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NeoGAF Creative Writing Challenge #136 - "Reversal of Fortune"

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A

Aaron

Member
Theme - "Reversal of Fortune"
Sometimes good things go bad, and sometimes the worst turn out all right. But it's best when you get out of a bad situation by sinking some bastard who deserves it.

Word Limit: 2,000

Submission Deadline: Saturday, Feb. 8th by 11:59 AM Pacific.
Voting begins Saturday, Feb. 8th, and goes until Tuesday, Feb. 11th at 11:59 AM Pacific.

*Note the time changes. Things come due at noon in US PST for this challenge. I thought this minor change might help more people finish, and make it easier for them to critique. We'll see how it goes, and if it makes things worse, we can change it back.

Optional Secondary Objective: There's a yam in my office.
I don't know which of my co-workers brought it in or why, but it's been sitting on the windowsill, raw and unpeeled, for several days now. All I know is it doesn't belong there. So take a gander around your old familiar places, and find something that doesn't really fit, and include it somehow in your story. Or use the concept of something out of place.

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.
- Please read the first page of 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
 
N

Nezumi

Member
I like the new deadline already. No more sleepless nights to finish a story before 9am for me.

If I manage to clear my thoughts long enough to actually come up with something to write that is.
 
G

GRW810

Member
8pm GMT? As a UK resident I approve this change!

Congratulations on the win Aaron and great theme and secondary objective.

As a side note, what did everyone who participated think of Cyan's word count experiment? Was it liberating or terrifying?
 
C

Chainsawkitten

Member
GRW810 said:
8pm GMT? As a UK resident I approve this change!

Congratulations on the win Aaron and great theme and secondary objective.

As a side note, what did everyone who participated think of Cyan's word count experiment? Was it liberating or terrifying?
Click to expand...

"Unlimited word count? What a perfect opportunity to do poetry!" Not much of an effect on me. I usually end up below the limit anyways and this time I didn't even get to 500 words.
 
A

Ashes

Banned
No offense to cyan, but I found it contradictory. We had one part motivating immediacy, and another that left the garden gate open so to speak. The aims for the beginning and ending were thus at odds with one another,

Most stories could had done better with tighter reigns. Including my own.
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
GRW810 said:
As a side note, what did everyone who participated think of Cyan's word count experiment? Was it liberating or terrifying?
Click to expand...

I wasn't much of a fan, to be honest. The word count limits force me to write more carefully, but with the limit gone, plus the added requirement of needing to grab the reader almost immediately, they seemed at odds with each other.

It might be better with a different secondary objective, but I'm not sure.

As for this one, congrats, Aaron!

I think I have an idea. Gonna go for something more humorous and somewhat upbeat this time. All of my stories so far have been either depressing or downright weird.
Carlisle said:
I think I will try this this time. Looks like fun and I need to keep writing!
Click to expand...

'bout goddamn time you got in here!
 
L

lastflowers

Banned
Ourobolus said:
downright weird.
Click to expand...

that is the key to life.

Maybe i'll make a comeback this time. Was too busy playing counterstrike to write last time.


EDIT: Definitely making a comeback. No clue whether my kernel of an idea will work out well, but it's fun to write it nonetheless. It won't be as mind-bending the Buzz-o the Bee and his deep wanderings into the frightening nightmare of deflowering.
 
A

Ashes

Banned
Having said the above, the last challenge was pretty fun though. :p
You can always trust Cyan to take a gamble with a challenge or two,
 
G

GRW810

Member
So, anyone want to describe their own creative process from reading the prompt to submitting a story? Do you make notes, create spider diagrams, bullet points, write an outline? Do you put the prompt through a search engine, dictionary or thesaurus for inspiration? How many drafts or edits do you tend to go through before the deadline?

I'm trying to be more organised in my approach so I can fully plan an idea from start to finish. I usually start by thinking of terms or scenarios related to the keywords of the prompt and try to conceive at least half a dozen one-sentence premises to choose from.

Beyond that, I'm lucky if I manage to get something written at all, but if I do I try to re-draft it at least once to give it a polish.
 
M

Mike M

Nick N
GRW810 said:
So, anyone want to describe their own creative process from reading the prompt to submitting a story? Do you make notes, create spider diagrams, bullet points, write an outline? Do you put the prompt through a search engine, dictionary or thesaurus for inspiration? How many drafts or edits do you tend to go through before the deadline?

