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NeoGAF Creative Writing Challenge #132 - "Wrong Place, Wrong Time"

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C

Cyan

Banned
Theme: Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Word Limit: 1400

Submission Deadline: Friday, December 13th o_O, by 11:59 p.m. Pacific

Voting begins Saturday, December 14th, and goes until Monday, December 16th at 11:59 PM Pacific.

Optional Secondary Objective: Setting Revisit
Revisit a setting (a place or time, know what I mean?) you have used before. This could be a whole world or universe if you're writing sff, or a historical period, or a single country or town. You are free to reuse characters as well, though you may want some new ones to keep things fresh. Up to you.


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
 
C

Cyan

Banned
Sure I'm a fan of long word counts, but I think we might need a bit of a break from that after NaNo, amirite? :p

Let's get going, ladies and gents!
 
N

Nezumi

Member
Yeah! I have to say I really missed the challenges. Nano was great and everything but also really stressful. So coming back here feels kind of like coming home from a wild night out.

Love the theme and the secondary, though I have to restrain myself from writing yet another story about my troop of Goblins. No matter how good that theme would fit for what I have in mind for them. I still have some other settings and characters that deserve a second chance I guess.

GRW810 said:
Welcome back CWC! About time I got back involved with it...
Click to expand...

Long time no see. Looking forward to reading your stuff again :)
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
Huh. Dunno why I never entered these threads. Is the theme just a vague concept to interpret, or is it something more specific?
 
N

Nezumi

Member
Ourobolus said:
Huh. Dunno why I never entered these threads. Is the theme just a vague concept to interpret, or is it something more specific?
Click to expand...

You can interpret it anyway you like it, but if you are too vague people might take that into account while voting.
 
S

SquiddyCracker

Banned
Aww, just realized it was only 1400 words.
It's nice to write something short, but it's tricky picking a story that can be properly told in that length.

Got a couple of ideas:

Mind upload gone wrong.
Quasar burst disables a ship's fastlight engine, leaving it to aimlessly wander in real space for eons to reach civilization.
A baseline Hom becomes the plaything of an enigmatic being.
 
P

Pau

Member
Got quite a bit of writing to do for school, but considering that I dropped out of NaNo, I've got no excuse! D:
 
P

potam

Banned
this thread is fucking stupid

edit: oops, wrong thread. I guess you could say I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time....


CupiM.gif
 
M

Mike M

Nick N
Only one person is likely to be familiar with the setting of mine, and he hasn't even poked his head in this thread yet, so I might be playing to an empty room.
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
Ok, not gonna lie, I was hoping this thread was ridiculously active.

Please don't ban me. I'm aching for a review and possibly a little drunk.
 
T

toddhunter

Member
Ourobolus said:
Ok, not gonna lie, I was hoping this thread was ridiculously active.

Please don't ban me. I'm aching for a review and possibly a little drunk.
Click to expand...

You will generally get no action or reviews until after the deadline. Once it is passed, everybody will start writing, submit something and the reviews will flow.

So it'll get there.
 
M

Mike M

Nick N
Ourobolus said:
Ok, not gonna lie, I was hoping this thread was ridiculously active.

Please don't ban me. I'm aching for a review and possibly a little drunk.
Click to expand...
Flurry of activity when it starts, dead until five minutes past the deadline when everyone actually posts, then a trickle until Tuesday morning when the cycle begins anew.
 
C

Cyan

Banned
Whew, just did my first submission to a short story market in quite a while. Sent a story to Clarkesworld. They're very picky so my hopes aren't high, but I'm glad to be getting something moving again. :)
 
N

Nezumi

Member
Cyan said:
Whew, just did my first submission to a short story market in quite a while. Sent a story to Clarkesworld. They're very picky so my hopes aren't high, but I'm glad to be getting something moving again. :)
Click to expand...

That's awesome and I wish you good luck.

Managed to finish my story a bit ahead of the deadline this time, so I can go back to concentrate on my nano-novel. I had planned on doing the secondary but during a game of Netrunner whilst listening to the Hotline Miami soundtrack this story kind of popped into my head and I decided to go with it.

