• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

NeoGAF Creative Writing Challenge #213 - "Utopia"

mu cephei

Member
Congrats on the win, choodi and John Dunbar.

The problem i've been having is Utopia's are happy and I refuse to be happy :mad:

I was thinking of writing about a person with depression imagining life without it, where an ordinary day would seem like utopia.
But it doesn't have enough space ships.
 

Alucard

Banned
Congrats on the win, choodi and John Dunbar.



I was thinking of writing about a person with depression imagining life without it, where an ordinary day would seem like utopia.
But it doesn't have enough space ships.

Needs more talking bears too.
 

Afrocious

Member
I have about 200 words. I have a story in mind, but it's been difficult sitting to write. I've been trying to fix my sleep schedule :/
 
I just couldn't get myself to writing anything proper this time. It was like "Hey, you should think of something" but then I'd rather do something else. Well, here is the consequence #entry, inspired by the discussion in here.

_______________________________________

utopia
noun
An imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect.
‘misplaced faith in political utopias has led to ruin’
The opposite of dystopia
‘a romantic vision of Utopia’​
~~Oxford Dictionary


A utopia (/juːˈtoʊpiə/ yoo-TOH-pee-ə) is an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens. The opposite of a utopia is a dystopia. One could also say that utopia is a perfect 'place' that has been made so there are no problems.

Utopian ideals often place emphasis on egalitarian principles of equality in economics, government and justice, though by no means exclusively, with the method and structure of proposed implementation varying based on ideology. According to Lyman Tower Sargent "[t]here are socialist, capitalist, monarchical, democratic, anarchist, ecological, feminist, patriarchal, egalitarian, hierarchical, racist, left-wing, right-wing, reformist, free love, nuclear family, extended family, gay, lesbian, and many more utopias".[1]

The term has been used to describe intentional communities.​

~~Wikipedia


Etymology
From New Latin Ūtopia, the name of a fictional island possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system in the book Utopia (1516) by Sir Thomas More. Coined from Ancient Greek οὐ (ou, “not, no”) + τόπος (tópos, “place, region”) (English topos) + Latin -ia/Ancient Greek -ία (-ía), -εια (-eia) (English -ia).​

Pronunciation
(UK) IPA(key): /juˈtəʊpɪə/
(US) IPA(key): /juˈtoʊpi.ə/​

Noun
utopia (countable and uncountable, plural utopias)
A world in which everything and everyone works in perfect harmony.​

Antonyms
dystopia​
~~Wictionary


Utopia, an ideal commonwealth whose inhabitants exist under seemingly perfect conditions. Hence utopian and utopianism are words used to denote visionary reform that tends to be impossibly idealistic.​
~~Encyclopedia Britannica


A place where time is unlimited and motivation is plenty; where people happily live together and work is done on a voluntary basis; where everybody can do what he/she likes to do, not what they have to; where I get shit done on weekends or after work instead of lazily binging the second season of Better Call Saul.​
~~Royal_Flush


.

..

...

*sigh*

#entry

_______________________________________
 

FlowersisBritish

fleurs n'est pas britannique
Well i dod something weird and made a honest to god plot outline (ive been trying to be more organized lately) so ill have a fun time writing this in the middle of the night.
 
#entry

My World Ends With You (2,500 words)

I apologize ahead of time. I wrote this in a hurry because my son was sick all week so I didn't have a lot of free time, plus we're heading out to go on a quick camping trip. I literally spent 10 minutes trying to edit and catch any errors, so there's probably a lot.

Anyway, constructive and honest feedback is always welcome.

Edit: And well shit. I completely forgot to incorporate some of the items in the picture like I had intended at the very beginning. Oh well. -_-
 

mu cephei

Member
How's everyone doing? Less than 48 hours 5 hours to go.

;_;

I haven't written in a while and I'm finding it really hard. No ideas and I can't write. I might have to submit a late disqualified entry, just so I force myself into the habit again, I can't miss another week.
 

Nezumi

Member
Well, I'm still writing...

