Concepts for the Eighth TV Tropes Writing Contest

It is I.

edited 4th Apr '13 8:37:04 PM by Matues

Ah, I fear that I forgot to come back here — fair enough, the "start and end line" idea seems like a decent one to me. ^_^

So... Are we going with two different lines, one each and beginning and end, or a single line for both?

My Games & Writing

Maybe anyone who wants to can submit lines and we can choose with a random number generator.

First sentence:

Last sentence:

Or by popular vote.

I'm with Cats, lets toss a bunch out there and pick at random.

Ehhhhh the first sentence there feels really awkward to me? Something about the word order.

Potential sentences, then:
First:

Last:


(May I suggest voting on first and last separately — that allows a good sentence to get picked even if it was paired with a poor one, should that case arise.)

edited 5th Apr '13 5:02:08 PM by ArsThaumaturgis

My Games & Writing

Is the semi-colon in the right place for the first one? I would think it would be "There was darkness; at least, there was some hope." or "There was darkness, but at least there was hope."?

(I feel like I should stop having issues with the sentences already, put my money where my mouth is, and actually write and submit something for this. Then the judges could nitpick my stuff just as much!)

I'm up for voting separately.

Disclaimer: These are pulled from NaNoWriMo adoption threads; I didn't write them myself.

First:

Last:

My thought, if I recall correctly, was that it would expand to something along the lines of "there was darkness at least <implying, perhaps, that other things were less in favour of the character's desire>, and thus some hope existed". It could be re-written with the "at least" at the start of the sentence, I think.

Does that make sense? I'll confess that I'm not always as confident that I'd like to be regarding my use of semicolons, despite my liking for them... ^^;;

While I'd welcome seeing whatever lines you might provide, please know that I am grateful for your nitpicking! ^_^

edited 5th Apr '13 8:48:49 PM by ArsThaumaturgis

My Games & Writing

Good news, everyone. We may get our crowner soon.

edited 5th Apr '13 9:01:52 PM by Psyga315

I come bearing sentences! These are just off the top of my head, so feel free to accept or discard 'em to taste.

First sentences:

-At first there was silence, broken only by the distant rumble of spring thunder.

-I had vehemently insisted that she was innocent, but as usual, I was ignored.

-They say that lighting never strikes the same place twice, but they're wrong.

-The procedure had been a complete and unqualified success.

Last Sentences:

-And with that, he sank beneath the waves.

-The sounds of the conversation gradually faded away as the two of them strolled into the night.

-"You're not getting rid of me that easily."

-I locked the door, threw away the key, and crossed my fingers, hoping that it would be enough.

-We locked eyes and she grinned. "Race you there."

"And every life is a special story of its own." —The Stargazer, Mass Effect 3

Welp, some of my own suggestions:

Beginning Phrases:

-A philosopher once said, "Justice and evil are both subjective concepts."

-Somehow, I ended up in this luxurious bar with no money in the middle of the night.

Ending Phrases:

-The noose moved slightly as the chair beneath it was knocked down.

-What a beautiful world, isn't it?

edited 6th Apr '13 11:39:14 PM by danna45

"And you must be Jonathan Joestar!" - Sue

The thing to keep in mind for these ending and beginning phrases is that if you use something like "I", you'd be limiting the entries to first person, wouldn't you?

Beginning: "It didn't take a whole lot to convince him I was actually a cat."

Ending: The tip of the cat's tail disappeared as it went around the corner.

edited 7th Apr '13 12:13:33 AM by LeungBaiFang

Let's not go there. *flails noodle arms*

How much would you be able to change the sentence structure, if at all?

Also does everyone need to use the same sentence or will you be able to pick from a list of them? It seems like some would be limitimg

"I drank the blood of angels from a bottle, just to see if I could call the lightning down."

Opening line

"The city was still and beautiful, and as the sun rose to it's peak at noon, a young couple drove across town in their small European automobile."

Closing line

"The raging beast had come to it's decision, and at that it turned around to thank the world, as it had been enlightened, and for that the continued existence of humanity must be grateful."

edited 7th Apr '13 3:42:06 AM by porschelemans

I'm so sorry that my avatar doesn't appear fully in the shot, but the cat was threatening the photographer.

- Once upon a time.

- And they all lived happily ever after.

Opening Line:

Closing Line:

(Gonna think of better ones later)

A good point, actually. On one hand, such a limitation might be a good thing, a part of the overall limitation of a beginning or ending sentence. It also occurs to me that it might not be quite as limiting as it seems: the first-person speaker may be the narrator rather than the protagonist of the story, for example. On the other hand, perhaps we might institute a rule allowing entrants to change pronouns in the sentences: he for she, him for I, etc.

My Games & Writing

Opening Line

Ending Line

That's totes a hiimdaisy reference.

I agree, that would be good. Changing pronouns probably doesn't lift the limitations too much.

Anyways, I believe the voting should start....right about...now. If someone were to gather all the quotes in a post, that'd be greatly appreciated, otherwise we'll just have to state which quotes each of us likes best.

Personally, ending line I'm going with the above 'and no one ate dinner that night.' Opening line I currently have no preference.

"And you must be Jonathan Joestar!" - Sue

Lines thus far—

Opening lines:

Closing lines:

edited 7th Apr '13 9:54:08 PM by greedling

You will not go to space today.