Infinite Writing Tournament 11- Horror

[BatCountry]

Ladies and Gentleman I finally reveal, Infinite Writing Tournament 11: Horror! All stories must be completed by February 6th 2015. Gives everyone just enough time to wind down from the Holidays and churn out a tale of terror. However if an extension is needed I will most likely oblige if enough people desire it. However I don't want to extend the contest past January so we can get more on track as far as time tables go. Bad enough we are already in April. All peoples of every creed and color may participate. All you have to do is post in this thread your intent to enter and boom you are entered. Once you express intent to enter you must make good on your word or else you will forever be thrown into the pit of SHAME. A damnable place where only the lowliest of creatures reside. Ridicule will follow you wherever you turn and no one will ever be able to trust you by your word again for for all intents and purposes at that point, you are a filthy liar. Also required of all entrants is to read and vote upon all the other stories entered into the contest. This is your chance to tell your fellow writers how much you despise reading their pretentious drivel. Failure to vote on other participants stories will resort in a heaping scoop of SCORN thrown your way. Not as bad as SHAME, but will still sting I promise.


This years theme is Horror and it is a randomized trope contest , similar to the Science Fiction contest of the past. However I have dwindled down the amount of choices available and in turn all entrants will be randomly assigned TWO of the following tropes, to be contained within your story. These assigned tropes cannot be throw away cameos or mentions either, they must be integral to the story in some way. How you do that is of your own choosing. While I know we are all brave souls here, I encourage everyone to embrace the theme of horror and attempt to make something truly chilling. Shivering around the camp fire type chills. Let's make each other laugh, cry, scream and shudder with disgust at our tales. Good luck to all!

Below is the rubric for how the contest will be judged. There will be four categories weighted for scoring purposes.

Plot and Originality: Was the story well written?Were you hungry for more story or were you bored to tears reading through it? Were some creative elements implemented or was everything contrived and cliché?

Enjoyment: How much did you personally enjoy this story. A non stop thrill ride that had you on the edge of your seat or just not your cup of tea for any number of reasons? This is the category for you to be a bit biased and focus solely on how much you personally liked the particular story. Your opinion counts!

Style and Grammar: How many typos or errors are in the story? Is it enough to take you out of the moment? Does the author have a style that flows well and connects all the dots and is easy to read and understand? Or is the prose convoluted and nonsensical with sentence structure? Can you tell that you are reading a pro's work or a kindergartners? Now is your chance to be a grammar Nazi for real!

Theme: How well was the theme implemented? Did the author clearly use two of the provided tropes and integrate them well into the story? Was the story scary and mind bending or did it hold little to no chills and suspense?


So those are the guidelines...

Participants

BatCountry: Ritual Sacrifice & Afterlife Express
donteatpoop: Cosmic Horror & Urban Legends
Vesnic: Fetus of Doom & Cosmic Horror
Locke: Transformation/Metamorphosis & Clairvoyance
Bear Bipolar-Bear: Fetus of Doom & Survival
dreamshell: Torture & Transformation/Metamorphosis
Mizal: Abandoned/Ghost town & Possession
Spyronic: Mad Scientist & Ritual Sacrifice
Cat2000: Transformation/Metamorphosis & Brimstone


TWO of the following tropes will be randomly assigned for you to incorporate into your story...


Survival- Mankind is on its last legs due to some sort of threat. Whether it be Zombies, Aliens or sentient hamburgers, people are struggling to acquire basic needs to live. Struggles often involve nature and other people, not just the initial threat that laid waste to the land.

Possession- People, animals, dummies, ect... taken over by some sort of malevolent force that is making them do things they wouldn't normally do.

Cosmic Horror- Creatures or places so terrifying and massive, they defy human logic and senses. Our minds can barely comprehend these otherworldly horrors. We are so tiny and insignificant in the grand scope of the universe, our lives trivial and short.

Transformation/Metamorphosis- Wolf-man, The Fly, Giant Turnip Man, ect. A character undergoes an outward transformation into something else entirely. They may change back under certain conditions, or be that way permanently.

Urban Legends- Bigfoot, Lochness Monster, Hook man, Slender man, ect... There are many many legends to pick from here, try to use legends that won't be too hard for readers to look up themselves.

Abandoned/Ghost Town- A location that is completely desolate. Something terrible happened here which caused all residents to disappear or leave.

