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Post by Kaez on Feb 12, 2016 11:50:28 GMT -5
I tried to come up with a clever response, but... actually... Colbert, Sondheim, Hawking, Stills... there are a lot of cool Stephens. Better, overall, than the Stevens, IMO. James is going to be disappointed with you. ...does... James like Stevens? |
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Post by James on Feb 12, 2016 15:19:26 GMT -5
James is going to be disappointed with you. ... am... am I? |
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Inkdrinker
Scribe
Sepulcher: a stage enlived by ghosts.
Posts: 908
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Post by Inkdrinker on Feb 12, 2016 15:34:07 GMT -5
It's cause Stephen Fry wasn't mentioned, right?
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Post by James on Feb 12, 2016 15:49:01 GMT -5
Oh. Oh. That might be it.
Mr Dalliard, we've made a right mess of this.
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Post by Ad Absurdum on Feb 14, 2016 14:33:09 GMT -5
Some rambles on Arena Entry the First
The concept for my first story really just metamorphosed from that one line in the prompt, with ‘The Cole’ (still thought that was a typo) growling: ‘I can’t kill you twice.’
Well, what if he fucking could?
I wanted the hanging to be the first in the many deaths of Carlos. Originally, I conjured up the idea of it being a kind of rehabilitation clinic. Carlos was considered suicidal, and he would be subject to the intrinsic pain and misery of death multiple times as a deterrent for him to fully accept and embrace eternal life. I wrote these scenes first, but rewrote them later, when I realized that the whole ‘multi-death as rehabilitation’ wasn’t going to fit (sorry Criminology major). I changed into a kind of parody of Uber instead, given that this type of service industry is on the rise, it made more sense, I think the story is better with it. Determinism also fit into the rehabilitation storyline as kind of the antidote for Carlos. They realized he was going to quit ‘death’ so they offered the drug to him instead. Of course, that got changed around too.
The concept evolved way faster than any plot for better or worse. I figured why stop with eternal life but bring in other deity traits? Omniscience and omnipotence and staple them onto the American dream. The setting wasn’t going to be America to begin with, but as I wrote further it just kind of clicked, and the world became some alternate reality dystopian freakshow.
I wanted to make eternal life claustrophobic, terrifying. Stuck in a world so dogmatic in its views that the American Dream embedded itself in the metaphysical, entrenched in the fabric of reality. Death had been eliminated, there was no chance to escape even through the hope of something after. This was it, a dog eat dog world. There’s not even stars, or the hope of another physical planet to occupy with the world folded in on itself. I guess, in a way that makes the ending, and Carlos’s choice, kind of optimistic.
Carlos Marix is almost a fully ripped off name as I had one of the philosopher’s key concepts in my heading while writing (thanks Political Science Major)
Plot kind of coalesced after the fact, configuring into a sort of standard pursuit of happiness tale. Characters, as some have noted, suffered in the process. I don’t think I got in Carlos’s psyche well enough, and Sarah really just comes off as one of those ‘stereotypical exes’. I actually wanted to completely cut the scene where they’re introduced at the conference, but it serves as a bit of characterization and keeps Carlos in the scene instead of completely derailing into a Silver Dollar sermon.
Silver Dollar Man is a character who has snuck into a couple of my NaNo attempts, often occupying this dystopian city (reskinned Los Vegas) and preaching this new type of consumerist Christianity on a soon to be destroyed planet Earth. Unfortunately, I don’t think I embodied a lot of the character’s fun quirks in this interpretation, and he comes off as a bit flat and muddled. I kind of like his motivations being more cryptic, but at the same time, giving Carlos a second chance should be implied to have far more sinister connotations.
Sarah is just a mean person.
Lastly, the prompt kind of forced me to adopt a bit of a cut and out of order narrative style. Honestly, I kind of like it set up this way. It gives the story the illusion of being a bit longer than it appears and I feel exposition got dolloped out better.
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Post by James on Feb 15, 2016 2:56:40 GMT -5
24 hours to go until the Arena Final's stories are posted!
