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Mike M · May 26, 2015

Theme - "Mnemonic"

Word Limit: 2100

Submission Deadline: Friday, June 4th by 11:59 PM Pacific.

Voting begins Saturday, June 6th, and goes until Monday, June 8th at 11:59 PM Pacific.

Optional Secondary Objective: Objective correlatives

An objective correlative is "a literary term referring to a symbolic article used to provide explicit, rather than implicit, access to such traditionally inexplicable concepts as emotion or color."

I was listening to some recent episodes of Grammar Girl on the drive into work today, and one I listened to seemed to veer out of her usual lane of explaining grammatical rules and origins and into the use of literary devices, in this case the objective correlative (You can catch the episode here.). I figured that was as good a secondary objective as any other, so let's go with it.

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!

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.

NeoGAF Creative Writing Challenge FAQ Previous Challenge Threads and Themes

Nezumi · May 26, 2015

Hm, it looks like I'm too stupid to understand either the theme or the secondary.

Google here I come...

Mike M · May 26, 2015

Nezumi said:
Hm, it looks like I'm too stupid to understand either the theme or the secondary.

Google here I come...

To crib from the GG podcast episode I linked, an exams of an objective correlative would be the "ANDY" scrawled on the bottom of Woody's boot.

The podcast is short and gives a good overview of the concept : )

Nezumi · May 26, 2015

Yeah, just gonna listen to the podcast to get a grasp of the concept. But now that I looked up what the theme means I really like it

Neeener · May 26, 2015

Wait.... I don't understand theme or secondary. Gonna go learn something I guess! Congrats mikem

Dandy Crocodile · May 26, 2015

Interesting theme.
I think I get the concept of the secondary, but using it will be interesting.

Nezumi · May 26, 2015

Yeah, the more I read about that objective correlation stuff the more I think that it is something that every writer does inadvertently. Whether it succeeds is a different matter of course.

Cyan · May 26, 2015

I don't get the secondary either. Gonna have to listen to the podcast.

Sober · May 26, 2015

Way to make it way too complicated Mike.

Cyan · May 26, 2015

Oh God, the vocal fry is killing me. That doesn't even usually bother me at all. :/

Also, in keeping with the theme. I recently learned from a Canadian colleague that they have a fascinating mnemonic for what we here in Merca would call SOHCAHTOA (for remembering trigonometry): Some Old Hags Can't Acquire Husbands 'Til Old Age.

Yes, that was my reaction too.

FlowersisBritish · May 26, 2015

Nezumi said:
Yeah, the more I read about that objective correlation stuff the more I think that it is something that every writer does inadvertently. If it succeeds is a different matter of course.

Pretty much, it's just a fancy term for talking about symbolism used by scholars who want to sound more fancy in their literary essays. Congrats Mike, glad to see your trend of weird and difficult challenges continue.

Sober · May 26, 2015

I didn't know that was a thing, we just had "soh-cah-toa"

Nezumi · May 26, 2015

Most of the mnemonics I know are in German and wouldn't make much sense once I translate them. I only found one so far that would work and I'm tempted to just have two characters casully discuss it while I write a story about something completely different.

FlowersisBritish said:
Pretty much, it's just a fancy term for talking about symbolism used by scholars who want to sound more fancy in their literary essays. Congrats Mike, glad to see your trend of weird and difficult challenges continue.

THANK YOU!
If there is one thing that I hated most about studying philosophy it was "stating something obvious but hiding it behind obscure and complicated language".

Cyan · May 26, 2015

Some of my favorite mnemonics:
My Very Efficient Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas (planets--this one no longer works, thanks science!)

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (order of operations)

HOMES (Great Lakes)

Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November.

Mike Is Keeping Everything Methodical

creatchee · May 26, 2015

FlowersisBritish said:
Pretty much, it's just a fancy term for talking about symbolism used by scholars who want to sound more fancy in their literary essays. Congrats Mike, glad to see your trend of weird and difficult challenges continue.

