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Contest April-May 2016 Short Story Contest

Discussion in 'Fluff and Stories' started by Scalenex, Mar 29, 2016.

  1. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    It is with great pride that I announce this next contest. This is our sixth contest and our second April-May Contest.

    Mighty Slanputin the winner of the last contest has been given the honor of selecting the theme for this contest. The theme is "Anti-Heroes." Usual rules apply.

    -Must be between 500 and 2500 words, enforced by the honor system, we are not going to word count your stories or toss out anyone's work for being too long, but be mindful of the people who are reading your work and understand they will probably be intending reading several pieces at once.
    -Your name must appear nowhere with the story. There is no point in having an anonymous competition based on skill if we know whose entry is whose.
    -You must send your story via private message to Scalenex by midnight (US Central time) on April 30th. .
    -The story must be new. No dragging up a story you wrote months or years ago.
    -No plagiarism. This means no stealing a story verbatim. You are free to use characters or settings from other works.
    -The story must involve Lizardmen (or Seraphon or Salamanders) to some extant
    -The story must stick roughly within the theme.
    -No comics or illustrations. This is a short story contest. Visuals are limited to fonts and text colors.
    -Only one entry allowed per person.

    I will do my best to providing proofreading and general advise to writers who ask for it. Keep in mind there is usually a flood of entries coming in the last week, so the earlier you submit your piece to me, the easier it will be for me to help you.. @spawning of Bob is traditionally willing to give fellow writers advice as well.

    Once again, the winner of this contest has the honor of choosing the next contest theme. Unless they don't want to it which I case I'll come up with something and/or steal something from Slanputins very long list of perfectly reasonable themes.

    Not everyone defines anti-hero the same way. What one person calls an anti-hero another calls a tragic hero, doomed hero, penitent hero, villain protagonists, affable villain or any number of things. The differing interpretations of the concept will be what makes this contest interesting. He is the bare bones minimalist definition of anti-heroes on Wikipedia. For more detailed analysis and over a dozen subtypes, check out this article from TV-tropes.

    There is no wrong answer for "what is an anti-hero?" Let's see how you can apply the concept to reptiles!
     
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2016
  2. thedarkfourth
    Kroxigor

    thedarkfourth Well-Known Member

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    I'm glad to see that voting ends in march - good to know scalanex's foul experiments have finally cracked time travel.

    If I'd known this'd be the theme I would have saved my noir! I'd be noir-ing all over this competition. But now I'm going have to be original. Ugh yuck.
     
  3. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    Your hardboiled noir novel would have been brilliant for this! Dammit @thedarkfourth you're a loose cannon. That story only had one day left 'til retirement. Now its contents are spilled all over the Internet. Turn in your pencil and keyboard. You're off the case.
     
  4. Slanputin
    Carnasaur

    Slanputin Well-Known Member

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    I don't think I've been called mighty before. Hopefully the theme will live up to it.

    I'm already excited.
     
  5. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    Okay, you got me, I copy and paste the entry threads from the past contest and modify. Sometimes mistakes are made.
     
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  6. discomute
    Terradon

    discomute Well-Known Member

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    So basically I have free pass to write about whatever I want?
     
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  7. spawning of Bob
    Skar-Veteran

    spawning of Bob Well-Known Member

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    Anti your usual hero type (ie doesn't eat his girlfriend) would leave the field fairly wide open for choices for you.

    Unfortunately for me, my heroes are pretty Inspector Clouseau, so I will need to work harder.
     
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  8. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    I got exposed to two WIP contest entries in early stages so far. That's a good start so early in the contest, but we still need...MOAR!

    Don't let the fact that the Short Story Contest entry timeline and Art Contest are overlapping stop you from writing. Most of you cross-competitors should be done with your art submission by now. I just finished mine (and by "finished" I mean "passed on to @n810 to tweak slightly"), so I'm going to get back to my writing tonight. The rest of you follow your leader and write. Your writing is the only thing keeping the Skaven from invading (again).
     
  9. Y'ttar Scaletail
    Troglodon

    Y'ttar Scaletail Well-Known Member

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    You rang? :p

    Humm, this be an interesting theme. A few idea-things come to mind, though will have to think on how to do this.
     
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  10. Hyperborean
    Ripperdactil

    Hyperborean Well-Known Member

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    Should be interesting, should (hopefully) be able to finagle something this time!
     
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  11. spawning of Bob
    Skar-Veteran

    spawning of Bob Well-Known Member

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    Homework for all entrants. The last comp stories were all excellent as you know, but there weren't so many memorable hooks - I think there were better hook lines with the previous comp eg.
    • Temple guardians do not suffer fear.
    • Something else was in the tunnel and Ikkit knew it.
    • Unique. Empowered. Destined.
    • It was a dark and stormy night
    • Our town is haunted.
    That's just the first 4 stories of the October comp. Some samples from the most recent are:
    • The sky was clear bar a few wisps of clouds that gently sailed in the breeze.
    • Huintzi woke up early in the morning.

    OK, there were other good hooks, but you get the idea. When you have written your draft entry this time, and are about to begin polishing, make sure you go back and twist your first couple of paragraphs around so that within the first three lines, you have something that will compel the reader to keep reading.
     
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  12. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    These are functionally the same. Many professional writers and critics warn against starting a story with a description of the weather. I wouldn't say never start a story with the weather, but if you do, the weather should have some direct bearing on the story and not simply be just to set the mood.
     
  13. pendrake
    Skink Priest

    pendrake Well-Known Member

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    Hmmm.

    Was: "Fast is good. Hard to hit is better." a hook?
     
  14. spawning of Bob
    Skar-Veteran

    spawning of Bob Well-Known Member

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    Yes, but I was trying to prove that there were fewer good hooks in the newer comp. If yours had been a total dog I would have quoted it :).

    I'll reiterate - they were good stories, they didn't suffer from lack of hooks. It's just a technique to keep in mind.
     
  15. thedarkfourth
    Kroxigor

    thedarkfourth Well-Known Member

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  16. Killer Angel
    Slann

    Killer Angel Prophet of the Stars Staff Member

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    I wonder if this turn I can effectively write something...
     
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  17. spawning of Bob
    Skar-Veteran

    spawning of Bob Well-Known Member

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    I was wondering the same for me - took me a week to get an idea. Now, after one page, I've written myself into a corner.
     
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  18. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    I am definitely looking forward to what people come up with in this competition! This seems like it would be a fun one to push through all those crazy character ideas!
     
  19. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    Got three rough drafts and one writer in the brainstorming phase. That's a good start.
     
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  20. thedarkfourth
    Kroxigor

    thedarkfourth Well-Known Member

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    Done mine! I'm just sitting on it and waiting for the inevitable "oh god I need to change all of it".

    Yes this time I can't be bothered with the mysterious "have I entered?" schtick. OR CAN I?!?!?!
     
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