RE Creative Writing Challenge #002: False Start or Making light of tragedy

[Cyan]

(Thread posted on behalf of Tangent )

Theme: False Start OR Making light of tragedy

Word limit: 1,800 words

Submission deadline: December 29th, 2017 by 11:59 PM Pacific

Voting Deadline: January 2nd, 2018 by 11:59 PM Pacific

Optional Secondary Objective: Confirmation bias OR hyperbole OR self-fulfilling prophecy (or maybe fear of commitment? :P)

Submission Guidelines:
- One entry per poster.
- All submissions must be written during the time of the challenge.
- Using the topic as the title of your piece is discouraged.
- Keep to the word count!
- On its own line, type #entry for the bot to find your submission.

Voting Guidelines:
- Three votes per voter. Please denote in your voting your 1st (3 pts), 2nd (2 pts), and 3rd (1 pt) place votes.
- Please read all submissions before voting.
- You must vote in order to be eligible to win the challenge.
- When voting ends, the winner gets a collective pat on the back, and starts the new challenge.

Important side note: A lot of our regulars like to write out short critiques/comments for the stories, but you can always opt out by simply adding a note like "I'd prefer no critiques" in the post where you submit your story. We're an understanding group and respect that not everyone wants comments on their work. Above all, we just want to read your story.

 

[Cyan]

I think I got everything in there, but someone poke me if there's anything missing. :P

 

[Arkestry]

I want to see if someone can get every single one of those themes in a single story. Nightmare mode.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Making light of tragedy. Hmmmm. Guess it will be a somber read...

 

[Xagarath]

I like this theme already

 

[Rivenblade]

Niccccce. Let's do this!

 

[Nezumi]

I... have nothing. We'll see what inspiration Christmas will have in store for me.

 

[W-00]

I want to see if someone can get every single one of those themes in a single story. Nightmare mode.

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I've already got four. I think I can squeeze in the fifth, provided that the story itself fits under the word count (haven't started writing yet).

 

[weemadarthur]

Thanks, cyan! I was sleeping.

Theme.....theme......well, inspiration will hit.

 

[UCBooties]

In for round 2!

 

[FlowersisBritish]

Oh god so maby possibilities... So many choices........ Im losing my mind about what to do!

 

[Charade]

Yay, grats Tangent!

Now what to do...

 

[Tangent]

Thanks for posting, Cyan! (I see what you did with that parenthetical!)

 

[Palas]

Let's see if I can actually do something this time.

 

[Rivenblade]

I've got three ideas and have started on one of them. I'm super excited about this particular challenge. I can see Flowers probably feels similar.

I'll have to finish it by next Wednesday night if I'm to submit it before driving for seven hours on Thursday after work and then getting locked in for a family weekend with the folks and others.

 

[ChasingANiche]

I have never done one of these before, but I'm on Christmas break so I have a lot of time on my hands. Most of my writing is either long form or essay work, so it will be fun to try a short story.

 

[Sch1sm]

I have never done one of these before, but I'm on Christmas break so I have a lot of time on my hands. Most of my writing is either long form or essay work, so it will be fun to try a short story.

Click to shrink...

Consider the poetry stuff, too, if you're into that. Got 30 hours from now to come up with something.

--

I really like the themes and secondary objectives you've got here. I'll try to write something. May just end up being for myself rather than a submission, especially since I'm admittedly a little burnt out after the past semester and my NaNo attempt, but I've got a couple ideas.

 

[Claire Delune]

I mean... I got it done, but I'm still like a day behind since it went up so late... Plus I'm going to be hard-pressed to get a revision in on Christmas, so really it's like I've lost two days.

 

[Ashes]

hmm.

 

[Sober]

Interesting...

 

[FlowersisBritish]

Also as a heads up I won't be there for the Writing Hangout cause of Christmas Eve stuff.

 

[Royal_Flush]

I was thinking about participating in one of these again, but I'm kind of drawing a blank, despite (or because of?) the two different prompts. Hmmm...

 

[Nezumi]

Also as a heads up I won't be there for the Writing Hangout cause of Christmas Eve stuff.

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Me neither for exactly the same reason :D

 

[Arkestry]

I'm having lots of ideas, none of which are remotely related to any of the topics. Awesome.

 

[Claire Delune]

*Doing revisions on reMarkable tablet*

OMFG, I love this thing. Maybe eventually I'll save enough paper that it pays for itself.

You know, in like a hundred years.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

If you go double time you can save that money in 50 years

 

[Claire Delune]

Why, that would mean two revisions a day! Madness!

(I may have already done two today)

 

[Tangent]

Hi all! Thank you for the congrats! And cool that you guys are already up and at it. (I'm not!) Who the heck made this horrible prompt and secondary anyway?

I just wanted to check: is the deadline OK with the holidays? We could also make it Friday, Jan 5th, and votes would go up the following Monday? Any thoughts? Maybe we can do it by votes, you can quote and tally your vote...what do you think?

I vote to keep the deadline the same:

I vote to change the deadline to Friday, January 5th:

I vote to change the deadline to some other date (please specify):

Thanks!

 

[weemadarthur]

I vote to keep the deadline the same so we don't have to mess with the poetry thread too. :(

 

[Masquerade Overture]

Theme: False Start OR Making light of tragedy

Click to shrink...

Oh my God this is gonna be a piece of cake.

Spoiler

Really hope writing fiction isn't grounds for arrest though.