I would argue that symbolism is used to convey themes, ideas, story progression, and even spoilers (i.e. objects representative of concepts or events), whereas the objective correlative is used to instill the personal feelings or mood associated with that object of somebody inside of a story into the reader. Slight distinction, but a distinction nonetheless.

Ashes · May 26, 2015

Hamlet references in consecutive threads. Woot¬!

Sober · May 26, 2015

Cyan said:
Some of my favorite mnemonics:
My Very Efficient Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas (planets--this one no longer works, thanks science!)

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (order of operations)

HOMES (Great Lakes)

Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November.

Mike Is Keeping Everything Methodical

I just memorized the order of planets. Did you not like space growing up? Poor Cyan.

From Canada so we had BEDMAS instead.

HOMES was definitely used.

I just used my knuckles for the months/days.

I want to hear about some weird NESW ones though. I learned quite a few. Never Eat Shredded Wheat, or Never Enter Stinky Washrooms and all that.

FlowersisBritish · May 26, 2015

creatchee said:
I would argue that symbolism is used to convey themes, ideas, story progression, and even spoilers (i.e. objects representative of concepts or events), whereas the objective correlative is used to instill the personal feelings or mood associated with that object of somebody inside of a story into the reader. Slight distinction, but a distinction nonetheless.

That's always been a pet peeve of mine when you get into more deep and complicated literary analysis and all the technical elements that sometime feel required for an essay to exist in the scholarly world. You're right, there is a slight distinction, but it would still fall under the big umbrella of symbolism. That object thus becomes a symbol representing an emotion or such. It's just a term to be specific about the type of symbolism being used, when really it doesn't have to be. To use the podcasts example, it states the ANDY on woody's shoe is an object correlative to his closeness to Andy and all the emotions and things that suggest. My big problem here is you can replace "object Correlative" with "symbol" here and it would still work just fine.

Cyan · May 26, 2015

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/ed...s&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=podcasttest

Ok, now I'm pretty sure I get it.

creatchee · May 26, 2015

FlowersisBritish said:
That's always been a pet peeve of mine when you get into more deep and complicated literary analysis and all the technical elements that sometime feel required for an essay to exist in the scholarly world. You're right, there is a slight distinction, but it would still fall under the big umbrella of symbolism. That object thus becomes a symbol representing an emotion or such. It's just a term to be specific about the type of symbolism being used, when really it doesn't have to be. To use the podcasts example, it states the ANDY on woody's shoe is an object correlative to his closeness to Andy and all the emotions and things that suggest. My big problem here is you can replace "object Correlative" with "symbol" here and it would still work just fine.

Objective correlative would fall under the symbolism umbrella. But we also should consider that this is part of a challenge, and thus, Mike has a specific expectation of what he desires in secondary objective fulfillment. If he were to simply put "symbolism" as the secondary, pretty much any piece would qualify as we often use "vanilla" symbolism in just about everything we write. I think he's going for a very specific type of symbolism here in his challenge - hence, the more narrow category as opposed to a broader one. Then again, I can't speak for Mike lol

Cyan · May 26, 2015

creatchee said:
Objective correlative would fall under the symbolism umbrella. But we also should consider that this is part of a challenge, and thus, Mike has a specific expectation of what he desires in secondary subjective fulfillment. If he were to simply put "symbolism" as the secondary, pretty much any piece would qualify as we often use "vanilla" symbolism in just about everything we write. I think he's going for a very specific type of symbolism here in his challenge - hence, the more narrow category as opposed to a broader one. Then again, I can't speak for Mike lol

Yeah, that's the sense I get as well. We're going for something more specific than just symbolism here.

Mike M · May 26, 2015

I love how everything I think to be relatively straight forward for these challenges backfires horribly.

Cyan · May 26, 2015

Mike M said:
I love how everything I think to be relatively straight forward for these challenges backfires horribly.

Haha, don't worry dude, I think this one will be fun.