I'm trying to be more organised in my approach so I can fully plan an idea from start to finish. I usually start by thinking of terms or scenarios related to the keywords of the prompt and try to conceive at least half a dozen one-sentence premises to choose from.

Beyond that, I'm lucky if I manage to get something written at all, but if I do I try to re-draft it at least once to give it a polish.
Click to expand...

I usually come up with an idea and just plow ahead, and do a new draft/revision every time I reread it as time allows.

This week I'm really struggling. Thought I had something, but it's not working out,
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
GRW810 said:
So, anyone want to describe their own creative process from reading the prompt to submitting a story? Do you make notes, create spider diagrams, bullet points, write an outline? Do you put the prompt through a search engine, dictionary or thesaurus for inspiration? How many drafts or edits do you tend to go through before the deadline?

I'm trying to be more organised in my approach so I can fully plan an idea from start to finish. I usually start by thinking of terms or scenarios related to the keywords of the prompt and try to conceive at least half a dozen one-sentence premises to choose from.

Beyond that, I'm lucky if I manage to get something written at all, but if I do I try to re-draft it at least once to give it a polish.
Click to expand...

I basically just wait until an idea pops in my head, write down a few notes so I remember it, and go from there. The hardest part for me is coming up with an ending.

Once I actually sit down I typically finish the story in one sitting. I probably should do more editing, but I tend to over-analyze what I write and end up probably causing more harm than good to the plot. So for now I just do some quick spelling and grammar checks, followed by some continuity checks, and let it fly.
 
E

evilpigking

Member
Been awhile since I did one of these. Kinda rough because I wanted to get something down rather then sit and think and not do anything per usual.

He's in the details

1994 words

Usual password I guess.

First time since the change from not just pasting in a post so...let me know if it doesn't work.

Just musing on the piece probably best read after even though they don't have anything to do with the actual story content per se.
Unfortunately I didn't leave myself much room to flesh out the part that was the inspiration for the whole piece so if it seems kinda abrupt, it's because it is. I did more character backstory and setting up the situation then actually focusing on the mechanic the story is based around which was supposed to be the centerpiece. So life goes.
 
C

Cyan

Banned
GRW810 said:
So, anyone want to describe their own creative process from reading the prompt to submitting a story? Do you make notes, create spider diagrams, bullet points, write an outline? Do you put the prompt through a search engine, dictionary or thesaurus for inspiration? How many drafts or edits do you tend to go through before the deadline?

I'm trying to be more organised in my approach so I can fully plan an idea from start to finish. I usually start by thinking of terms or scenarios related to the keywords of the prompt and try to conceive at least half a dozen one-sentence premises to choose from.

Beyond that, I'm lucky if I manage to get something written at all, but if I do I try to re-draft it at least once to give it a polish.
Click to expand...

In the middle of my process right now.

Typically it goes:
-get a vague idea
-flesh out the idea a little bit in my mind (and chatting with my sister)
-wait until the last second and then write it in a panic
-post it while feeling vaguely guilty about having not written it sooner

Currently I'm on step two. Will probably get to step three Friday night-ish.

:p
 
G

GRW810

Member
Got 1500 words down in one sitting last week but I started a new job this week and it's been full on exhausting. Was planning to finish my story on Friday evening but I've just remembered I'm travelling five hours on Friday evening for a Saturday morning wedding. So it's tonight or nothing, but I'm feeling good about it. Glad to be getting my teeth stuck into these challenges again.

EDIT: Thanks for the responses about your techniques and approaches to story planning, I found them interesting. It's good to see people don't just slap the keyboard until they reach a word count and then submit whatever they've got.
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
Ugh, did not get as much writing done as I wanted to yesterday.
At first I was feeling this story, now, not so much :/
 
A

Aaron

Member
Golden Eyes and Bloody Tears:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/61429030/Golden Eyes.pdf

password:
neogaf

My writing process for this and most stories is starting with a single image, and spinning it off, pondering what sort of world it suggests, and what sort of characters that world would produce. I might take older ideas that never ended up used anywhere else and clump them in where it fits, until I have a vague idea of a narrative line. Then I'll try starting it. Usually I have to make a few passes at the opening scene before I know it's the right place to start, changing up the characters and the the place in the story. For this one, I wrote two entirely different openings, and maybe a half dozen variants total. Though all this discarded writing is useful because it helps me to explore the world and characters, and really get concrete with the more vague ideas.

