Anything Goes Writing Contest ~ Hangout Mode

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Poll Pimps = TEH SEX	31.9%	[ 30 ]
GGW XI Playoffs	8.5%	[ 8 ]
Due AUGUST 15	12.8%	[ 12 ]
PROMPT ROUND	17.0%	[ 16 ]
Woot panda!	29.8%	[ 28 ]
Total Votes:			[ 94 ]

[ennaelatan]

Hello there, everyone!

I'm disappointed I couldn't find the time to enter something for March. If all goes well, I should have a hopefully wonderful entry for April, though. smile

Wing, I did in fact give a green light. To be honest, I am quite happy you enjoyed it enough for consideration biggrin

Solar! How are you?

[The Solarised Night]

ennaelatan

Hello there, everyone!

I'm disappointed I couldn't find the time to enter something for March. If all goes well, I should have a hopefully wonderful entry for April, though. smile

Wing, I did in fact give a green light. To be honest, I am quite happy you enjoyed it enough for consideration biggrin

Solar! How are you?

It's okay, you weren't the only one. I didn't get a piece in and PK only just managed to. There were a few others that couldn't get something in either.

I'm busy. I was bed-ridden from illness for a whole week and then I returned to university with a week's worth of classes to catch up on and 3 essays to do. Now my writing contest has ended and I have an overwhelming 15 entries to read.

How are you, dear?

[ennaelatan]

The Solarised Night

It's okay, you weren't the only one. I didn't get a piece in and PK only just managed to. There were a few others that couldn't get something in either.

I'm busy. I was bed-ridden from illness for a whole week and then I returned to university with a week's worth of classes to catch up on and 3 essays to do. Now my writing contest has ended and I have an overwhelming 15 entries to read.

How are you, dear?

I'm all right smile I'm trying to get life to function properly, and I still have a few bugs to work out. I'm playing through Fallout 3 again. Nothing keeps life bright quite like destroying Super Mutants and Radscorpions! biggrin

I'm happy you're not sick anymore. Busy, eh? That seems to be a bit of an understatement. How are you holding up?

[phantomkitsune]

Oh, right, I should start judging Come At Me Bro.

I'm kind of working on more poetry, sort of. And the fanfic I've been working on since December: that's a lot of fun. Also doing the diary/spy novel thing still. Kind of ignoring my novel right now, and considering a short fanfiction story just for shits and giggles and not caring. Also podficcing some, because this story is ******** amazing.

Are you having fun with the horror, Rotsab?

[Rotsab M. Hyolf]

phantomkitsune

Oh, right, I should start judging Come At Me Bro.

I'm kind of working on more poetry, sort of. And the fanfic I've been working on since December: that's a lot of fun. Also doing the diary/spy novel thing still. Kind of ignoring my novel right now, and considering a short fanfiction story just for shits and giggles and not caring. Also podficcing some, because this story is ******** amazing.

Are you having fun with the horror, Rotsab?

Oh, nice! Wow, since December eh? That's a lot of commitment! (Is it the one you mentioned a while back in the Writer's Forum; regarding the intertwining storylines and characters? )

Diary/spy sounds cool! A break from a novel is always good; it let's you come back fresh and feel less worn out. Like how they reccomend couples go on separate holidays away from one another, haha.

There is never anything wrong with writing a short fanfiction story just because. (In fact, I'm pretty sure every fanfiction I've ever written falls into that category.) Is it for Homestruck, or another fandom?

-Has no idea what podficcing means-

As for the horror; I am! I like to consider myself a horror writer, though I'd been writing very little of it up until this point. There isn't as much focus on conveying a message besides 'big things eat little humans.' It's also a lot more character-driven, which is more my style.

[phantomkitsune]

Rotsab M. Hyolf

Oh, nice! Wow, since December eh? That's a lot of commitment! (Is it the one you mentioned a while back in the Writer's Forum; regarding the intertwining storylines and characters? )

Diary/spy sounds cool! A break from a novel is always good; it let's you come back fresh and feel less worn out. Like how they reccomend couples go on separate holidays away from one another, haha.

There is never anything wrong with writing a short fanfiction story just because. (In fact, I'm pretty sure every fanfiction I've ever written falls into that category.) Is it for Homestruck, or another fandom?

-Has no idea what podficcing means-

As for the horror; I am! I like to consider myself a horror writer, though I'd been writing very little of it up until this point. There isn't as much focus on conveying a message besides 'big things eat little humans.' It's also a lot more character-driven, which is more my style.

Yeah, it's the same one: it's about 13k words now, because I work slow. My best friend's illustrating it, and it's a really fun storytelling experiment. I just made the floor a perspective character, and it is my favorite thing ever.

I wish diary/spy thing was cool! It is mostly full of me whining about my love life, with occasional politics. I just want the novel done. It's been three years.

It'll be Homestuck again, as Homestuck's the only thing that has ever inspired me to actually write fan-things. It's a terribly immersive fan-culture.