Mike M · May 26, 2015

Cyan said:
Haha, don't worry dude, I think this one will be fun.

Nah, I don't worry, I embrace it now.

A vote for Mike is a vote for suffering.

Cyan · May 26, 2015

Mike Is Killing Everyone Maniacally

Mike M · May 26, 2015

Cyan said:
Mike Is Killing Everyone Maniacally

Ooooh, now there's a tag...

EDIT: Aaaaand that's first draft. #GetOnMyLevel

Beaniedude · May 27, 2015

Yes!
I just had an idea! Time to whip out the jazz music.

Freeza Under The Shower · May 31, 2015

I still don't understand the secondary. So like, talking about roses directly instead of just red? (which is really not even remotely the case any more, but whatevs Shakes Speares.)

Dandy Crocodile · May 31, 2015

Zeitgeister said:
I still don't understand the secondary. So like, talking about roses directly instead of just red? (which is really not even remotely the case any more, but whatevs Shakes Speares.)

I read more examples of it. It's sort of like a symbol, but not directly stated as such. It's a tie that the reader can make to something in the story.
The name Andy on Woody's shoe in Toy Story represents Andy's love for his toys. It's important. The audience recognizes this importance and thus feels sad when it is painted over in Toy Story 2.

Another example I read was a story where a boy's brother died when he fell off the top of a grain silo. Later when the owners wanted to tear the silo down, the boy was upset because he had a sentimental attachment to the silo because he associated with his brother and what happened surrounding his death.

I'm sorry if I'm relaying this info poorly, but that was the gist I got after sifting through a ton of Hamlet references since apparently that play uses objective correlation.

Ashes · May 31, 2015

Zeitgeister said:
I still don't understand the secondary. So like, talking about roses directly instead of just red? (which is really not even remotely the case any more, but whatevs Shakes Speares.)

It's anything you wish to provoke an emotion in the audience with.

On a secondary level, it can be used to superimpose a greater comment on the human condition.

Doesn't even have to be an object, but an object makes it simpler to understand. E.g my story last week: star/star dust > "We all come from the same place" = calls for equality > There is always light shining; even in the darkest places > (context of whole story) humanity is both a destructive force & the beholder of hope.. - all which is hard to put into words without sounding like an essay, so you encapsulate in a moment of reflection / of wonderment Or some pretentious crap like that.

Whether you are successful in your endeavours as a poet/author is another story altogether.

Edit: I was gonna say, with Shakespeare, my teacher said once, that it was better to be modest and reconsider whether we have understood the material, rather than rush to be critical and risk shallow criticism. I'm paraphrasing of course; but also speaking to my 13 year old self. Because I sure as hell have no patience.

Cyan · May 31, 2015

Hangout in a little over two hours. For our newer members, every other week we hold a Google hangout where we chat a little bit and then write. Everyone is welcome, no webcams or even mics are required.

Nezumi · May 31, 2015

Not sure if I'll manage to stay awake. It has been a long week...

But I'll try my hardest.

Edit: My hardest wasn't enough. Need sleep now. See you guys next time.

Neeener · May 31, 2015

Ok... definitely not missing the hangout this week! Maybe I'll get something written before Friday this time!

Cyan · May 31, 2015

Hangout in fifteen minutes. Same link as usual, quote to see:

I'm under the weather and a little low on energy, so I'm not sure if I'll make it the full two hours. I'll give it a shot, though!

Ashes · May 31, 2015

Threads alternating weeks mean I am always going to miss these.

It was fun that one time I took part. Even if it wasn't the most productive.

Tangent · Jun 1, 2015

Congrats, Mike!!! I know I'm a bit late on sending you a congrats but I don't get around to checking our forum regularly enough! Also, I wanted to say... so you grew up in Fresno with an African Gray Parrot?!?!?!?! That is so awesome. Tell me more!!! I would like to get one... they are so awesome, beautiful, wicked smart, affectionate, etc. But I don't think I will get one just because I think it'll be faaaaar too much work and a bit too noisy.