This story was a bit unusual because I wrote most of it in one sitting. Probably would have finished it right then if I had the time to. Then I read it out loud to myself to adjust how the details sounded, and cut out a paragraph to get it within the word count. The idea for this piece is much longer, and probably would run about 10k if I finished it.
 
L

lastflowers

Banned
mmm, nearly done. It's...uh...interesting, though not quite as obtuse as Buzz the Bee. It's still an exploratory exercise, but will hopefully be some fun to whoever reads it :)
 
M

Mike M

Nick N
Mine was so dumb, it was completely unworkable, so I ended up writing a story about how dumb the idea was.
 
T

Tangent

Member
Wow, this felt like the hardest prompt we've had yet.

"Meal Ticket"

I soooooo appreciated the new deadline time. It changed my life.

My writing process:
- brainstorm a list of 10 - 20 ideas
- discuss some of them with one particular friend good at at processing story ideas
- mull over a few of the ideas for a couple of days and hope that one of them -- or a new one -- will capture my interest
- force myself to write out something with what I have
- tell myself, "Next time, I will leave more time for editing and multiple drafts."
- turn in whatever I have very close to the deadline.
 
M

Mike M

Nick N
Mused
1804 words, usual password

Writing process:

-Crank something out right away.
-Hate it every time I read it and edit it repeatedly right up until deadline.
-Rage that people who just throw something together at the last minute beat me out consistently : P
 
C

Cyan

Banned
FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU not even halfway done. Not gonna make the revised deadline. :/

But fuck it, this time I'm actually going to finish the damn story.

Tangent said:
- discuss some of them with one particular friend good at at processing story ideas
Click to expand...
I do this one too. :p

- tell myself, "Next time, I will leave more time for editing and multiple drafts."
- turn in whatever I have very close to the deadline.
Click to expand...
And these. Heh.
 
W

Ward

Member
I Used to LIke the Guy, but He’s kind of a Dick
1148 words


The prompt usually generates an idea. It may be a scene, a character, or dialog.
If an idea doesn't strike, I use one of the ideas that's been floating in my head for a while.

I used to finish writing early, then sit on it waiting to edit before I submit.

Now I write something halfway then forget about the challenge. Broke the streak and actually submitted this week.
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
Dammit. This wasn't a good week. Had an idea, but it just wasn't working out. Ugh. I'll have to double my efforts next week.
 
G

Gattsu25

Banned
Ugh. I didn't see this thread thanks to the power outage in my area. Finally got power+interwebs back online :\
 
C

Carlisle

Member
Last Day
1,967 words

Woo, my first submission! Thought I'd missed the deadline, and then I realized it was Pacific time! What a relief. Still cut it insanely close, but I'm happy with it.

As for my writing process, I started with the theme, which gave me a general idea for a plot and an introduction right away. But I had no idea how I wanted it to end or how to get there until I just hammered out the introduction and got caught in the momentum. It came pretty organically after that. Though it did take me several sittings before I finished it.

Then I had my wife proofread and we did some editing together and here I am trying to get this post finished in the next 10 minutes!
 
E

evilpigking

Member
10 minutes guys!

Put something down like

"Dan really wanted to tell a great story. He had the outline in his head and it was going to be the best work he'd written yet. Dan sat down to type his masterpiece and worked himself into his moment of zen, that moment of clarity and peace that let him pound out his last three bestsellers at Stephen King speed. Dan's eyes snapped open, there were ripples in the pond. What disturbed the serene reflection of his mind lake? Dan waded out to the middle of the pool and picked up the small stone culprit. His fingers brushed a rough engraving on the underside of the stone that marred it's otherwise polished surface. Slowly rolling the stone over between his fingers Dan looked at the marking and sighed.

"12:00 pm"

His bestseller would have to wait for another day.
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
Bill sat at the computer, hoping for something to come to him. He had it all, a fantastic wife, plenty of money, and all the time in the world to do whatever he wanted. All he wanted to do right now, however, was write a fucking story.

Suddenly his house blew up.
His wife in ashes, his stockpile of money in tatters, he cried a little. It was the worst possible thing that could have happened.

At least the potato in his office was finally cooked.
 
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