 

[Palas]

Hi all! Thank you for the congrats! And cool that you guys are already up and at it. (I'm not!) Who the heck made this horrible prompt and secondary anyway?

I just wanted to check: is the deadline OK with the holidays? We could also make it Friday, Jan 5th, and votes would go up the following Monday? Any thoughts? Maybe we can do it by votes, you can quote and tally your vote...what do you think?

I vote to keep the deadline the same:

I vote to change the deadline to Friday, January 5th:

I vote to change the deadline to some other date (please specify):

Thanks!

Click to shrink...

I vote to keep the deadline the same:. Really, keep the deadline. Dec 28 is the optimal date to write anyway. Christmas food is over but still too soon to buy New Year's treats

 

[petitmelon]

This looks fun! I'm horrible at writing short things though. :/ Is it okay to just be a reader? Or do you have to participate?

 

[Royal_Flush]

This looks fun! I'm horrible at writing short things though. :/ Is it okay to just be a reader? Or do you have to participate?

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Afaik everybody can vote regardless if they handed in a story.

 

[Nezumi]

I'm also for keeping the deadline as it is.

 

[weemadarthur]

This looks fun! I'm horrible at writing short things though. :/ Is it okay to just be a reader? Or do you have to participate?

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The more feedback the better, since people are participating to improve their skills!

 

[Claire Delune]

This looks fun! I'm horrible at writing short things though. :/ Is it okay to just be a reader? Or do you have to participate?

Click to shrink...

People who read but don't submit are obligated to vote for me.

 

[weemadarthur]

People who read but don't submit are obligated to vote for me.

Click to shrink...

Works for me.
Making themes is hard.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

I recently finished I Am Setsuna and good JRPG all around but really the soundtrack is fucking A+++. It's been awhile since I've been so enraptured by music and just really want to write to it. Don't know what I'm doing yet but I'm sure af its going to be somber.

 

[Tangent]

Okay cool! Let's keep the deadline the same! I was concerned that Mike M wouldn't get in as many drafts as he normally would with my late announcement of the new challenge. Haha! But good point: between Christmas and New Year's is a good time.

I recently finished I Am Setsuna and good JRPG all around but really the soundtrack is fucking A+++. It's been awhile since I've been so enraptured by music and just really want to write to it. Don't know what I'm doing yet but I'm sure af its going to be somber.

Click to shrink...

Wow that's awesome! Go you!

This looks fun! I'm horrible at writing short things though. :/ Is it okay to just be a reader? Or do you have to participate?

Click to shrink...

What kind of saint are you? I find that reading everyone's story is BY FAR the hardest part of these writing challenges. It takes way longer than banging out a story, too. Just ask Nezumi! And, I also feel like my reading time is so sacred so it's hard to be pulled away from whatever I might be reading to look at my monitor and read stories. Of course, I'm always more than happy when I spend some quality time reading everyone's submission since I get to read such fun stuff -- and so diverse -- but getting that going is soooo hard!

 

[Nezumi]

I want to wish a very happy Christmas to all of you lovely people! Part of me wants to write more but I fear all that holiday spirit (and wine) might make me overly sentimental so I'll just want to say how glad I am to have this community :) I love you guys. Thanks for keeping up with me.

 

[Cyan]

Merry Christmas Nez, you are one of my faves!

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Where the entries at?

 

[Claire Delune]

Where the entries at?

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Deadline's not for another week-ish.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Last time had people finishing early.

 

[Claire Delune]

Yeah, that was super anomalous though.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

Happy Holidays everyone! Im gonna echo Nez and say you all are great and that these threads are great and that y'all are amazing and so glad to have written with you these past.... 3? I think 3 years?

 

[Claire Delune]

I don't do sentimentality very well and I have a complicated relationship with Christmas in particular, so I guess all I can say is I totally bank on Dickens having made ghosts Christmassy to put up Halloween stuff in December.

 

[Claire Delune]

Not my entry, but it seems appropriate to repost today for anyone who missed it last year: Do You Want to Build a Snow Homunculus

Old password.

 

[Tangent]

Merry Christmas to you too, Nez! I wish you blubbered out your beautiful prose while wasted! We love you!!!!

Mike M, I have a complicated relationship with Christmas, too! Are we the only ones?! I found an article that mostly summed up what I think and it was a relief to see my thoughts articulated so well by someone else who was shouting it out in a blog. But I feel like I'm not allowed to (unless I'm a grinch) or something and I'm supposed to drink the Kool-Aid and be cool with it. It's also weird having a complicated relationship with Christmas AND raising a kid in a culture (the United States, that is, vs. a particular region of the US) where Christmas will swallow you whole. And kids love every minute of it.

Your Christmas cookies look awesome. Why is there a ghost next to Santa? Is it the "Holy Ghost?" If so, that is brilliant.

I have a few story ideas, but nothing I'm wedded to yet. Blech. Plus, I thought I wasn't doing these challenges anymore so I can sleep more.... what's going on with me?!

 

[xvr]

Never been much of a writer nor have really given it a go, but finding myself with a surplus of time recently so might just sit down and try to write something out.

Really interesting topics! Feel like I'd have some sort of idea with the 'Making light of tragedy' theme, no Idea what I'd ever write for 'False start' however. Whether or not I finish writing one, eager to see everyone else's ideas!

Also, any tips at all for a potential first time submitter?