Also, I'm chewing on the prompt and the secondary. It's actually easier for me to wrap my mind around the secondary (thanks for the grammar girl link... Cyan, I can't believe you thought she had bad glottal fry, it was so mild compared to some people!!) more than the prompt. I wish they were reversed so that the prompt was optional! Haha!

In other news, for all: dude. If you want to write full time and move to Detroit, a very up and coming hipster town, they are giving away houses to writers. The only thing you need to do is help renovate it, live in it, and write in it. http://writeahouse.com/

Mike M · Jun 1, 2015

Tangent said:
Congrats, Mike!!! I know I'm a bit late on sending you a congrats but I don't get around to checking our forum regularly enough! Also, I wanted to say... so you grew up in Fresno with an African Gray Parrot?!?!?!?! That is so awesome. Tell me more!!! I would like to get one... they are so awesome, beautiful, wicked smart, affectionate, etc. But I don't think I will get one just because I think it'll be faaaaar too much work and a bit too noisy.

Well growing up in Fresno was shit. I went back there this past January for my cousin's wedding, and it was still shit, only with more buildings. Lots of shopping centers with the same storefronts as the other shopping centers, like city development was just using cut and paste in their planning.

The parrot was a bit cantankerous, but African Grays allegedly form only one or two close relationships with people and are grouchy toward everyone else, and I guess I didn't rate.

She was noisy, but you just learned to tune that out. Anytime I had friends over, every five minutes it would be, "was that the bird?" and I'd just shrug because I hadn't heard anything.

Years later when my parents moved into their ridiculous house with its panoramic view of Puget Sound, she felt the call of the wild or something (seriously, the vet thought it might be because she could see birds and forests and stuff now) and tried laying eggs in her late 20's. She had a lot of trouble with it and the eggs would get stuck (I think she had insufficient calcium to produce shell), and sadly she eventually got an infection and died : (

In other news, for all: dude. If you want to write full time and move to Detroit, a very up and coming hipster town, they are giving away houses to writers. The only thing you need to do is help renovate it, live in it, and write in it. http://writeahouse.com/

Man, if I weren't tied down...

tirminyl · Jun 2, 2015

Cyan said:
Hangout in a little over two hours. For our newer members, every other week we hold a Google hangout where we chat a little bit and then write. Everyone is welcome, no webcams or even mics are required.

Oh this is nice! I wish I could do this but it is during work hours for me :-( (edit - didn't look at the dates, seems this happens on a Sunday)

I've been getting back into writing to do something besides housework therefore, I've been keeping an eye on these threads so that I can make a noob re-entry.

Cyan · Jun 2, 2015

tirminyl said:
Oh this is nice! I wish I could do this but it is during work hours for me :-( (edit - didn't look at the dates, seems this happens on a Sunday)

I've been getting back into writing to do something besides housework therefore, I've been keeping an eye on these threads so that I can make a noob re-entry.

Sweet, yeah, feel free to join us for the next one! Every other Sunday at 2 PM Pacific.

Tangent · Jun 3, 2015

Man my brain is mush. I can't think, nor does my brain have any sense of, "You should think about this writing prompt." *gasp*

Cyan said:
I'm under the weather and a little low on energy, so I'm not sure if I'll make it the full two hours. I'll give it a shot, though!

Hope it was fun. And hope you're feeling better!

Mike M said:
Well growing up in Fresno was shit. I went back there this past January for my cousin's wedding, and it was still shit, only with more buildings. Lots of shopping centers with the same storefronts as the other shopping centers, like city development was just using cut and paste in their planning.

Strip mall cut-and-paste cities are so ugly and pedestrian unfriendly. Boo! But they're EVERYwhere!

Mike M said:
She was noisy, but you just learned to tune that out. Anytime I had friends over, every five minutes it would be, "was that the bird?" and I'd just shrug because I hadn't heard anything.

That must have made it helpful for when your kid was really little and you tried to get a good night's sleep.