Relentless Killer– A being that only has one thing on the mind, to kill. The relentless killer never stops, is incredibly hard to kill and constantly antagonizes its victims.

Afterlife Express– Can be any sort of transportation, a chariot, ship, train, ect... That ferries souls to the afterlife.

Haunted– Could be a house, castle, any locale or object really. Haunted by spirits, demons or perhaps something else. A supernatural force lingers causing various disturbances.

Fetus of Doom- Different from possession, this is a physical thing living within a person. Could it be the son of the devil or a flesh hungry alien? Or something worse? Will it kill the host or let them live?

Mad Scientist- A doctor that has gone off the edge and desires to achieve something that will either harm himself or others. Safety is of least concern to the mad scientist. What only matters is achieving his goals.

Torture- Horrible mutilations, slow painful deaths or interrogations, constantly getting calls from telemarketers, ect.

Ritual Sacrifice- Blood must be spilled for some dark purpose. Maybe it summons an ancient deity, appeases a god or raises an undead army. Maybe just a madman who wants everyone to drink the kool-aid. But something must die for a specific purpose.

Clairvoyance- Using other-worldly senses, usually to communicate with the dead. Other uses involve predicting the future and knowledge of events they were never present for.

Insanity- A raving lunatic or a slow descent into madness.

Brimstone- Occult, devil worship and demons. The forces of Hell must come forth in some manner. Most likely will take the power of God, angels and holy magic to vanquish these foes.

Corruption- Once something good, it has now decayed into something hideous and sinister. Oftentimes corruption can be hard to detect, hiding in plain sight. Corruption can involve people, governments, religion, ect.

Phobia - An irrational fear. Broad for sure, as there are many phobias. A characters phobia must come into play. An irrational fear somehow doesn't become so irrational or perhaps the fear is driving the character to dangerous choices. The phobia itself must be mentioned in the story.

[donteatpoop]

I think I can make that work. Count me in.

(though even more tropes would make it better)

[Vesnic]

Yeah I'm in, even if I'm not crazy about the topic. It could be worse.
Yet I've been having such strange premonitions lately. All I ask is that you don't SHAME me if I'm dead or otherwise incapacitated.

[Locke]

All I ask is that you don't SHAME me if I'm dead or otherwise incapacitated.

SHAME ignores death. But on the plus side, you'll be remembered.

I think I can make that work. Count me in.

(though even more tropes would make it better)

It could use a few more, yeah. The less stereotypical, the better (cliche can WORK for horror, but you have a few of them). I'm not trying to run your contest; even if it's "vampires," "blood," and "a ghost," I still feel like there's room for just a few additions.

...and I'm also in. I've borne the weight of SHAME for awhile now.

[BatCountry]

Want more tropes? Deal. I will add three more to the contest. Everyone throw at me what you want as trope ideas and I'll choose the ones I like to the list.

Contest off to a good start with four entrants already! Nice!

[donteatpoop]

So instead of just complaining we have to work to come up with some of our own? Forget that!



I already have a story started (believe it or not) that should manage to touch on four of the above tropes (depending on the path you take) anyway. So technically I'm good with what we have. I just figured more tropes could equal more entrants due to more freedom. I'm in regardless though. Hopefully I can wipe this SHAME off of me this time.

[Locke]

Okay, I'll take a shot at it.

It's horror, so you might as well get demons on the list. That brings in the occult, devil worship, and so forth. On the flip side you get basic faith, white magic, holy water, priests, incantations, exorcisms, etc. Or angels, if you like - angels can be terrible. I don't think there has to be "a demon" in the story, but the work ought to involve a demon/hell-based subplot, or evoke a demonic presence or vibe of some kind. Call it Brimstone.

Corruption should open up some possibilities. I don't know if schadenfreude is the right word, but there's often a twisted kind of enjoyment there. However it's implemented, it could make a decent backbone for part of the plot.

Maybe the horror is in plain sight - either something everyone knows, but doesn't talk about, or something that's purposefully kept from the protagonist until some critical juncture, where it snaps into focus. Or it's something the protagonist knows, and can't or won't reveal.

Maybe horror is the absence of something, instead of something you add to the story. Maybe it involves technology, or is mass-manufactured, or is simply the unavoidable hatred and boredom you experience in your everyday life. Maybe you could work in some irrational fears (phobias) - maybe horror for you is something others find commonplace (or vice versa), or is based on some experience that renders some aspect of normal life horrible by comparison.