(Also, I'd really like to see everyone have a crack at what Ad just did. I think it'd be really interesting.)
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Sensar
Author
Homonecropedopheliac and Legal Property of AWR
Posts: 6,898
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Post by Sensar on Feb 16, 2016 2:09:47 GMT -5
Less than an hour to go before the Finals are posted!
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Sensar
Author
Homonecropedopheliac and Legal Property of AWR
Posts: 6,898
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Post by Sensar on Feb 16, 2016 3:04:42 GMT -5
And they are posted on the dot for the first time in this year's Arena!
Thanks to the contestants for their timely entries.
Now, it's time for your timely reviews and votes! They are due February 19th at 3am EST. After they are posted, we will announce the winner of this year's Arena, and begin revealed discussion for these last two rounds!
Please mark your preferred story clearly in your PM. The preferred story is given a score of 1, the other a score of 0. The results will be tallied at the 3am mark. Late reviews will be posted, but late scores (or ones without reviews) will not be taken into account.
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Post by ASGetty ((Zovo)) on Feb 16, 2016 3:06:52 GMT -5
And they are posted on the dot for the first time in this year's Arena! It's bigger than that, my friend. I can say with some confidence that this is the first time, in my experience, that not only has a competition finished on time (per it's original schedule) but without a single drop out! Holy shit, AWR, we're starting to act like adults. Well done to everyone who competed, you've made me proud. Best of luck to the remaining contestants. |
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Post by J.O.N ((Dragonwing)) on Feb 16, 2016 3:10:51 GMT -5
Yep, beat me to it by a minute. Congratulations to everyone who participated. Now everyone should go and review and vote on the stories. Lets make this successful with reviews as well as participation.
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Post by James on Feb 16, 2016 3:31:30 GMT -5
Well done to everyone who competed, you've made me proud. Yeah. I am just really, really pleased that this is our first drop-out free competition. No noticeable extensions. At least four sets of reviews for each story. I'm genuinely proud of you, AWR. Let's not mess it up by having a poor turnout for the final reviews. |
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Post by ASGetty ((Zovo)) on Feb 16, 2016 10:46:14 GMT -5
Well done to everyone who competed, you've made me proud. Yeah. I am just really, really pleased that this is our first drop-out free competition. No noticeable extensions. At least four sets of reviews for each story. I'm genuinely proud of you, AWR. Let's not mess it up by having a poor turnout for the final reviews. I think opening up earlier rounds for discussion and the multiple skype calls made a big difference in helping folks stay interested and engaged. |
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Post by Kaez on Feb 16, 2016 10:52:47 GMT -5
Yeah. I am just really, really pleased that this is our first drop-out free competition. No noticeable extensions. At least four sets of reviews for each story. I'm genuinely proud of you, AWR. Let's not mess it up by having a poor turnout for the final reviews. I think opening up earlier rounds for discussion and the multiple skype calls made a big difference in helping folks stay interested and engaged. AWR's activity levels and member count were dropping kind of in parallel with one another. Hyper-active AWR of 7 years ago dwindled to the far less-populated, less-active AWR of 2 years ago. Then Inklings happened. I honestly think it saved the forum. Actually, not 'saved', rejuvenated. This is the Second Golden Age of AWR, in my opinion. |
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Post by Injin on Feb 16, 2016 15:33:14 GMT -5
Sent in my review. Can't wait to see how things ended up.
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Post by James on Feb 16, 2016 17:55:39 GMT -5
I think opening up earlier rounds for discussion and the multiple skype calls made a big difference in helping folks stay interested and engaged. AWR's activity levels and member count were dropping kind of in parallel with one another. Hyper-active AWR of 7 years ago dwindled to the far less-populated, less-active AWR of 2 years ago. Then Inklings happened. I honestly think it saved the forum. Actually, not 'saved', rejuvenated. This is the Second Golden Age of AWR, in my opinion. The Inklings announcement and Adam being made an admin happened on the same day. Adam is Jesus in this metaphor? |
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