Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

IWT 10 - The Overpowered Character

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • IWT 10 - The Overpowered Character

    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
    Last edited by Usoki; 11-06-2013, 11:28 PM.
    Originally posted by Ryan_DuBois
    Usoki, you're the crankiest asshole we know. Not that it's a bad thing, it just means that you smell funny and are best left hidden in darkness.
    And it's embarrassing when you make any noise at all.

  • #2
    So I can basically dig up ANY random story I wrote in high school and convert it to a CYOA, awesome.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by mizal View Post
      So I can basically dig up ANY random story I wrote in high school and convert it to a CYOA, awesome.
      This is intentional. After last contest's two and a half stories, I really want to make this one really easy to enter and participate. Because, let's be honest, most of us are going to haphazardly throw this thing together in the last two weeks anyway.
      Originally posted by Ryan_DuBois
      Usoki, you're the crankiest asshole we know. Not that it's a bad thing, it just means that you smell funny and are best left hidden in darkness.
      And it's embarrassing when you make any noise at all.

      Comment


      • #4
        Mr. Usoki -- May I submit a work which I've already begun, but which has really only JUST begun, and which I have not yet published? Would this be permissible? Or must I start truly from the drawing board?

        Hello everybuddy! Nice to see you again!
        Semper urso

        Comment


        • #5
          Well, I went through the IWT 8 logs to determine how we ultimately handled it then. Based on this, here's what I've decided.

          First, all of the rooms in the story must have been written in 2013. If it's any older than that, then you need to come up with something else. Second, you will need to make sure that at least 20 rooms were all written on or after after March 27th, which is when I announced the contest's theme in the IWT 9 Results thread. This way you're still having to do the same amount of work as everyone else. Third, however many rooms you have written before that date, you need to make sure that at least three times as many rooms are written on or after this date. That way, the majority of your story is written after the contest announcement and is therefore in line with the time frame.

          This goes for everyone, though I can't imagine that it will affect that many people.
          Originally posted by Ryan_DuBois
          Usoki, you're the crankiest asshole we know. Not that it's a bad thing, it just means that you smell funny and are best left hidden in darkness.
          And it's embarrassing when you make any noise at all.

          Comment


          • #6
            Very well, my lord. Though I am loathe to leave behind that which I have already quite in earnest begun, I shall nonetheless comply with the rules of this most worthy tradition.

            Allow me to clarify, however. I am not yet committing my furry self to this contest, as I would not want to endure the above-threatened horrors, neither the SHAME nor even yet the SCORN, for my ursine sensitivities just would not BEAR up under such gruesome derision.

            Sometimes, as a knight errant and student of the joust, I feel as though I were born in the wrong period of time. Do any of you ever feel this way? I shan't highway-rob your thread, noble Usoki, but I found the following link to be rather interesting. I think I should prefer to live in the High Middle Ages, however, or perhaps the early Tudor period, certainly well after the Plague. I could never stand to lose everybuddy!

            Love and hugs,

            BEAR
            Semper urso

            Comment


            • #7
              Fuck it I'm in.
              Click it now.

              Comment


              • #8
                The gauntlet has been thrown down! I've just been going with the assumption that I'll be taking part, but the surprise appearance by Apoth just further cements things. How could I say no?
                Originally posted by Ryan_DuBois
                Usoki, you're the crankiest asshole we know. Not that it's a bad thing, it just means that you smell funny and are best left hidden in darkness.
                And it's embarrassing when you make any noise at all.

                Comment


                • #9
                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VCcvdrhn3M
                  Click it now.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Holy shit, I've already started planning out my entry. I haven't written anything yet... but, I've started to storyboard my sci-fi epic.

                    Click it now.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Throw my hat into the ring as well. This one sounds quite interesting. MOAR PEOPLE!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        This website is soooo dead. What are people doing? Tanning!? Swimming?! Outside?!?! Pssshhhhhh

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Meh, I always assumed it was because we tend to be introverted people, and so unless someone is actively sparking posts, we're all contect to hang around and lurk. God knows that's what I do.
                          Originally posted by Ryan_DuBois
                          Usoki, you're the crankiest asshole we know. Not that it's a bad thing, it just means that you smell funny and are best left hidden in darkness.
                          And it's embarrassing when you make any noise at all.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I'm writing* about that most loathed of characters, the bane of all fantasy connoisseurs and roleplay chatrooms everywhere--the overpowered wizard.

                            Except I've already had to scale the main character's power level waaaay back because how the hell do you write interesting conflict about someone who can turn invisible and fly and incinerate all enemies with a thought? WTF you faggot godmoders, this is why I haven't RPed since highschool. That and all the slutty anime girls with dicks for some reason.


                            * and by that I mean outlining, I love to make outlines and story maps... actually writing is for losers and people with time management skills
                            Last edited by mizal; 07-29-2013, 01:15 PM.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by mizal View Post
                              ...how the hell do you write interesting conflict about someone who can turn invisible and fly and incinerate all enemies with a thought?
                              Therein lies the beauty of the contest- it's a lot more challenging than it might seem at the surface. You have to figure out how to write a story involving overpowered characters, while still making it interesting and worthwhile to read. And also, because I'm apparently a sadistic bastard who feeds off of your misery.
                              Originally posted by Ryan_DuBois
                              Usoki, you're the crankiest asshole we know. Not that it's a bad thing, it just means that you smell funny and are best left hidden in darkness.
                              And it's embarrassing when you make any noise at all.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              Do Not Sell My Personal Information