The 2017 Arena!

[Kaez]

Hey crew,

So I was talking with James (see Skype) about the fact that it'd be ideal for me, if I wanted to write in this competition, if we could start it sooner rather than later. Usually the Arena starts in the first few days of January... but I was wondering if you guys think you'd be able to start it next week?

I know the holidays are a busy time for some folks - but I've designed a potential schedule with holiday business in mind: Dec 21 through 25 is a reviewing session, not a writing session, and it's 2 days longer than normal reviewing sessions are.

This schedule also lines up nicely to end the competition right on an Inklings so that we can discuss the whole thing and that'd be a blast since this is our largely-anonymous competition style.

Dec 13 – Dec 20: Round 1
Dec 21 – Dec 25: Reviewing
Dec 26 – Jan 3: Round 2
Jan 4 – 6: Reviewing
Jan 7 – 14: Semifinals
Jan 15 – 17: Reviewing
Jan 18 – 25: THUNDERDOME!!!
Jan 26 – 28: Winner announced at Inklings on the 28th.

Does this work for you guys? James has volunteered to be the organizer. 8 writers are needed. 10 is the goal. 12 would be the ideal. If it turns out too many people say they can't do it, we'll move it back a few weeks to where we usually schedule it.



Roster

Organizer: James

1. Injin
2. Schro
3. Kaez
4. Zovo
5. Silver
6. Sensar
7. Ad
8. Sawyer
9. Taed
10. Ink
11. Kwan
12. Joe

[ASGetty ((Zovo))]

You know I said I wasn't going to write in the next competition because the last one bummed me out... But I'm down for this.
Sign me up.

[JMDavis ((Silver))]

I should definitely have time for this - and I've really been wanting to write again.

So, I'm in.

[Inkdrinker]

I'm in.

[Kwan]

Aight, I'll do it.

[James]

So I've got a Schedule thread up now.

We're starting this competition pretty soon, so people need to start sending me in prompts for the Arena. This year we're shaking it up very, very slightly.

The first round and the semi-finals are going to involved the traditional Arena beginnings prompt. They should be around 50-250 words long. Here are some examples of them:

Manoel was the finest doughnut maker I had ever met, aside from a homeless man who somehow had a professional-quality deep fryer in a Senegalese slum. Due to his vampiric nature, he was fully prepared to work from just before midnight until an hour before dawn every night. He sang Afro-Brazilian love songs while pouring glaze over his piping hot creations. Stoned teenagers flocked from the surrounding buildings each night. There must have been at least thirty of them, lined up with dollar bills clutched firmly in their hands. They babbled and muttered with anticipation: one was actually drooling. I had been expecting a few old stone-faced alcoholics, so at least their youthfulness was refreshing.

Less welcoming was the ungodly tall girl staring straight at me. She didn’t blink, not once as I looked back at her. Massive gauges pilfered her ears.

There were four strangers on the train with me.

That, along with the fact that the train was heading south, were the only two things I was certain of. With the sun but a smear stain against a topaz sky, burning through the carriage windows, they were reduced to silhouettes–we all were, shadows of shadows.

We're going to need 6 of these type of beginning prompts.

However, the second round and the final are going to be blurb prompts. So instead of being a beginning that you have to start your story with, instead you must write the story being described by the blurb. Here are some examples of blurb:

Life isn't easy for Helen MacDonald. She's the only woman permitted to be a member of the Royal Marines. The lads give her a lot of stick for that. She's also a Scot fighting in Afghanistan. There's not a day where some part of her body isn't burnt. The lads give her a lot of stick for that as well. Despite only being a Captain, the generals and commanders are constantly asking her for advice. The lads give her hell for that.

She's also the only trained magician fighting the insurgency.

The lads don't give her stick for that. But that doesn't stop the requests from coming. Can you redirect the river so we can have some fresh water? How about turning the opiate fields upside down so the plants can't grow. Why don't you just pull Osama out of a hat?

But now, life's just got a hell of a lot tougher for Captain Helen MacDonald. The multi-starred generals and moustached commanders are wanting the big one. 2009 is drawing to a close and the war's just been going on too long. Can't Captain MacDonald do something about that? Because what's the point of having the only trained magician in your army, if she can't finish the war for you?

June 1919. Representatives of the British, French, American and Italian government meet every day in the Quai d'Orsay. They are negotiating the final terms of what shall become the Treaty of Versailles. Occasionally, they meet with delegates of the smaller nations affected by the war. In the chaos of these final meetings, every delegate seeks to get their pound of flesh from the German Empire.

One of these delegates is Antonin Brzobohatý, a representative of the Republic of Oder. It has existed for three days and is founded on the principle of making Mr Brzobohatý very, very rich.

We're going to need 4 of these blurbs.

So, guys. Get writing quick and PM me your beginnings and blurbs.

[Kaez]

I'll write you some prompts tonight and tomorrow, James.

Also, do you have a plan in mind for distributing the members into groups? Like... maybe Adam, Ad, and Taed in separate groups? Or maybe all of them in the same group? Y'know. Just think about your plans for that.

[James]

Dec 10, 2016 22:53:30 GMT -5 Kaez said:

I'll write you some prompts tonight and tomorrow, James.

Also, do you have a plan in mind for distributing the members into groups? Like... maybe Adam, Ad, and Taed in separate groups? Or maybe all of them in the same group? Y'know. Just think about your plans for that.

My current plan is names out of a hat and then seeing if I feel like that's a good draw...

[James]

You should all have your beginnings. I'm going to post the matches up now. Please for the love of all that is good and pure, do not post your stories in those threads. PM me them. This is an anonymous competition.

I'm sure a lot of the chatter about the competition will appear on Skype. But I'd love to see this thread be at least a little bit active. You lot can discuss the beginnings, as long as you don't reveal which one is yours.

See you on the other side.

[James]

Stories will be up tomorrow.

[James]

Okay, two of the three matches are up. The third will be up once a technical hitch is solved and I receive the story. Hopefully that will be as soon as possible.

I'd love to see as many reviews as possible there. The Arena only works if people reviews. How does it work?

You can review every story. Just write what you thought about the story; what worked, what didn't, etc. Were you entertained? Were there any mistakes? Did the characters have depth and did their dialogue feel real? Just write what you thought.

As well as reviewing, you also vote. You cannot vote in your own match. Voting works as followed:

For the two matches with three entires, you give 3 points to your favourite, 2 for the next, and 1 for last. For the match with four entries (if I get that last story sent in), it's the same, but you give last place 0 points.

Remember, you PM me your reviews and votes. Do not post them publicly.

Now, get reading.

[James]

So, Kwan got me his story. I'm going to hold him at his word that he was genuinely finished and the message just didn't send. Even though it ruins the anonymous factor, in the spirit of Christmas, I've posted the story and you can review and vote for it if you so wish.

[Kwan]

Don't vote for mine. It's included for the sake of completeness.

[Kaez]

So, crew. The deadline for reviews/judging for the first round is about 30 hours from now.

Do we think that's enough time? I know the holidays are busy for folks.

[James]

Just over five hours to go!