Theme For The Next Writing Contest

Alright, the holidays are done, everyone has adjusted to school again, I think its time to get the next Writing Contest ready! As per tradition we'll put our heads together to think of something fun and new for our contestants to write about while at the same time giving them enough room so as not to dictate what goes.

So anyone have any ideas to offer?

For reference, the "Official" Writing Contests start at #2 and have had the themes:

Now and Then
Dreams
One scene from multiple PO Vs
Combine two Themes or genres

edited 14th Jan '12 6:14:11 PM by Parable

The fanfic contest is going to be over on monday so this is a pefect time :)

I vote for some kind of challenge

edited 14th Jan '12 6:29:35 PM by FallenLegend

...hehehe...

We should do a "no speculative fiction" challenge.

@Flyboy: -whams with hammer-

Perhaps stories based off songs?

^ Oooh, I like that one.

No, I'm actually serious. I want to see if anybody here can actually do, from start to finish, baseline non-speculative fiction. No fantasy, no science fiction, no alternate history, no nothing.

Erotic fiction. For old time's sake.

edited 14th Jan '12 6:53:18 PM by rumetzen

Since I want to judge this time around, I won't mind.

If I entered this, could I do it as a film/comic script? I'm more comfortable writing those.

Good Point With That: Its a good way to get people into something new to them by cutting off their preferred genres.

Bad Point With That: As a theme it lacks much of anything. I'm sure we can do better then have the concept behind a story be "No dragons, aliens, or alternate realities".

but perhaps it could be a bonus category?

edited 14th Jan '12 6:56:28 PM by Parable

Scripts are really annoying to read for most people.

And, I didn't mean for it to be a theme at all, actually. I figured we'd have real themes, but also a rule that you had to fulfill those themes without speculative fiction.

This is a contest, after all. I don't think it's unfair to expect people to challenge themselves for it. Besides, all we ever see is speculative fiction here.

That's because, in the main, non-speculative fiction is boring. I have a real life, I don't need to read more about it.

If it's boring, you're doing it wrong, or you're reading somebody who sucks at writing.

Indeed. I love sci-fi and fantasy but, honestly, my favorite works are all historical fiction or dramas.

I don't think making it a rule it has to be set in reality would be that fun, but like I said before, a bonus category - extra points for going the extra mile - sounds like a cool idea.

How about Stylistic Suck as a theme?

How about no.

How about stories with no human characters?

I doubt that Stylistic Suck would be good for the judges to try and wade through. I know I'd be irritated by it.

I think having parodies as an option would be a good idea, though.

People will just anthropomorphize animals or write about aliens/elves/dwarves/etc.

edited 14th Jan '12 7:24:57 PM by Flyboy

I will admit that being forced to work without speculative fiction or getting a bonus for doing so in addition to a theme might be a nice touch. Even though it's my preferred genre.

About having a completely non-human cast: Though Watership Down pulled it off, the author had to research a lot about rabbits and their psychology, and even then, they're still rather anthropomorphic. It might take too much time for people to research and really make the non-human cast not-human or not-dogs. Especially since it's during the school year.

edited 14th Jan '12 7:46:50 PM by CrystalGlacia

Stories that all take place in a single, localized setting? (A locked room, bus, school, etc)

I don't know. A lot of writer's use the "locked in a room" cliche to avoid having to do any setting description and just do long chapters of dialogue which are "justified" in not having action tags.

So what if we had the theme be one location, with the caveat that they cannot be trapped/locked/otherwise unable to leave?

What would be the difference?

You'd avoid the locked in the room cliche? It wouldn't help with the "too lazy to describe anything" problem though.

Too bad we already done Extremely Short Timespan.