The December Challenge ((Discussion))

[Drall]

Yeah, mine's awful. I'm a little embarrassed about posting it, but it must be done.

I feel as if all my stories lack both meaning and entertainment. Technically, my writing is decent, but the actual content within most of my pieces has been pretty mediocre.

[Deleted]

There, wrote something else. I preferred my other idea and this one is something you'd expect from me, but I couldn't shorten the other one.

Woo.

[Kaez]

*looooooooooong exhale*

Tricky topic. I'm loving the holy hell out of this whole December Challenge thing. So glad it was made.

[Mena]

Pete, it certainly is.. different and I quite like it.

[Kaez]

Dec 12, 2011 22:56:09 GMT -5 Mena said:

Pete, it certainly is.. different and I quite like it.

I want to get the most out of these assignments. I want to stretch creativity. I wasn't going to do someone -literally, physically- lost for 'Lost' and I wasn't going to do a typical movie/tv show/book for a fan-fic. Trying to keep things interesting.

I'm really glad you like it. I miss you, Mena.



Also, looks like all seven of the first round writers wrote again for the second round, plus one more! W00000t.

EDIT: Also, also, James, my post has an edit in it. It was strictly formatting. No typos were fixed, no words were changed, etc. But I don't actually see a no-edit rule for this tournament, so all should be well.

[James]

I might be ten minutes late with the reviews. Dinner has just walked in through the door. But that's all it will be. I just have Pete's left to review.

[Kaez]

New topic =

[James]

Dec 13, 2011 0:10:54 GMT -5 Kaez said:

New topic =

I have a soft spot for the Beginning/Prologue topic. We did it once for the Monthly Assignment. What did I end up writing for it?

Chapter One of Phantoms.

Oh, and editing in the scores now. Just doing a quick check that everything is correct.

[James]

Scores are up. Leaderboard is updated.

Pete has built himself a small lead. Can he keep it?

[Kaez]

^ That's the short film mine's based on, by the way.

The repetition is kind of an integral part of the film, so I felt it necessary to carry it over into the writing.

But I do understand how it could feel a bit much. Thanks for the review, as always. This competition's really having fantastic results.

[James]

Dec 13, 2011 0:35:36 GMT -5 Kaez said:

The repetition is kind of an integral part of the film, so I felt it necessary to carry it over into the writing.

But I do understand how it could feel a bit much. Thanks for the review, as always.

Yeah, I sort of figured that the repetition was important. That's why I did moot the idea of maybe just spreading it out a little.

But, hat's off for trying something so out of my expectations. It was a great move. Looking at the past two rounds, I am probably rewarding boldness. And you have seemingly figured out just the right amount without getting too bold.



And yeah, we're getting some great entries.

[Injin]

.....Damn writing has never been my best subject. I know this is a writing forum and all, but the harder I try, the worse I do. I'll try to do a better entry for this next one, but if it doesn't get a better score then my first try, I'll just bow out.

[James]

Dec 13, 2011 1:00:00 GMT -5 Injin said:

but if it doesn't get a better score then my first try, I'll just bow out.

Don't.

Look, Injin. Like I said, I think your first entry was probably one of the best things you've written round here. It wasn't too far away from scoring what Tam or Drall got.

But you tried your hand at comedy in that second round. And that means you're now being judged twice. I'm not just looking at whether the writing was good, I was seeing whether you pulled the genre off as well. The flaws in that second entry had just as much to do with the comedy than the writing.

So here's some friendly advice. Go back to basics. Concentrate on the writing itself, the narrative and the dialogue. And try not to do anything clever like comedy. Once you've got the basics down, then you move onto the next level. It's like a video game.

[Injin]

Dec 13, 2011 2:05:24 GMT -5 James said:

Dec 13, 2011 1:00:00 GMT -5 Injin said:

but if it doesn't get a better score then my first try, I'll just bow out.

Don't.

Look, Injin. Like I said, I think your first entry was probably one of the best things you've written round here. It wasn't too far away from scoring what Tam or Drall got.

But you tried your hand at comedy in that second round. And that means you're now being judged twice. I'm not just looking at whether the writing was good, I was seeing whether you pulled the genre off as well. The flaws in that second entry had just as much to do with the comedy than the writing.

So here's some friendly advice. Go back to basics. Concentrate on the writing itself, the narrative and the dialogue. And try not to do anything clever like comedy. Once you've got the basics down, then you move onto the next level. It's like a video game.

Sad thing is that I'm only funny when it's unintentional. I'll take your advice to heart.

[Jenny (Reffy)]

fucking damn those bloody commas! >.< I was so careful about grammar this time! I suck at grammar Dyslexia doesn't allow me to see where they are supposed to be! I don't see a need for them - anywhere. Grr >.< Feel like my grammar has gone backwards in terms of quality ... but at least I'm consistantly 3rd heh. I did also intend the political satire but not at the forefront of things. A friend said it was "very Pratchett."