I was wondering what would be the general opinion on moving both deadlines a day (not necessarily this time but in general)? A lot of people seem to not be able to start writing before Saturday and I think barely anyone reads the entries before Sunday /Monday anyway?
 

Ashes

Banned
Well, I'm still writing...

I was wondering what would be the general opinion on moving both deadlines a day (not necessarily this time but in general)? A lot of people seem to not be able to start writing before Saturday and I think barely anyone reads the entries before Sunday /Monday anyway?

I doubt it's the deadline. Firstly, you have 14 days to write something.

And secondly, we use to have Wednesday, then Thursday, and now Friday deadlines.

But it's really up to the thread, isn't it?
 

Nezumi

Member
I see your point. Still, I think it is quite obvious that a majority of the people here do start rather late with their projects and I think that a weekend day to get some writing done would suit people better than a weekday?

Anyway. I'll probably be in the same boat as mu cephei this time around, as in that I probably won't get this done in the next couple of hours. So I'll be disqualified for this round either way unless some miracle boost of creativity allows me to speed through the rest of my story...
 

Mike M

Nick N
I recall that we tried to shift the deadline by, what, 12 hours to accommodate people running late/last minute entries? To my recollection, it only resulted in people being late by another 12 hours.
 

Alucard

Banned
I recall that we tried to shift the deadline by, what, 12 hours to accommodate people running late/last minute entries? To my recollection, it only resulted in people being late by another 12 hours.

Yeah, I don't want to sound like a jerk, but I'm really not a fan of pushing and pushing the deadline. It creates a situation where you think you've read everything and are ready to vote but WAIT someone might submit something on Sunday. At best, noon Saturday should be the hard cutoff. Or hey, the original Friday deadline. How do others honestly feel about this?
 

Mike M

Nick N
Yeah, I don't want to sound like a jerk, but I'm really not a fan of pushing and pushing the deadline. It creates a situation where you think you've read everything and are ready to vote but WAIT someone might submit something on Sunday. At best, noon Saturday should be the hard cutoff. Or hey, the original Friday deadline. How do others honestly feel about this?
My thoughts on the matter are known.
 

Nezumi

Member
I'd actually take a hard deadline if we shift it to Saturday night though, but I guess people are against it, so that's fine.
 

Mike M

Nick N
Yeah, I'd be fine with a shift of a day if everyone super pinky swore to stick to it upon punishment of catapult.
 

mu cephei

Member
I'm with Nezumi in favour of a Saturday night deadline. I've never come up with an idea quick enough to use the middle weekend to write, and having a day to write without work first is something I really like.

But as I said earlier, I'm fine with being disqualified. I don't want to piss anyone off. But I do want to use these threads for motivation.
 

Alucard

Banned
I vote for a Saturday deadline with Tuesday reading/voting deadline.

Okay to start this with this challenge, since it seems some haven't chimed in yet?

I get the appeal of a Saturday instead of a Friday for busy people.
 

FlowersisBritish

fleurs n'est pas britannique
I'm kind of against it, but a little less against it if we move the reading and voting deadlines by a day and were a bit more harsh(or atleast better ourselves) for being late.
 

Alucard

Banned
I'm kind of against it, but a little less against it if we move the reading and voting deadlines by a day and were a bit more harsh(or atleast better ourselves) for being late.

Yeah. Zero flexibility if you can't get it done after having a full weekend and an extra Saturday to write 2,000 words. No Sunday entries and a reminder in each OP that there are no extensions, period.
 

Cyan

Banned
There's absolutely no point to moving the deadline again. Personally I'm completely against it because I'd prefer not to have another day to stew and procrastinate, particularly a Saturday when I'd rather be relaxing.
 

FlowersisBritish

fleurs n'est pas britannique
Yeah. Zero flexibility if you can't get it done after having a full weekend and an extra Saturday to write 2,000 words. No Sunday entries and a reminder in each OP that there are no extensions, period.

But the thing is I personally like our flexibility! Moving it by a day but getting rid of the flexibility just sounds...... so meh to me. I dunno, I'm still really on the fence about this :/
 

Alucard

Banned
Votes? So far...

