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POLITICAL SATIRE DISCUSSION

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Vernacula View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vernacula Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Feb 2018 at 11:50pm
Originally posted by jennifer.quail jennifer.quail wrote:

So far, none of the "political satire" entries I've read have been...well, any sort of political satire. (Mostly it's better described as 'whining about the American elections in predictable ways', though I guess that's to be expected.)  I think it's a genre where most people don't actually get what satire is, and it's a very specialized market to begin with.  Anyone who can write basic literary fiction can probably manage genres like historical (there's nothing hard about that except research if you pick a period you don't know) or fantasy, but political satire's such a niche market and so partisan--I'd feel like I had to write a particular slant rather than anything I actually believed to appeal to what I suspect the audience bias is, which isn't helpful. Anyone drawing it is at a much bigger disadvantage than someone who normally writes, say, romance, having to write a ghost story.  

I mean, if you're going to ask for something where personal opinion/reader bias is so hard to avoid in rating, you might as well throw in erotica, too....


^^^THIS.

My first inclination would be to agitate, and I'd likely be dinged for bias rather than quality of work or content.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sgspeed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Feb 2018 at 1:54am
  I'm a newbie to NYC and got Historical Fiction twice in the Flash Fiction contest (out of 3 rounds) and Political Satire on this one, so if they are the hardest genres, I'm getting my money's worth.   I enjoyed the HF genre, but will say with 48 hours to write, having to research as well, made it a real gallop to the finish line.  
    I was just flat out stumped this time. I understand all the ways to go about political satire and satire, but I flat out could not get past the current politics in the USA. It all seems like satire to me. I don't know about whining, but I was certainly stuck. 
    I thought it would be so much fun to have a full week and 2500 words to work, because I've been writing a lot of 48 hour/1000 word prompt assignments over the past two years.  Maybe that was part of the problem. I wound up jamming my entry out pretty much in the last 48 hours, as it were.
  Interestingly enough, at least to me, I had science fiction for the Short Screenplay contest, and I think what I wrote might have been political satire as well. 
  I don't know how much I've added to the discussion. I just hope I get another chance at something else.

Here's the link to the screenplay on NYC if anyone is interested. Is it Political Satire as well as Science Fiction?






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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sinister Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Feb 2018 at 1:40pm
Originally posted by sgspeed sgspeed wrote:

I understand all the ways to go about political satire and satire, but I flat out could not get past the current politics in the USA. It all seems like satire to me. I don't know about whining, but I was certainly stuck. 
 

That's precisely the dilemma I found myself in.  So that's what I wrote.  I think my story qualifies as satire, if not meta-satire, or meta-meta-satire?  Or it's a postmodern deconstruction of satirical tropes.  Or it's nothing of the sort.  Which is why I called it "Ceci n'est pas une satire," after the Magritte painting.  Hopefully the judges can dig my vibe.  :)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jennifer.quail Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Feb 2018 at 8:10pm
Originally posted by sgspeed sgspeed wrote:

  
    I was just flat out stumped this time. I understand all the ways to go about political satire and satire, but I flat out could not get past the current politics in the USA. It all seems like satire to me. I don't know about whining, but I was certainly stuck. 



See, I think you actually DID satire.  With respect, it's not remotely sophisticated satire and you don't make any challenging points, so it would only appeal to an echo-chamber audience, but it's closer than a lot of people have gotten. And doing sophisticated satire that appeals to more than one 'focus group' is a niche skill most writers don't have. 

And I am with you on "eight days, this is forever oh crap it's Friday!" Of course I'm a chronic procrastinator. Though weirdly when I turned around and had something with a MINIMUM word count of 7000 words, it felt like a novel. At least this does make you learn to trim. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Geckomac Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Feb 2018 at 12:58am
I'd like some feedback on my political satire entry, The Scent of Truffles by Geckomac.
Thanks
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Scarlet Screenwriter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Feb 2018 at 4:13am
Originally posted by Geckomac Geckomac wrote:

I'd like some feedback on my political satire entry, The Scent of Truffles by Geckomac.Thanks

I couldn't make hide nor hare out of it!  I'll have to read it again ... it seemed more fantasy than political satire.  I'll have another go and post something on your topic ...





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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jennifer.quail Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Feb 2018 at 12:50pm
Originally posted by Scarlet Screenwriter Scarlet Screenwriter wrote:

Originally posted by Geckomac Geckomac wrote:

I'd like some feedback on my political satire entry, The Scent of Truffles by Geckomac.Thanks

I couldn't make hide nor hare out of it!  I'll have to read it again ... it seemed more fantasy than political satire.  I'll have another go and post something on your topic ...


I agree...I got that it was satirizing something, but I'm not sure what, and I kept getting distracted thinking about Watership Down. I think a lot of the satire even misses the ridicule or stinging criticism end and is just bleak. I liked the thought and detail and I could see it was going somewhere but especially when I got sidetracked by butterflies on top of the smell thing I got a little lost.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Random Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Feb 2018 at 12:57pm
Originally posted by Geckomac Geckomac wrote:

I'd like some feedback on my political satire entry, The Scent of Truffles by Geckomac.
Thanks


It smelled more like a diversity piece than satire.  There was no specific authoritarian or leadership role granted to one group over another, just "we don't like you because..."

Far less annoying than the bias pieces, and I'm with Verna; make me write a bias piece and I absolutely promise I'll take a contrarian side of any argument, just because.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Geckomac Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Feb 2018 at 3:45pm
Thank you for the read and critique. Rather than humor, I focused on satire using analogical elements and juxtaposition to show prejudice.

I'll return the favor and read your story.

This contest has been a great experience.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sgspeed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Feb 2018 at 5:56pm
Originally posted by Geckomac Geckomac wrote:

Read my entry, please. "The Scent of Truffles". Political Satire.


I can't find a link to your story.  I don't know how I'm missing it since others have read it, but I am.
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