How are topic assignments generated? |
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mimzee
NYC Midnight Regular Joined: 17 Jan 2019 Location: Portland OR Status: Offline Points: 367 |
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Posted: 24 Jan 2019 at 2:51pm |
I poked around a bit and don't see an answer (maybe by design, as this is not supposed to be known?) but i am curious how the genre/setting/character prompts are generated. I assume there's a master database, but who decides which words are used for possible settings, characters, etc? Are the resulting prompts then reviewed by humans and is there ever a case where the combination makes so little sense it's discarded, or is anything the computer spits out fair game as a prompt for writers? if this is all discussed somewhere, i'd love a link. Not like I need to know, but I like to know how everything works, it's my curse.
Edited by mimzee - 24 Jan 2019 at 3:05pm |
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mimzee
NYC Midnight Regular Joined: 17 Jan 2019 Location: Portland OR Status: Offline Points: 367 |
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Hmm... i was sure one of the old-timers or someone from NYCMidnight would answer. Is this like a trade secret that must not be discussed?
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steph9289
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 23 Jan 2016 Location: Brooklyn, NY Status: Offline Points: 8966 |
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I don't think anyone knows!! Haha! Sometimes it seems totally random and the prompts don't make any sense together. Other times, the connection is SO obvious that everyone in the group gets the same idea! Haha. You just never know what's going to happen!
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#amrevising
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mimzee
NYC Midnight Regular Joined: 17 Jan 2019 Location: Portland OR Status: Offline Points: 367 |
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thanks (and PS just read Pox Party and loved it -- great rendition of the Mommy Wars!)
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NYC Midnight
Admin Group Joined: 31 Dec 2005 Location: New York Status: Offline Points: 1838 |
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We randomly generate the genres for each group number, but then staff manually places additional elements (subject, location, character, object, etc.) in each group. We have a master list of elements that have been used, so we do our best to avoid any similar elements used in recent years and avoid any combinations that may jump out as too difficult or too obvious, though we realize this can be subjective. Registered writers are assigned to their group assignments randomly as well.
We hope this helps answer your question, but please let us know if you have any other questions or need anything else. Good luck!
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Next up is the 100-word Microfiction Challenge 2024 kicking off April 19th |
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OnyxLily
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 20 Jan 2019 Location: New Zealand Status: Offline Points: 2674 |
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Thanks, that’s really interesting!
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RoryShores
NYC Midnight Newbie Joined: 19 Jan 2019 Location: Parts Unknown Status: Offline Points: 48 |
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4 monkeys. 1 bottle of tequila. 50 darts. A wall with 100 post-it notes with genres and themes (yellow). The darts have character scratched onto them. If a monkey passes out, iy is dragged off and replaced with a fresh monkey and another bottle. That last part is the most important.
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Rory
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Sephira
NYC Midnight Groupie Joined: 20 Jan 2019 Location: NC Status: Offline Points: 246 |
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I think I was much happier when I was under the assumption that it was all randomly generated. The fact that actual humans thought Sci-Fi/Summer School/Forklift Operator was a great idea makes me a little sad. XD
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Merrill
Newbie Joined: 10 Dec 2018 Location: London Status: Offline Points: 15 |
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And I thought mine was difficult enough - wow!
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MIRI
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stephenmatlock
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 05 Sep 2013 Location: Seattle Status: Offline Points: 10422 |
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This seems much more plausible. Although there is also an algorithm that says "If writer X has complained about Genre Y that they've received recently, assign Genre Y to that writer." How else do you explain an unbroken series of Ghost Stories for me?
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Pithy sayings are for the apt. For a longer message, you need a condo.
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