Writing Challenge Idea Suggestions

Originally posted by Cadbury
Why not go as far as Antar and wrongly accuse me of plagiarism without even bothering to ask for a clarification?

I'm not going to accuse you of plagiarism for using characters that aren't your own. I'm going to label it as fanfiction, which in my mind warrants a DQ. You may have asked for permission, but if the judges don't like it, then they will act accordingly. Here's something I find interesting:

I have no problem with not being able to use settings, people or concepts from other works of fiction (despite the fact that I have once before); but why may only "exactly four lines of one song as a set-piece" be used? You can quote whoever you want in literature as long as the quote is attributed and not too lengthy, it's not plagiarism or using other people's work or ideas. Quoting is a key aspect of writing. I, for one, quote often (and creatively), so this is one reason why I called the rules of your contest oppressive and rightly so (in my opinion, obviously).

My emphasis. You have no problem not quoting others, but you seem to do it an awful lot none the less. It's my opinion that people should be presenting their own works, not simply regurgitating the words of others. Four lines of song, instead of a whole song, does not qualify as 'repressive'. Do you have an issue with using your own words, instead of others? If you must rely on the words and characters of others, we can accommodate you and arrange for a fanfiction contest.

Oppression. Too many rules! Why threaten to have writer statuses revoked and “personally tear stories off the forum?” It's not like you've ever had much of a problem with that sort of thing other than with me, is it? And I told Intrepid that there would be a few guts. If there was a problem with that he should have said something.

I didn't even have all that big an issue with the gore in your stories. No, it wasn't directed at you. Is two rules too much for your fragile muse? So far, we're up to 'don't flagellate the works of others, even if you warn us it's fanfiction', and 'don't use gore that flies in the face of the T&C'. We have had people chastised in the long-ago past. As I made clear, we have a little leeway with the T&C, but we still can't post 'offensive' material. I don't define that sort of stuff, but the general rule of thumb is PG13. If you disagree with that, talk to someone with a higher pay grade than me.

Next we have the above. I u2u'd you straight away and offered my services as a judge, a message which you read and completely ignored. Several days later you still didn't have enough judges and asked once again in the thread for more, lest the contest be cancelled. Whereas this is not oppressive, what does it really say?

Well, to be perfectly blunt, it says that your endless complaints have not endeared you to myself, nor to a number of other persons. Complaining about the quality of judges didn't get you any brownie points, either. Derailing this thread twice with attacks on me didn't exactly scream 'level-headed and responsible'.

Do we want to see a New Year's contest?

DE

[edit on 6-12-2008 by DeusEx]

[edit on 6-12-2008 by intrepid]

OK, everyone's had their say let's get back to the purpose of this thread:

Do we want to see a New Year's contest?

Any ideas?

Is this the right place for me to display my poetry?

Been looking and looking,so if its not does anyone know where I can?

Originally posted by intrepid
OK, everyone's had their say let's get back to the purpose of this thread:

Do we want to see a New Year's contest?

Any ideas?

How about....

"The Day After"?

With a new year comes new beginnings. Could be the day after "disclosure", "world peace", surviving "near death" or something similar of a grand scale.

It would be my first story for the internet but I love "diving off at the deep end".

Or how about "Diving off at the deep end".

reply to post by mrwupy


A shorter horror story might be.

I shivered alone in the dark.

Chomp, chomp, burp.

How about "Alone in a strange place 2"? A sequel to last year's contest?



[edit on 14-2-2009 by Flatwoods]

How about a writing challenge that tells how one got supernatural powers? With all these movies coming out like Wolverine & Watchmen etc... We can't use a super hero or their powers. It would have to be original and about the writer describing how their powers came about. Science fiction at it's best.

A couple of years ago we had a writing contest that was strictly dialogue. I really loved it and to this day it was probably one of my favorites of this forum.

Any consideration of running with that idea again?

The Dialogue Open Challenge

Might be worth considering the DOC again. I had a lot of fun with it. People seemed to enjoy it, as well- but judges are required, as always.

DE

I was wondering if possible to incorporate some additional categorys in future contests such as, best characters, best plot, best ending, ect ect. I believe these would attract more members to the contests and give of a broader range of stories to mill over. Again just some suggestions, I hope you'll take these into consideration. Thanks either way.

reply to post by alyosha1981


I agree to this idea.