"White collar" (or blue collar) horror might have some potential, or maybe you have a protagonist who is or is on the side of whatever is horrifying.

I want to add existential horror in - as I think it's one of the purest and most effective forms - but it's somewhat hard to describe/write. Or comedic horror. I guess both should really be left up to the author, and not included as tropes.

Anyway, there's my two cents. I haven't written the descriptions, per se - just tried to elucidate some themes - so if you decide to include any of them, I'll leave the write-ups and the finalized titles to you. Hopefully someone else chimes in. In either case, I guess you'll figure it out.

[Vesnic]

Why don't we just make it "Horror: find your own tropes" and call it a day? Clearly, everyone just wants to do what they want, so why bother defining categories at all? We'll ignore the fact that this is already in large part a rehashing of the "movie monster", "from hell", "choose your own" and many of the "science fiction" themes. People should have what they want, after all. They shouldn't be told what to do. They should be able to write a story bearing a common theme with many movies they've seen, and in fact this connection should be so explicit, they should consciously use "tropes", further hammering in recurrent themes rather than trying to find new ones or new variations of old ones. Writing should be safe and approved by both the boards of Public Safety and Self-Esteem in order to ensure that no one has to stretch themselves more than a millimeter out of their immediate comfort zone. That would be unthinkable, and if I sprained my brain in this fashion, I would be totally justified in suing. So why don't we just have Horror: what scares you?, thereby giving everyone a nice fat bumper with pretty much an immediate 10 on the Theme category since what we're now dealing with here isn't so much a theme as an entire fucking genre, and you'd pretty much have to be an illiterate penguin from Mars to fall outside such wide, safe bounds.

[Locke]

You think the theme is too broad, or you dislike adding to an already inclusive theme? I always thought the grab bag was meant as a source of inspiration, more than as a restriction/challenge for the entries, btw. It's true that meeting the theme requirement won't be difficult, and I take it you'd prefer

a strong thematic guideline to unite all the entries, thereby helping to form a basis for comparison... keeping choices very limited, just one or two varying options instead of a whole list

as you posted in the theme suggestion thread.

I don't disagree with that. Actually, I never got into horror. I've never tried writing it, and I'm probably not going to come up with something legitimately scary, regardless - so it really is all the same to me, whether it's "write your entire story about a vampire sipping a martini, having a soak in the tub on Thursday" or "just make sure there's something spooky on one or two of the pages."

Bats chose the grab-bag approach (and is welcome to change it, although I'm fine with it, and he'd have to endure some ridicule this late in the game). I offered some thoughts because he asked for them. If he leaves the list as is, I'm good with that, too. I hate to remind you, but

remember, it's always best to be as undemocratic as possible. But it's your call of course, oh Mighty Liege Lord of the IWT10!

If Bats's choices bother you, you should probably try to beat him this year.

[Vesnic]

Haha yes you have a point, Locke. As to that last quote, though, I stand by it. Things get washed-out and shitty when done by committee. See how Bat's original guidelines are now a thematic miasma? That only happened because certain people piped in with their additions and he, ever benevolent soul that he is, said, "Okey dokey, guys!".

As to your exhortation, be assured: this year there will be no slacking. Bat's days are numbered. A coup is underway. He'd best start sorting through his panties and deciding which ones he can bear saying good-bye to when the time comes to CRAP HIS BRAINS OUT with fear and loathing of the Goddess.

[Vesnic]

Also, I see your status is currently "Modifying Post", so just on the off chance you decide to total what you've said here, I am establishing it for posterity, not so much to preserve your words, as thoughtful and valued as they are, but to establish the fact that I am not drunkenly ranting but was in fact responding in a logical fashion to something you actually said.

You think the theme is too broad, or you dislike adding to an already inclusive theme? I always thought the grab bag was meant as a source of inspiration, more than as a restriction/challenge for the entries, btw. It's true that meeting the theme requirement won't be difficult, and I take it you'd prefer as you posted in the theme suggestion thread.

I don't disagree with that. Actually, I never got into horror. I've never tried writing it, and I'm probably not going to come up with something legitimately scary, regardless - so it really is all the same to me, whether it's "write your entire story about a vampire sipping a martini, having a soak in the tub on Thursday" or "just make sure there's something spooky on one or two of the pages."

