Competition: Variations on a theme 8 (Flashfiction)

Ectoplasm

And PM is sent! Whew -that was interesting. I'm not 100% sure if I did it right but there are some words formed into sentances at least.

echo beach

I'm ready to start at last if somebody can send me the outline.
Thanks.

Wantobe

Cup of tea went cold...submitted something anyway! :P

pickarooney

Three in so far

Das Kitty

pickarooney wrote: »

Outline sent to Das Kitty at 9.00

Entry submitted!

Phew!

Wantobe wrote: »

Cup of tea went cold...submitted something anyway! :P

Ha ha, me too, I just took a slug of horrible cold tea. Yuck!

Das Kitty

echo beach wrote: »

I'm ready to start at last if somebody can send me the outline.
Thanks.

Sent at 21.55

pickarooney

If you're requesting the outline can you do it by PM first or say who you want to send it, just to avoid receiving it multiple times with different timestamps?

Ectoplasm

Just wanted to add mucho thanks to Leafonthewind for forwarding me the outline and big thanks to Pickarooney for facilitating this whole thing. It was fun - terrifying - but fun nonetheless!

Antilles

Submitted in time by the skin of my teeth!

pickarooney

We have another crash and burner I fear

PurpleBee

Not sure if I made it, I'm really not used to pressure.

Thanks Pickarooney and Leafonthewind, great competition.

pickarooney

PB had one minute to spare. Think what you could have done with those wasted seconds!

Antilles

pickarooney wrote: »

PB had one minute to spare. Think what you could have done with those wasted seconds!

Pfft, I spent 59 minutes brainstorming and 1 minute writing, editing and submitting.

Das Kitty

Are we expecting any more after echo_beach?

pickarooney

Hopefully someone is drinking his/her way into a state of preparation

Antilles

What happens if somebody says they want to take part but it's after 11pm?

pickarooney

See post 35

Antilles

pickarooney wrote: »

See post 35

Always with the answers, this guy!

echo beach

Now I remember the feeling you get when the examiner says 'time up' and you have to have in your paper without reading over it although you know it is full of silly mistakes.

At least we don't have to wait so long for the verdict. Thanks to all those doing the organising. It was an interesting challange.

pickarooney

Midnight here and I'm off to bed. If anyone gets a PM after this can you CC me on the reply PM as well as posting the time on thread?

pickarooney

Midnight here and I'm off to bed. If anyone gets a PM after this can you CC me on the reply PM as well as posting the time on thread?

hcass

Soooooo...

Are you doing another comp Pickarooney? One without a strict time limit cos that screwed me royally last time

Please, please, please. I'm dying to contribute!

Antilles

Pah! Next one should have a thirty minute limit

hcass

Antilles wrote: »

Pah! Next one should have a thirty minute limit

And a ban on past winners

pickarooney

Next one will be a novel contest. 180,000 word minimum.

Antilles

pickarooney wrote: »

Next one will be a novel contest. 180,000 word minimum.

I'll submit my own original novel "When Bana Sings." It's about Eric Bana trying to break into the South American pop music/drug smuggling scene.

PurpleBee

Antilles wrote: »

I'll submit my own original novel "When Bana Sings." It's about Eric Bana trying to break into the South American pop music/drug smuggling scene.

Hmm sounds suspiciously like my entry, "When Bananas Sting"

Antilles

PurpleBee wrote: »

Hmm sounds suspiciously like my entry, "When Bananas Sting"

Hmm, well as you can see I've been developing this idea for some time.

Das Kitty

Antilles wrote: »

Hmm, well as you can see I've been developing this idea for some time.

You do realise I will have the song stuck in my head for at least a week now? Thanks for that, you're a real pal.

PurpleBee

Antilles wrote: »

Hmm, well as you can see I've been developing this idea for some time.

If you've actually written that, I'll read it

--Kaiser--

pickarooney wrote: »

Next one will be a novel contest. 180,000 word minimum.

