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I present to you: The Infinite Writing Tournament Ten! This year's theme? The Overpowered Protagonist. All stories should be completed by Dec 31st, 2013, although we'll probably end up with an extention. Your story must have at least one main character who is overpowered in some sense of the word. Failure to do so will result in eventual disqualification. Any member, of any tenure and skill, is welcome to participate. All you have to do is sign up in this thread, and declare your intent to enter the contest. Bear in mind that this intent is a legally binding contract, and failure to submit a story as promised will result in SHAME. All contest participants must vote for all stories in the contest. Failure to do so will result in SCORN. If you hadn't guessed it by the capital letters, these are very bad things. Bad, bad, scary bad. Wooo. Scary.
So, let's talk about what I mean by the phrase overpowered. It's fairly simple. The main character has unparalleled talent for a certain skill. Maybe they are invincible in combat. Maybe no one else can come close to matching their magical talents. Or perhaps it is something less aggresive. Maybe they are really good at understanding and predicting other people's thoughts and emotions, or maybe no one else has such an amazing short term memory. Hell, it's your story. Maybe it's something random, like being the absolute best at baking desserts while using weird ingredients. It doesn't matter if your character has been trained in using their overpowered skill, so long as they have amazing potential for it. Your character is going to be very similar to a Mary Sue, but there are differences. Mary Sues are flawless. Your character is not. Maybe your character has a few crutial weaknesses, or maybe your character is terrible at everything but their overpowered talent. The key here is to strike a balance between 'my character is overpowered' and 'my story is not boring to read'.
The following rubric will be used for this contest. Below are general guidelines for each category, which should be taken with a grain of salt. Perhaps several grains. Maybe even a whole chunk.
Plot and Originality- How well was the story written? Were you eagerly awaiting more, or did reading the whole story become a tedious chore? How creative was the story? Were there aspects which surprised you? Or were you able to predict the whole thing like a Made for TV Movie?
Enjoyment- This is your chance to be a critic. Abuse it. Dense authors like Dickens or Hawthorne may be considered literary greats, but that doesn't mean you have to like their work. What did you like? What didn't you like? What made you want to hurl your computer against the wall? What would you have done if you were the author?
Style and Grammar- Grammar is obviously important. How many typos and errors does the work contain? Is it still readable? Or should it be taken out back and shot, like a pre-teen's diary? Grammar is rather straightforward, so this category also covers style. Are the sentences too short to create imagery? Is the work so dense with prose that you cannot determine if anything actually happens? Are the grim, dark events in the story ruined by the fifth-grade vocabulary?
Theme- This category is solely devoted to the characters. How overpowered was the main character? Were there multiple overpowered characters which weakened the effect? How many of the main character's antagonists were overpowered? Did that bother you? Did the main character still have flaws and weaknesses so that the dead ends were believable? Or was the main character so overpowered that the story was boring to read?
So, there it is.
Participants-
Apotheosis
Usoki
BatCountry
mizal
Vesnic
dreamshell
So, let's talk about what I mean by the phrase overpowered. It's fairly simple. The main character has unparalleled talent for a certain skill. Maybe they are invincible in combat. Maybe no one else can come close to matching their magical talents. Or perhaps it is something less aggresive. Maybe they are really good at understanding and predicting other people's thoughts and emotions, or maybe no one else has such an amazing short term memory. Hell, it's your story. Maybe it's something random, like being the absolute best at baking desserts while using weird ingredients. It doesn't matter if your character has been trained in using their overpowered skill, so long as they have amazing potential for it. Your character is going to be very similar to a Mary Sue, but there are differences. Mary Sues are flawless. Your character is not. Maybe your character has a few crutial weaknesses, or maybe your character is terrible at everything but their overpowered talent. The key here is to strike a balance between 'my character is overpowered' and 'my story is not boring to read'.
The following rubric will be used for this contest. Below are general guidelines for each category, which should be taken with a grain of salt. Perhaps several grains. Maybe even a whole chunk.
Plot and Originality- How well was the story written? Were you eagerly awaiting more, or did reading the whole story become a tedious chore? How creative was the story? Were there aspects which surprised you? Or were you able to predict the whole thing like a Made for TV Movie?
Enjoyment- This is your chance to be a critic. Abuse it. Dense authors like Dickens or Hawthorne may be considered literary greats, but that doesn't mean you have to like their work. What did you like? What didn't you like? What made you want to hurl your computer against the wall? What would you have done if you were the author?
Style and Grammar- Grammar is obviously important. How many typos and errors does the work contain? Is it still readable? Or should it be taken out back and shot, like a pre-teen's diary? Grammar is rather straightforward, so this category also covers style. Are the sentences too short to create imagery? Is the work so dense with prose that you cannot determine if anything actually happens? Are the grim, dark events in the story ruined by the fifth-grade vocabulary?
Theme- This category is solely devoted to the characters. How overpowered was the main character? Were there multiple overpowered characters which weakened the effect? How many of the main character's antagonists were overpowered? Did that bother you? Did the main character still have flaws and weaknesses so that the dead ends were believable? Or was the main character so overpowered that the story was boring to read?
So, there it is.
Participants-
Apotheosis
Usoki
BatCountry
mizal
Vesnic
dreamshell
What are people doing? Tanning!? Swimming?! Outside?!?! Pssshhhhhh
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