The Itch ~ 1200 words
Password:
 
S

Sober

Member
Cyan said:
Whew, just did my first submission to a short story market in quite a while. Sent a story to Clarkesworld. They're very picky so my hopes aren't high, but I'm glad to be getting something moving again. :)
Click to expand...
Gone out and do any readings Cyan? Open mic or otherwise?
 
M

Mike M

Nick N
I do open mic every once in a while. I just get up there and do deadpan readings of stupid anecdotes I made up about the time I met Batman.

Personally I think they're terrible, but it gets a decent response.
 
W

weemadarthur

Member
Ourobolus said:
Well, I gave it a shot. Probably only a rough draft, but here it is.

Going Down

Quote for password. Let me know if it's not working, my wife seemed to be having issues asking it.


This is my first attempt, so I don't have any settings to revisit. :p
Click to expand...

Interesting concept. I like the twist.

Some of the setting in the old building feels mis-aged. Elevators in the 50s wouldn't likely have light-up buttons. I wouldn't expect redwood to be used in a trendy design setting, it was more common to reduce natural materials and colors. All the concepts feel weird for something as industrial as a power plant.

Needs more clarity at B3 to show the elevator isn't stuck between floors. I wasn't sure.
 
P

Pau

Member
Mike M said:
I do open mic every once in a while. I just get up there and do deadpan readings of stupid anecdotes I made up about the time I met Batman.

Personally I think they're terrible, but it gets a decent response.
Click to expand...
I'd watch this.
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
weemadarthur said:
Interesting concept. I like the twist.

Some of the setting in the old building feels mis-aged. Elevators in the 50s wouldn't likely have light-up buttons. I wouldn't expect redwood to be used in a trendy design setting, it was more common to reduce natural materials and colors. All the concepts feel weird for something as industrial as a power plant.

Needs more clarity at B3 to show the elevator isn't stuck between floors. I wasn't sure.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I wrote it in like half an hour so I didn't do much research. I was trying to think of some sort of building that would have multiple floors underground, since I felt going up wouldn't have the same effect (like it being pitch black on B2. Above ground would probably have residual light sources even if everything is turned off). I'll have to make some edits.
 
E

EdibleKnife

Member
Zealots (Rated R)

Cutting it extremely close with 1382 words according to the FAQs word count tool. Quick and dirty thing that's been festering in my head since the topic was made.
This is my first creative writing project since ~3 years now and my only short story submitted publicly. I feel like I gave it an honest shot.
Please critique because I need it. I really want to start writing more and work my way to a novel.
Now that I'm done, the drive to write has revved up in me. I'm certainly going to do more short stories.

Quote for Password:
 
T

ThLunarian

Member
Crap, I only just now saw this thread. Though I guess it wouldn't have mattered, since I've been consumed by studying for finals for the past week or so.

It's going to be tight, but I'll try to whip something up before the deadline.
 
M

Mike M

Nick N
ThLunarian said:
Crap, I only just now saw this thread. Though I guess it wouldn't have mattered, since I've been consumed by studying for finals for the past week or so.

It's going to be tight, but I'll try to whip something up before the deadline.
Click to expand...

And that's why you sub to the threads!

I made a revision pass last night, went from 900 words to ~1350. It's far from high art, but my brain is drowning in fatigue toxins from not being able to sleep a full night's sleep in two years or so.
 
T

ThLunarian

Member
Mike M said:
And that's why you sub to the threads!
Click to expand...

Can't sub to it if I never actually see it originally :p It was never on the front page for me. Unless there's some functionality I'm not aware of, in which case I would love to be made aware.

Already have an idea brewing, but the word count may be an issue for this concept. Will think on it at the gym.
 
M

Mike M

Nick N
ThLunarian said:
Can't sub to it if I never actually see it originally :p It was never on the front page for me. Unless there's some functionality I'm not aware of, in which case I would love to be made aware.

Already have an idea brewing, but the word count may be an issue for this concept. Will think on it at the gym.
Click to expand...
If you'd subbed to the last thread, you'd have seen it bumped w/the link to this one :p
 
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