Bats chose the grab-bag approach (and is welcome to change it, although I'm fine with it, and he'd have to endure some ridicule this late in the game). I offered some thoughts because he asked for them. If he leaves the list as is, I'm good with that, too. I hate to remind you, but



If Bats's choices bother you, you should probably try to beat him this year.

[donteatpoop]

Like I said, I pretty much already have my story set in motion. I just figured more options would help. But really, as has already been alluded to; there's enough there as it is to work these tropes in.

In fact, just brainstorming what I wanted to do I found most of the initial ideas I came up with included at least 2 of the tropes listed. When i finally settled on what I want to do (though I might just scrap it later on anyway) I had 4 of the listed tropes included.

So it's fine where it is.

I disagree with Ves' sentiment that this is a revamp of old themse. "From Hell" specifically dealt with "Hell" (which admittedly is a bit of a broad guideline that would easily apply to current themes, but also could have skirted around it); "Movie Monster" (the original IWT theme) specifically dealt with monsters from Movies of the silver screen era. 'Anything goes' and 'Science Fiction' being considered as a rehashes of this same theme is more than a little bit of a stretch.

[edit] Anyway, the contest theme is meant to inspire rather than to constrict. I haven't entered in a couple but was immediatley inspired from the current theme. So I guess Bats accomplished the goal as it is.

[double edit] Also, yes I am aware that I'm the asshole that suggested more tropes in the first place. Thanks for not bringing it up.

[dreamshell]

See how Bat's original guidelines are now a thematic miasma? That only happened because certain people piped in with their additions and he, ever benevolent soul that he is, said, "Okey dokey, guys!"

Clearly, the problem then lies in Bats' poor performance thus far as our newest claimant to the throne of Contest-Tyrant. If he had a more suitably iron fist, he would never have deigned to ask we lowly peasants for our input to begin with. Or he would have, but only so he could then summarily execute us for daring to speak out and mount our heads on spikes as an example to the rest of you. =P

Indecision is weakness. Grab your torches and pitchforks and rise up, people! Vive L'Histoire Infinie!

[BatCountry]

Oh don't be fooled by the illusion of choice. I am still running the show, forever the puppet master in this little world of ours. Trust me, I will do as I please. I just happen to like other peoples input, I'm silly that way I guess. Maybe not the despotic rule of BatCountry nor the democratic rule of BatCountry, but I like to think this is the anarchist rule of BatCountry. You never know what's going to happen next!


In fact, I've decided to add a new little toy into the bag of tricks us contest runners have. You have SHAME and you have SCORN, but after listening to all this various bickering and slights at my expense, I've decided to implement BANISHED FROM SPACE AND TIME. A bit lengthier than SHAME and SCORN I admit, but I rather enjoy the ring of it. How does one become BANISHED FROM SPACE AND TIME? Well it's pretty simple. One of two ways.

1.) Keep pissing off your all powerful lord, me. That includes constant bickering over my contest rules or insulting my mother.

2.) SHAME and SCORN don't seem to be good enough for some people as they have stacked up the offenses. From henceforth anyone who is two times SHAMED or SCORNED is BANISHED FROM SPACE AND TIME.


When you are BANISHED FROM SPACE AND TIME, you do not exist. All forum posts, any complaints or pleading you have go unheard. No one will humor your little posts of "Next year I'll submit a story" or "If I wasn't so busy, I'd vote". They will be ignored as will ALL other posts in the forums. You are a ghost, a phantom, a gutless void with no memory or substance. The only way to redeem yourself is to submit a story AND vote in the next contest. At that point your banishment will end and you will once again exist. Who's going to challenge my authority now dreamshell?!?!Happy?!


I must admit though this little argument has gotten the old cogs turning within the dark abyss that is my mind and I once again call upon the input of the people. Vesnic thinks the theme and tropes are too broad. They are. It was meant to be like the Sci Fi contest which had more entrants than any other contest. But if some of you would like a more restricted contest, I propose the following.


I will randomly assign each entrant (including myself) two of the tropes I've provided (probably will add some of Locke's soon, unless someone else has a decent trope to suggest). This restricts the contest more by forcing the author to create a story using the two randomly chosen tropes as pivotal plot points to the story. So instead of a grab bag, it will be a random bag.


In fact I'm starting to like the sound of the idea...If a few people like the sound of it as well, it shall be so and I will randomly assign tropes to entrants.












SO LET IT BE WRITTEN, SO LET IT BE DONE

[Vesnic]

How random, how devious, how evil...I love it!