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NeoGAF Creative Writing Challenge #184 - "The Beat"

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M

Mike M

Nick N
Theme - "The Beat"

Word Limit: 2300

Submission Deadline: Friday, Mar 12th by 11:59 PM Pacific.

Voting begins Saturday, Mar 13th, and goes until Monday, Mar 14th at 11:59 PM Pacific.

Optional Secondary Objective: Musical and/or lyrical inspiration

Pick a song or piece of music and see if you can't find an element about it that kindles the idea for a story in your mind. You needn't hide it from anyone else, nor do you have to say what it is. It can be fun to try and guess, just as knowing could deepen the reader's understanding. The choice is yours.

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
 
F

felon

Neo Member
Let's make it happen! Digging that word limit, by the way. Interesting theme and objective, too.
 
A

Ashes

Banned
Good luck folks. I'm out. Need a break from Gaf and also would like to get back to reading novels.
 
C

Cyan

Banned
Oh it's already up, I didn't even see the link at first. Cool, this should be fun. Now how to fit spaceships in here...

Ashes said:
Good luck folks. I'm out. Need a break from Gaf and also would like to get back to reading novels.
Click to expand...

We'll be waiting for you! :)
 
N

Nezumi

Member
I'm sure you meant to write "Space Oddity"...

Edit: On second though I might change my usual playlist to true metal and write a story about Templars or the Power of Steel...
 
R

Red

Member
Mike M said:
You're pretty much obligated to do Rocket Man.
Click to expand...
Fly me to the moon, Cyan. Realize a space boy dream. Are you already looking for astronauts? The bravest starman might make it 2000 light years from home. And when the space race is over and we're done putting people on the moon, those astronauts might return from their own dark star only to find a black hole sun. And that's what we call a total eclipse of the heart.
 
M

MilkBeard

Member
Damn, y'all beat me to it. I can't, for the life of me, beat a word out of my skull. I'm just beating a dead h....no, I won't say that one.
 
M

MilkBeard

Member
No, seriously though, I'm gonna have to employ a think tank. Nothing's coming yet.


We got the beat
we got the beat
we got the beat
yeah
 
C

Cyan

Banned
Continuing a conversation from the old thread:
izunadono said:
I'm 23, I hope it isn't too late to actually "learn".
Click to expand...
It's never too late to learn, but if you really want to get better...
I've never read anything other than what I needed to in school, which is like 3 books.
Click to expand...
Reading is a huge part of the learning process. Reading great writers, or good writers, or even middling writers is important. Experiencing their words and their stories, seeing what can be done with tone and tempo and structure and character and imagery and, and, and. Picking up the things that work for you, discarding the things that don't, getting a bone-deep understanding of how and why these writers do the things they do. Analyzing as you go, or just taking the chance to enjoy someone else's work and refill your creative well.

Read broadly, and deeply. Read things that you can learn from, things that you love, things that challenge you, things that are old friends. Read.
 
I

Izuna

Banned
I suffer from feeling like it's too late. That sort of thinking perpetuates my ineptitude, but it's all I know.

Like muscle memory, I procrastinate while imagining ambition. Before I can begin working, fatigue reaches for my chest and straps me down.

I cower under my sheets. When that happens, I imagine being in pain. Pain, that others notice.

It worsens when my brain runs a second pass, and deduces that I am pretending that people care. Simultaneously, I am made aware of the lack of attention in reality. That it is happening in that moment, and no one witnesses my tears. Only the microorganisms, or perhaps the insect, that can only perceive me to be a bundle of matter that is functionally broken.

Suicide is never considered. Blocked by the recent memory of an unsuccessful attempt.

I reach for my phone, as my tablet's screen is too cracked for low light, and being to pout out my feelings... my identity, into a story.

Hoping that, at some vector on this Earth, is a Gaffer who appreciates the fruition of that translation.

But that cipher, never understood.

A cry for help.

To require the footprints of another's mind is to accept the scary, dark truth... That 23 years of pain translates into unlessness.

I refuse to read.

And while that is the antithesis of accepting help, I would rather leave a broken message that eventually withers into nothingness, then to not even create a minute ripple in the sea of humanity. Without a secure boat, I will soon sink into the deeper parts, until the day I fall through the cracks into hell itself.

...

Huggles...
 
M

MilkBeard

Member
Izuna, I recommend going to the 'What are you reading?' and 'What books inspired you?' threads. Find a book there that seems interesting and just go to town. There were a lot of good books mentioned in those threads.

I see, you say you refuse to read. If only you find a writer that you really resonate with, it might change your mind.
 
I

Izuna

Banned
It's not really a conscious choice like I make it out to be, it's just that the association of education or skill development reminds me of the unfairness that caused me to miss out on College at the height of me putting in effort. I have to be very careful not to feel that way because it stops me from being able to do anything.

I should probably hush until counselling the next day.
 
N

Nezumi

Member
izunadono said:
It's not really a conscious choice like I make it out to be, it's just that the association of education or skill development reminds me of the unfairness that caused me to miss out on College at the height of me putting in effort. I have to be very careful not to feel that way because it stops me from being able to do anything.

I should probably hush until counselling the next day.
Click to expand...

Erm, you know the awesome thing about reading is that even when you read something just for fun you'll still take something away from it. Stop thinking about it as a chore. Books, or stories, are wonderful things.
 
