An idea

General
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Ok i had an idea and was wondering what you guys think. i was thinking that we could do a new type of contest. ok i’m having a bit of trouble putting my idea into words so bear with me. the people interested submit new never seen before stories anonamously, like the short story contest, but there has to be a particular theme. for instance we could have three options of what you can write about. eg.
A.) …… She woke up in a strange room and had no idea how she got there…… incorporate this into your story
B.) It was the best day of your life. Describe
C.) You just witnessed a close friend wet there pants. What are your thoughts

I know that this is like a secondary school exercise but i thought it could be fun to see who can come up with the best story when working within boundries. So what do you guys think?

Now this is just a general idea, like we should discuss it and improve on it if you know what i mean, like this is just a brief outline. And i know that it would mean more work for the mods since it would be done anonymously but i would be more than glad to help out. So yeah lets discuss

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hmmm it sounds interesting, might be nice to see this in the future

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Could be fun, but you’d need at least six contestants to make it interesting. Would there be a word limit or minimum?

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well id imagine a word limit and minimum would be a good idea, but what that maybe i’m not sure. I think 3,000 words minimum and 10,000 max would be good. I agree at least six people would have to enter, but i’d hope more then that would :slight_smile:

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Sounds like a good idea to me.

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An idea

I had a similar idea, except mine was a little different.

Mine involved putting together a short outline. Again, six folks would be better for this too. Each one submitting, would be assigned a number from one to six, then you choose a number other than your own.

The points in the outline would have to be covered in the story, but the method and details would be up to the particular author.

An impartial individual would have already assigned numbers to the different outlines, and be responsible for sending the numbered outline to the person that drew that number.

Again a minimum and a maximum word count would be involved.

I guess what I was looking for was a challenge to write about something that I might not otherwise cover.

Thanks,

BabyButt

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That’s an interesting concept, too.

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Yes, a very interesting concept BabyButt.

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I like Someguy’s idea, but I guess I was looking for more than just one constraint. That might be another thing that needs to be looked at. How many items in the outline?

BabyButt

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i like your idea baby butt, but my only worry is that it would only allow x amount of people, granted this may not be to popular but say 15 people (probally unrealistic but anyway) would that mean 15 outlines? granted there may only be 2 people interested in writing a story. but we can hammer out the details.

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I think it sounds quite good fun. It would be one of those satisfying things where you can make the changes to something that could have been better.

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You could have as many people as are interested. My original idea involved having each of the participants provide one of the outlines, but in reality, the general community could provide them.

It would require strict guidelines as to what could and couldn’t be in the guideline, and the participants could vote to include or exclude a particular outline.

For example, some of the rules could be:

These basic questions must be answered: who, what, where and why.

1.The outline may not include the main character’s gender, or any physical feature (ie… height). It must include a general description of who they are, with one specific characteristic (ie… an uptight twenty five year old mechanic that works on motorcycles)
2. The outline must give a general idea of why they’re there, what they’re trying to accomplish, and any limiting circumstances.
3. The outline must include a place, but not a particular location. (an amusement park is OK, but Disney’s Magic Kingdom is not.)
4. The purpose of the outline is not to provide the story, but to provide specific elements that constrain the direction of the story.
5. Options can be included, that would give the author the ability to take the story in one of several directions limited by the choices.

This is an off the cuff example of what some of the rules could be. I certainly forgot something in this, so by all means help me out here. :slight_smile:

An example of an outline following the above rules would be:

Premise: The character decides they need to relax so it’s time for a vacation and books a cruise. During the cruise, they meet a person that really interests them. In the process of getting to know each other, the person is determined to get the character to relax.

Main Character: a high strung, thirty year old air traffic controller.

Location: Cruise ship.

  1. Character makes his way to the ship and finds his cabin.
  2. Meets person at dinner the first night.
  3. They agree to spend the next day on an excursion off ship
  4. They find they’re really attracted to each other, and end up spending the night together.
  5. The next day, the person takes the plunge and explains that they’re an AB.
  6. OPTION. Either the person convinces the Character to try this, or the Character enjoys caring for the person.
  7. Resolution

Again, this is an example. Feel free to point out any problems you see with any of this.

The resulting stories could be judged not just for content, but also how well they followed the outline.

Thanks,

BabyButt

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An idea

Well - go ahead - organise it.

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An idea

sounds like a good idea. There’s this site - fanstory.com, i think - that organises such contests. It’s really easier to write a short story when given a theme.

go for it. You can put my name down as a contender.

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