Podficcing is reading stories - creating audiobooks, essentially. Only, in this case, with fanfiction, and unprofessionally. I've done the first five chapters of my favorite story ever here.

Pfft, genre conventions. Do you aim for more psychological stuff or more stompy monsters all over everything?

[The Solarised Night]

phantomkitsune

Oh, right, I should start judging Come At Me Bro.

I'm kind of working on more poetry, sort of. And the fanfic I've been working on since December: that's a lot of fun. Also doing the diary/spy novel thing still. Kind of ignoring my novel right now, and considering a short fanfiction story just for shits and giggles and not caring. Also podficcing some, because this story is ******** amazing.

Are you having fun with the horror, Rotsab?

lol TLM has to start her judging too.

Will I see you for my April contest, PK?

[The Solarised Night]

What is the plural for ellipsis or '...' ?

[phantomkitsune]

Ellipses.

I dunno - I'll try? But I'm not sure how much I'll end up doing in short fiction.

[Rotsab M. Hyolf]

phantomkitsune

Yeah, it's the same one: it's about 13k words now, because I work slow. My best friend's illustrating it, and it's a really fun storytelling experiment. I just made the floor a perspective character, and it is my favorite thing ever.

I wish diary/spy thing was cool! It is mostly full of me whining about my love life, with occasional politics. I just want the novel done. It's been three years.

It'll be Homestuck again, as Homestuck's the only thing that has ever inspired me to actually write fan-things. It's a terribly immersive fan-culture.

Podficcing is reading stories - creating audiobooks, essentially. Only, in this case, with fanfiction, and unprofessionally. I've done the first five chapters of my favorite story ever here.

Pfft, genre conventions. Do you aim for more psychological stuff or more stompy monsters all over everything?

Hey, 13k is better than nothing! That's really cool of her/him to illustrate it.

Also; a floor? Seriously? That's awesome. Does it comprehend human things, what's going on, so forth (ala the PSA TV 'Get that cat off mah head!') or is it more accepting of its position and ignorant?

Aha, I know that feeling. I just went through my old journal on here and cleared it out. Sounds as if you're probably in the homestretch, now, though!

Homestruck is really cool, I'm not surprised. I like the pacing, the characters, and how reveals aren't exactly 'random' but certainly aren't predictable, either. The sound and visuals go a long way, too.

(I'll admit I'm not very far into it. By the time the third character was introduced I was very caught up in the cliffhanger and probably would have had a heart attack if I'd kept going without a resolution. xD )

Oh, cool! I don't have sound right now, but I'll have to check it out later when I do!

Quote:

Pfft, genre conventions. Do you aim for more psychological stuff or more stompy monsters all over everything?

Hm. I wouldn't say 'stompy monsters all over everything,' but definitely there are elements of the supernatural/otherworldly/what-have-you. For me horror embodies an element of the unknown, and purely psychological stuff (Silence of the Lambs, Agatha Christie) ventures into the thriller realm. Which is an amazing genre, of course, and I have the utmost respect for Silence of the Lambs and Agatha Christie, but it isn't horror to me.

I'm mostly a fan of Clive Barker's style of really horrible things. Ants eating people (alright, maybe that isn't exactly supernatural), not-quite-dead things shrieking at people from the cielling, shadows that move on their own, so on. I think psychology is a major part of it though, and if you just have a big monster stomping things you wind up with Jurrassic Park/Godzilla or the more heartfelt King Kong.

What kind of genre do you prefer to write in? What defines it for you, haha?

[phantomkitsune]

Rotsab M. Hyolf

Hey, 13k is better than nothing! That's really cool of her/him to illustrate it.

Also; a floor? Seriously? That's awesome. Does it comprehend human things, what's going on, so forth (ala the PSA TV 'Get that cat off mah head!') or is it more accepting of its position and ignorant?

Aha, I know that feeling. I just went through my old journal on here and cleared it out. Sounds as if you're probably in the homestretch, now, though!

Homestruck is really cool, I'm not surprised. I like the pacing, the characters, and how reveals aren't exactly 'random' but certainly aren't predictable, either. The sound and visuals go a long way, too.

(I'll admit I'm not very far into it. By the time the third character was introduced I was very caught up in the cliffhanger and probably would have had a heart attack if I'd kept going without a resolution. xD )

Oh, cool! I don't have sound right now, but I'll have to check it out later when I do!

Quote:

Pfft, genre conventions. Do you aim for more psychological stuff or more stompy monsters all over everything?

Hm. I wouldn't say 'stompy monsters all over everything,' but definitely there are elements of the supernatural/otherworldly/what-have-you. For me horror embodies an element of the unknown, and purely psychological stuff (Silence of the Lambs, Agatha Christie) ventures into the thriller realm. Which is an amazing genre, of course, and I have the utmost respect for Silence of the Lambs and Agatha Christie, but it isn't horror to me.