Mike M said:
Years later when my parents moved into their ridiculous house with its panoramic view of Puget Sound, she felt the call of the wild or something (seriously, the vet thought it might be because she could see birds and forests and stuff now) and tried laying eggs in her late 20's. She had a lot of trouble with it and the eggs would get stuck (I think she had insufficient calcium to produce shell), and sadly she eventually got an infection and died : (

That's so fascinating. Sorry about the sad ending, though.

I one time took my indoor furball outside, in Seattle, on a windy day...and she was NOT into it. I put her on the grass and she was not into that either. I think the elements of nature was just so impractical to her. She made the funniest sides of disapproval though.

Mike M said:
Man, if I weren't tied down...

Maybe the whole family can move!

Ashes · Jun 3, 2015

At around three thousand. But it doesn't feel like the right size. Gonna go revise it down. But it will have to be ineligible if for a hundred or so words I reckon.

3,452 to be exact

Beaniedude · Jun 4, 2015

My entry:

Detective Dirk Lomborg and the Case of the Mysterious Lines

The password is of course

neogaf

.

And it is best enjoyed with this music playing in the background.

I really wanted to do some Noir fiction but it just kept on going on and on and on and on and on so I had to cull a lot of unnecessary fluff that wasn't important to the plot. Of course in doing so I lose a lot of the monologue of our titular detective and it becomes less of a Noir detective story (some brilliant examples being this) and more of a 1st person detective story.

Still that's why I like the word limits because it makes me edit my stories with a garden shear. I have to make everything count and can't go on long tangents for no reason.

mu cephei · Jun 4, 2015

I have an idea. I won't know if I'll manage to work in the secondary until I start writing, though.

Keleesto · Jun 4, 2015

Traegen

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u83jis509ca3f2t/Traegen.docx?dl=0

FlowersisBritish · Jun 5, 2015

Ah man, people are starting to post theirs... I guess I better get off my ass and edit it down.

Tangent · Jun 5, 2015

I'm just thinking out loud... would it be possible that a mnemonic -- if used often enough -- could almost become a ritual, that loses its meaning until one is reminded of the significance of the play on words, action, or visual? I'm thinking of something like a Seder dinner where each song or each food item has significance. But if you're not reminded of that, you'd just go through the motions.

Mike M · Jun 5, 2015

Tangent said:
I'm just thinking out loud... would it be possible that a mnemonic -- if used often enough -- could almost become a ritual, that loses its meaning until one is reminded of the significance of the play on words, action, or visual? I'm thinking of something like a Seder dinner where each song or each food item has significance. But if you're not reminded of that, you'd just go through the motions.

Sedars are agonizing.

I just want to eat, god damn it.

Tangent · Jun 5, 2015

Mike M said:
Sedars are agonizing.

I just want to eat, god damn it.

But with the right person leading the guests, it can be AWESOME! Just ask Cyan's sister if you ever get the chance. And just drink enough wine to make it through all the stories and discussion.

Anyway, what do you think of the question? Am I confusing two completely different concepts or is it true that mnemonics can sort of become rituals? Man, I think the primary is soooooo much harder than the secondary!

FlowersisBritish said:
Ah man, people are starting to post theirs... I guess I better get off my ass and edit it down.

Oh c'mon! If your ass is already in the editing phase, pat yourself on the back!

Freeza Under The Shower · Jun 5, 2015

Tangent said:
Oh c'mon! If your ass is already in the editing phase, pat yourself on the back!

maybe you could use a mnemonic for how to work with deadlines.

as could I

Tangent · Jun 5, 2015

Zeitgeister said:
maybe you could use a mnemonic for how to work with deadlines.

as could I

Yeah seriously I could TOTALLY use a mnemonic for deadlines. If you think of one, just lemme know. I HATE this phase where I'm trying to come up with an idea and I feel like minutes are racing by unproductively. OK, I just put it out there: it's true, I don't have an idea yet! Argh!

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