get some ideas flowing. I would prefer the theme to come in at least a little closer to "detail" level and further from something as big-picture and all-encompassing as "genre" level, just to increase the variety of the submissions and creative interpretation of the theme.

EDIT: (this edit is testing the forum archive)

[zac6251]

Fuck, last place, boy ain't I hurt. I guess I'll get over it, and will someone please tell me my story was better then that mudkip story.

[donteatpoop]

Fuck, last place, boy ain't I hurt. I guess I'll get over it, and will someone please tel me my story was better then that mudkip story.

You should post the comments of your story like everyone else did. But that's pretty optional I suppose.

Personally, I thought your story was okay. Better than terrible but worse than good. Just some Jedi facing problems.

[Usoki]

I can't quite bring myself to say that your story was better than the mudkip one. I mean, sure, you've got a lot more plot and choices than it... but the content is about the same, even comparing 20 rooms to 400 rooms, and the mudkip story certainly has better grammar.

So, I guess, in the end, your story is better... but if I was held up at gunpoint and forced to read one of the two of them, I'd still pick the mudkip one. It's funny, and it's a hell of a lot shorter. Less painful on the brain, too.

[End Master]

Story must be written in iambic pentameter
Story must have a moral lesson
Story must not contain violence
Story must have a happy ending
Story must contain a magic whistle
Story must be written out of order
Story must be set in the real world
Story must have a protagonist with a mental or physical problem
Story must keep switching protagonists
Story must have BEEF
Story must have another story within it
Story must be written in third person
Story must be ideological propaganda
Story must end without resolving the plot
Story must contain one grossly out of place moment
Story must contain man's inhumanity to man
Story must contain the triumph of the human spirit
Story must contain the personification of a concept or idea
Story must contain what can change the nature of a man
Story must be written in the heart of the sun

There you go, some non standard challenges for all of you.

[Dragavan]

Watch, the challenge rule he decides to go with will be "Story must be written by Usoki to win."

[Vesnic]

Well then we'd just have to stage a coup and dismember poor little Usoki and hang his bits n' pieces all about the forum.

I'm sure he'd know better...

Also, just for the record, I think the technical requirements you suggested, unless really suggested for a purpose, are just sort of arbitrary and annoying.

[Vesnic]

Blah blah blah...

Fuckity shit fuck, man. How long does it take you to make a motherfucking decision?

[Usoki]

I'm pretty sure that End drug his feet in a very similar matter. He was being lazy; I'm trying to be coy and devious. Obviously, I can't make it too restrictive or terrible, because then no one will participate. But I still want to pick something where I have some sort of advantage or aptitude; I certainly don't want to pick something I'm bad at. I'd have to be an idiot to give myself a disadvantage out of the starting gate.

I'm also torn about whether or not I want to do anything with the grab-bag. Yes, the technical requirements I mentioned are pretty arbitrary. But that's the point. If you can put things like that into your story without having it affect the quality, that's an impressive feat. We're not just proving that we can avoid n00b mistakes- we're proving that we can subvert them entirely. How many of us routinely use more than 3 choices per room? That's usually a sign of an exponential growth story doomed to failure.

But since you're apparently growing impatient, I'll throw out some tantalizing possibilities. I'm leaning toward one of them. I'm not telling you which one.

The Prophecy- This one is pretty self-evident. I don't even think I care whether or not it comes true, or whether or not anyone believes in it. But it has to be there, and it has to be important enough that the story would be ruined if it were absent. This one might take a lot of work to think of a way to incorporate it without falling victim to cliche or tired plotlines.

The Clueless Outsider- I'm not talking about a social outcast here. This isn't the story of the gay man in a small conservative town, or the guy who dresses in solid black and smells funny. This is the English major at a science convention, or the Computer Programmer at a quilting show. The group is totally welcome to this outsider, but they are just too much for him. The outsider is actively trying to fit in with the group, but he simply has no idea what is going on. Maybe he doesn't understand the rules; maybe no one will tell him the rules.

The Cynic- One of the characters is a bitter, pessimistic husk of a human being. He wouldn't have to be the main protagonist, but he has to be one of the main characters. There are some pretty interesting possibilities here, since almost any theme and mood could be used. It also puts an interesting emphasis on character development, which doesn't always happen around here.

[BatCountry]

Interesting choices...I'm worried The Cynic and Clueless outsider would be prone to every stories main protagonist being too similar. Maybe. Prophecy gives more freedom to the main character, but restricts the storyline to follow the prophecy whether it is true or not. Hmmm...If votes counted, I'd vote for prophecy.


I still like the grab bag theme idea as well. Not really a fan of the technical grab bag you suggested, but more along the lines of what EndMaster or Dragavan had in mind. Your call of course, just wanted to put my thoughts out there.

[End Master]

Did someone inform Sev about the contest or did he just happen to pop in, scan the thread and update the contest history page?

[Usoki]

Well, it sure as heck wasn't me. And I doubt it was DEP, because he would have told Sev to use the real score, not the adjusted score. Pretty nifty either way.