On top of the 3 overall winners, which is the typical contest result, we've already given out extra points for such things as 'most starred', honourable mentions, etc.

To acknowledge what you've suggested is even better as it is more specific.

I've also not given up on the idea of 'blind judging', where the identity of the writer is not known until the contest results are in.

reply to post by chissler


The DOC was a fun contest and I think we should give it another go.

We'd best make sure to give it a different title, though, so that entries from the previous contest don't get mixed in.

DOC was a challenge and fun to be a part of. I forget if I even got an honorable mention in that one though.

Doesn't matter though. It's one to keep in mind for the new writing contest to be announced soon.

Judging by the dates of the posts not sure if this writing challenge is still ongoing or if it has died a death. However if it is how about a mixture of fan fiction and poetry. Cross a well known poem or song with characters from fiction with your own story. You could make it more interesting by having just the initials of the characters and people have to guess who they are and the names of the original author. An example to show what I mean is posted below:-

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:

It was situated on one of the plains of chaos
That E***** had seen whilst on the astral plane.

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

Although it was chaos bound it obeyed no natural laws.

So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round :
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ;

E**** unsheathed S****** hoping to take comfort
From its warmth and vibrancy but it was silent
All energy expanded, he strode onwards
Through the realm of Xanadu.

And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh ! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover !

Wraithes hurtled forward, monstrous figures
armed with claws and teeth, spears and swords they
approached from myriad angles.
S**** hummed and blazed alight as E***
thrust and parried slashing down enemies in countless numbers.

A savage place ! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover !

Weaving spells in the High Tongue a language long forgotten
E*** screamed Lord A**** name summoning him from hell.

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,

Lord A**** came to E*** aid.

A mighty fountain momently was forced :
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail :

E*** foes were vanquished, S***** grew silent once more.
‘I will demand a penalty’, Lord A**** reminded E****
A smile flittering across his inhuman face.

And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean :

As Lord A**** image faded a whispering voice gave a final warning.
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war !

E*** the energy from the sword ebbing,leaving him weak and breathless
Moved slowly forward.

The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves ;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.

E*** raised a weary bone white hand to flick his long white hair away
from his eyes, whilst he stood and stared at the sight before him.

It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice

A harmonious melody hurried him forward as fast as his ebbing strength could take him.

A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw :
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,

Her voice reminded him of his beloved C*******

That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome ! those caves of ice !
And all who heard should see them there,

Eyes burning red E**** hunted amongst the ruins of the
Pleasure Dome for the singer.
With renewed determination E**** pressed forward
He would not stop in his endeavours to recover C*****
And regain his throne.

And all should cry, Beware ! Beware !
His flashing eyes, his floating hair !
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise

E**** of M******* the a***** his sword S*******
at the ready strode forth.


[edit on 28-5-2009 by keldas]

Originally posted by keldas
Judging by the dates of the posts not sure if this writing challenge is still ongoing or if it has died a death.

We should have a new writing competition starting soon, probably around the first of June. Keep your eyes open.

Throwing out an idea for a writing contest. Do an ATS Fan-fiction. Have the contest organizer pick out 5-10 or so short stories and the characters from those stories are to be used in a situation to be determined by the organizer or writers would be free to pick from a small selection of situations.

There could be a limit on characters of say a minimum of two and maximum of 5 with caveat of an automatic honorable mention (or special award) for being able to use all the characters of the selected stories in a coherent story.

The catch would be the characters would have to stay somewhat true to their characterization as written by the original author.

[edit on 15-10-2009 by Ahabstar]

Mine would be thread on ATS... war on terror new proof war on terror al qaeda message the days are pregnant.
A contest to see who could write this and get a bestseller of the true story......
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Is there a on going contest ?

Can't seem to find 1 if there is

reply to post by zeuseadam

A contest to see who could write this and get a bestseller of the true story......

Yeah, if anyone can make heads or tails out of what in the world you are talking about in it. Your posts in that thread are like someone randomly entered a few words with a few punctuation marks thrown around. No thanks.