For the change:
Me
Mike M (kind of)
Nezumi
Mu

Against the change:
Cyan
Ashes (?)
Flowers (but would be ok w it)
 

FlowersisBritish

fleurs n'est pas britannique
I think maybe its a bit early to vote on, as indicated by all the ? marks. At the very least, we should discuss it more until time for the next challenge.
 

Alucard

Banned
I think maybe its a bit early to vote on, as indicated by all the ? marks. At the very least, we should discuss it more until time for the next challenge.

Okay that works. And I realize I put myself in the "for" category, but I'd more realistically put myself in the "don't care either way as long as we stick to the deadline" camp.
 

Mike M

Nick N
I'm not necessarily for changing it so much as being okay with it if it were to occur and was accompanied by more adherence to deadline.

But I think if we got draconian with deadlines outside of my annual challenge, we'd just lose participation. It's ultimately up to the individual to not procrastinate : P
 

Cyan

Banned
I don't want to be rude about this, but I think moving the deadline does not address the actual problem. My expectation is that absolutely nothing would change. As with the previous times we've moved the deadlines, and the relaxation of the deadline with a grace period, I expect there would be maybe one or two challenges with a bit more participation, and then reversion to the usual. The people who regularly submit would still regularly submit, and the people who regularly respond with "well I didn't finish this time" or "whoops didn't see this in time" will have those exact same responses for the new deadline.
 

Alucard

Banned
I don't want to be rude about this, but I think moving the deadline does not address the actual problem. My expectation is that absolutely nothing would change. As with the previous times we've moved the deadlines, and the relaxation of the deadline with a grace period, I expect there would be maybe one or two challenges with a bit more participation, and then reversion to the usual. The people who regularly submit would still regularly submit, and the people who regularly respond with "well I didn't finish this time" or "whoops didn't see this in time" will have those exact same responses for the new deadline.

Not rude at all. I think there's likely something to what you're saying.

Are there regulars who legit only write on the second Saturday because that's when they have time and have had time to let an idea percolate?
 

Ashes

Banned
It's up to the next op. And the one after. Whoever wins the thread carries on the torch.

You now know our opinions next op, so decide what you will.

If we're tallying up, put me in the against column.

The three week shift has meant that the deadline now falls on my working week, so I've barely an hour spare throughout the week. Which is why my output has fallen away recently.
 

Nezumi

Member
Are there regulars who legit only write on the second Saturday because that's when they have time and have had time to let an idea percolate?

*raises hand*

Edit: Damn, I'm a bit torn on whether I should still write this and eat the disqualification or just keep the idea for the next one... Guess I see how fit I still am when I'm finally home.
 

choodi

Banned
My thoughts are that moving the deadline is just going to result in the same issues.

I vote leave it alone.
 
Moving deadlines doesn't do anything in terms of people actually meeting them. No, not just on account of my post history (it's what it is), but because behavior economists have already checked, and much like you or any teacher / tutor has always suspected: it just means people will start before the deadline later. I recall reading that a Dan Ariely book, though I've forgotten which exactly.

So if you've going to do bi-weekly deadlines, stick with that, or move into a different format, like monthly or something like that. But that would probably ruin the exercise gained from doing it bi-weekly.

As for 'what's yur problem then', it's starting (Kafka is my spirit animal). And then avoiding feeling terrible shame when looking at the crap I write.
 

Red

Member
haven't submitted in a long time, but for whatever my opinion is worth, I don't think extending the deadline is a good idea. Cyan laid out reasons and I think he's right.
 

Alucard

Banned
You have all swayed me. I guess extensions will still be up to the group as a whole, or maybe to the OP of each thread. I'm not against late entries if they're within reason...stuff being submitted on Sunday afternoon irks me, though. :-/ Sorry. We should keep in mind that we all still have to read the entries too.
 

Red

Member
Again, it's been a while since I joined, but when I last submitted late entries I did so with no expectation they would be read.
 
Top Bottom