C

Cyan

Banned
TI82 said:
Cool, thanks!
Click to expand...

You can more or less do it how you want as long as it's not too hard for others to read. A long post here is perfectly fine, it just means you've already published the work as far as anyone who would pay you for fiction is concerned.
 
I

Izuna

Banned
Nezumi said:
Erm, you know the awesome thing about reading is that even when you read something just for fun you'll still take something away from it. Stop thinking about it as a chore. Books, or stories, are wonderful things.
Click to expand...

As with anything.
 
F

Freeza Under The Shower

Member
Nezumi said:
I feel like a writer that doesn't read is like a musician that doesn't listen to music.
Click to expand...

Nothing a little autotune won't fix!

But seriously, there is an actual argument to be made in favor of reading not being required. Since a story is basically just a series of beats, if you know the beat pattern you don't necessarily need the more eloquent language. I mean, we do live in a age of fan fiction entertainment beating out the original works. People make a career out of that shit now. So if the man don't wanna read, he don't wanna read. I don't read much other than non-fiction either btw, though I cheat by listening to the writing of movies and shows of course. I can tell the difference in quality, even if I don't read many novels. ( I should admit that I obviously do know the classical Greek myths and plays and read a lot more fiction as a kid, so it think knowing the beat goes to 'sufficient training' rather than 'continuously training' )
That said, writers who don't read clearly show it in their lackluster language and lack of search for a better representation of perception, which is what this ultimately is all about (and this is where continued training comes in). How do we describe thing as simple as a rock? How would you describe a rock anyway? A sharp daft black shape? A rounded grey pebble with green stains to demonstrate its conquest on the passage of time - still here! - ? And so on.

(the example of describing a rock comes from Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance, which is really a wonderful novel in its own right. Very... typical, yet trying to be non-typical, for the babyboomer generation's outset to life, the universe, and everything too)

(reference to 'beat' is intentional :D )
 
R

Red

Member
Francine Prose's Reading Like a Writer is a good place to begin for anyone who aspires to write but has trouble settling down with a book. I'm of mixed feeling on how helpful Prose's specific advice is, but I agree completely with the general idea.
 
M

MilkBeard

Member
Crunched said:
Francine Prose's Reading Like a Writer is a good place to begin for anyone who aspires to write but has trouble settling down with a book. I'm of mixed feeling on how helpful Prose's specific advice is, but I agree completely with the general idea.
Click to expand...

I picked up Sudden Fiction (Continued) from the library based on your earlier recommendation and I'm going to give it a read. At some point I'll probably work my way to some of these other books as well.
 
R

Red

Member
MilkBeard said:
I picked up Sudden Fiction (Continued) from the library based on your earlier recommendation and I'm going to give it a read. At some point I'll probably work my way to some of these other books as well.
Click to expand...

Continued is a sequel of sorts, haven't read it myself but I hope it helps you out!
 
R

Red

Member
From the last thread:
Ashes said:
Nice.

Personally, I've stopped buying books I don't read... finally! The thing about buying books., digitally, at least, that nobody talks about, is that the guilt is reduced. You know... I don't get to see all those books I've bought and will never actually get to read. :/
Click to expand...

I have a lot of digital books I never get to. I forget about them. My Kindle Paperwhite is sitting on my nightstand and I've charged it twice since last reading anything. But I'm always reading books from my library, or listening to books on Audible. I don't know how much I've spent, but a lot of the books in my library are from used bookstores. Typically <$5 a book. I don't enjoy everything I read, but I think there is value in the act itself.

With the Kindle, I go through spurts where I'll read three or four books very quickly and then not touch it for months. Whispersync is very cool though. When I read The Brothers Karamazov, I could listen to Audible narration on my phone and it would pick up wherever I left off on the Kindle.
 
N

Nezumi

Member
Even though I think there is nothing more beautiful than shelves filled with rows upon rows of books I still love my Kindle to death. I just don't have the space for analog books anymore and my dust allergy thanks me for it as well. I just upgraded to the voyage since I accidentally knelt on my old one whereupon it became only capable of displaying abstract art...
 
M

Mike M

Nick N
I'm trying to like Audible. The discounts on the books I already have on my Kindle are nice, but I have trouble convincing myself to double dip.

Now if it was a combo pack with whisper sync, that'd be a steal.
 
R

Red

Member
The books I've double dipped have only cost me $1 for the second copy with the whispersync discount. I only wish the selection was bigger.

I have the $15/mo audible membership. I typically use my monthly credit and that's it, but I sometimes dig through the $5 sales. And the occasional free books are always nice. I also love that they allow returns for any reason within a year of purchase. It's a great service.

Their Great Courses selection adds a lot of value I think.
 
M

MilkBeard

Member
I'm definitely going to have to look into getting a kindle, what with moving and all. I like reading physical books, but lugging them around is a pain. Library and Kindle are going to be my friends in the near future.
 
N

Nezumi

Member
Yes, one credit a month and when you don't use it they just add up. I have never paid more than my monthly subscription fee on audible. I'm also pretty sure we have talked about this before ;)

MilkBeard said:
I'm definitely going to have to look into getting a kindle, what with moving and all. I like reading physical books, but lugging them around is a pain. Library and Kindle are going to be my friends in the near future.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind spending a little bit more I can highly recommend the voyage.
 
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