I'm mostly a fan of Clive Barker's style of really horrible things. Ants eating people (alright, maybe that isn't exactly supernatural), not-quite-dead things shrieking at people from the cielling, shadows that move on their own, so on. I think psychology is a major part of it though, and if you just have a big monster stomping things you wind up with Jurrassic Park/Godzilla or the more heartfelt King Kong.

What kind of genre do you prefer to write in? What defines it for you, haha?

Well, the idea of it was kind of hers in the first place? I just kind of ran with it. And now we both do it - I do most of the writing, but she helps me hammer out problems like character voice and brainstorming and telling me when something doesn't work.

Quote:

====>Floor: collapse

You are the floor of this Zone of Kano Jurgen’s mind, and you are falling away, dropping those who had rested upon you to the Zone below.

^That is probably the extent of the floor as a perspective character, but it really amused me.

The diary thing is only really approaching 23k now, and I really want to wrap up the plot in it. It should theoretically only end up a novella, because I have far less craziness in my life now than when I started it.

You should get back into reading it! It's gone . . . quite far.

I've never read Clive Barker, but I keep hearing really good things. What would you suggest starting with?

I write speculative fiction, that hideously broad term. I like near-future sci-fi thought experiments and urban fantasy based in traditional myth. Richard Kadrey and Cory Doctorow are probably who I most try to emulate in terms of tone.

[Rotsab M. Hyolf]

phantomkitsune

Well, the idea of it was kind of hers in the first place? I just kind of ran with it. And now we both do it - I do most of the writing, but she helps me hammer out problems like character voice and brainstorming and telling me when something doesn't work.

Quote:

====>Floor: collapse

You are the floor of this Zone of Kano Jurgen’s mind, and you are falling away, dropping those who had rested upon you to the Zone below.

^That is probably the extent of the floor as a perspective character, but it really amused me.

Ah, I see. That's good of her! Is it a real life friend, or an internet buddy? I seem to be lacking in literary-aware friends from the real life category.

That sounds really cool. I always love when people go with the less likely perspectives, makes for an 'other side of the coin' look.

phantomkitsune

The diary thing is only really approaching 23k now, and I really want to wrap up the plot in it. It should theoretically only end up a novella, because I have far less craziness in my life now than when I started it.

You should get back into reading it! It's gone . . . quite far.

I've never read Clive Barker, but I keep hearing really good things. What would you suggest starting with?

Oh, wow, nice! Haha, more than I've ever written! That sounds like a nice place to end it, too; on a more sort of sorted note. My Aunt wrote a book with the Robert Lecker Agency (who loves publishing Canadian memoirs, if you're looking to that with your novella!) and they had her end it as an adult with everything more or less sorted out. The irony is that it comes across very tacked on and sunk a fair number of reviews that probably would have been more positive with her original ending in place.

Has it resolved that bit yet? I know I'll go crazy if I go through it all and they still haven't, haha. I'm not sure if it's meant to be the central conflict, or if that conflict is going to spill into more (I tend to think the latter, but you never know!).

As for Clive, it really depends on your tastes. A lot of his stuff has very distinct imagery (who doesn't know Pinhead, right?), but he has works that are more focused on a 'human' element. Mister B. Gone was one I really enjoyed, though it verges on cheesy at times (it's not very long, either; easy read in a single night). His Thief of Always is pretty good, too, and I've been trying to find one of his short stories where a poltergeist is haunting this guy's apartment and playin 'pranks' on him that should come with evil giggling, haha.

From THE THEIF OF ALWAYS;


The great gray beast February had eaten Harvey Swick alive. Buried in the belly of that smothering month, he wondered if he would ever find his way out. More than likely he'd become so bored as the hours crawled by that one day he'd simply forget to breathe.

His demise would become a celebrated mystery, which wouldn't be solved until some great detective decided to recreate a day in Harvey's life. The detective would follow Harvey's dismal routine -- from home, to school, and back again; finally rendering the obvious verdict.

"Harvey Swick was eaten by the great gray beast of February!"

phantomkitsune

I write speculative fiction, that hideously broad term. I like near-future sci-fi thought experiments and urban fantasy based in traditional myth. Richard Kadrey and Cory Doctorow are probably who I most try to emulate in terms of tone.

Oh, nice! Do you think near-future technology should highlight some aspect of human nature, or do you feel it should assume the technological paths? Urban fantasy with traditional myths sounds cool, too; and by myths, do you mean the stories themselves, or the creatures/magic involved?

[Hiamovii]

Definatly coming back to this thread. Writing is right up my alley and entering contests where you can get other's views helps to improve here and there.

Wonderful thread!

[Wing McCallister]

Hiamovii

Definatly coming back to this thread. Writing is right up my alley and entering contests where you can get other's views helps to improve here and there.

Wonderful thread!

Welcome to the bastion of insanity. razz

[Sommer Toki]

eek This is so overwhelming.
But I want to give it a try.

I know I have to write, but what exactly? @.@ I visited the sites and browsed through them, but I'm still lost. It says the current contest March Monthly is due April 30. Are there specific requirements for them?

Sorry for bothering sweatdrop