Let's make it interesting. Randomly assign a letter to different contestants, the contestant can not use this letter in their submission

Antilles

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

Let's make it interesting. Randomly assign a letter to different contestants, the contestant can not use this letter in their submission

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=65698628&postcount=3 <-- written entirely without the letter 'e'.

I can't remember why, but it seemed a good idea at the time.

diddlybit

Antilles wrote: »

written entirely without the letter 'e'.

That's pretty impressive, isn't "e" the most commonly used letter in the alphabet?



What did "e" ever do to anyone? I have the oddest image of a giant "E" being burnt on Sesame Street while Big Bird and Elmo dance around it in my head right now.

echo beach

Antilles wrote: »

I'll submit my own original novel "When Bana Sings." It's about Eric Bana trying to break into the South American pop music/drug smuggling scene.

Have you forgotten that Pickarooney gets to decide on the theme?
You can't start writing until you find out what it is, but you could probably work that basic idea into most scenarios.:)

pickarooney

I'm kind of tapped out for ideas. Someone come up with something mental.

hcass

But if we come up with it - we can't be in it! Ahhhhhhh!

pickarooney

hcass wrote: »

But if we come up with it - we can't be in it! Ahhhhhhh!

Of course you can. Most of the themes so far were suggestions by people who entered.

Antilles

pickarooney wrote: »

I'm kind of tapped out for ideas. Someone come up with something mental.

Something like the Bad Romance one again could be fun. Maybe a different genre?

Blush_01

How about this:
How do you say something when there are no words? (And have it not be a pile of crap)

Antilles

Blush_01 wrote: »

How about this:
How do you say something when there are no words? (And have it not be a pile of crap)

Ooh, how about write a complete story about any topic, but with no dialogue?

pickarooney

Or adjectives

--amadeus--

Exercises like that are interesting for yourself but I'm not sure they work for competitions? I really liked the ones with just a title or a generic opening sentence. You know something like "The calm of the summers afternoon was shattered when..." or "Bellydoney Post Office was probably the most respectable in the county, with regimented rows of information leaflets and a carefully choreographed poster board..." Leaves people off to carry it in all sorts of directions and genres and that (as a reader) is half the fun...

hcass

I am inclined to agree with the above. I don't really like the competitions with so many rules - it just impedes creativity. What about a really simple, traditional style short story competition? Short enough word limit though cos it can be difficult for people to read long stories past say 1000-1500 words.

PurpleBee

I prefer restriction, in my opinion it intensifies the creative impulse.

I also think we should have a 10 minute limerick writing competition

Das Kitty

PurpleBee wrote: »

I also think we should have a 10 minute limerick writing competition

Haiku-off!

hcass

PurpleBee wrote: »

I prefer restriction, in my opinion it intensifies the creative impulse.

I also think we should have a 10 minute limerick writing competition

I do love Limericks now that's a good un.

Seriously though - like with the flash fiction. I felt like I had an idea but because I didn't have the time to complete it I didn't bother (well I started but didn't have time to finish) so for me the time limit impeded my creativity. I mean surely it shouldn't matter how long it take someone (within reason) to write something. The finished product is what merit should be given on, not how quick they were writing it. I'm talking a day or two here now, not a week or a month or anything.

Antilles

hcass wrote: »

I do love Limericks now that's a good un.

Seriously though - like with the flash fiction. I felt like I had an idea but because I didn't have the time to complete it I didn't bother (well I started but didn't have time to finish) so for me the time limit impeded my creativity. I mean surely it shouldn't matter how long it take someone (within reason) to write something. The finished product is what merit should be given on, not how quick they were writing it. I'm talking a day or two here now, not a week or a month or anything.

It might be different for everyone, but I've spent hours writing stories and days writing stories. The ones that take hours are invariably the best (albeit after a little polishing).

Antilles

Das Kitty wrote: »

Haiku-off!

Old school rules?