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cheezopath View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cheezopath Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Feb 2019 at 1:09pm
i have a slightly different take on this;
it's better to just focus on the two concrete aspects, and then afterwards attach a genre to the story.

that's why I won on a sci-fi horror and this time i wrote a cuberpunk, neither of which are standard nyc options. The one time I failed to submit something for the final I spent too much time second guessing myself over genre.
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Tim G View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Tim G Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Feb 2019 at 1:23pm
Originally posted by cheezopath cheezopath wrote:

i have a slightly different take on this;
it's better to just focus on the two concrete aspects, and then afterwards attach a genre to the story.

that's why I won on a sci-fi horror and this time i wrote a cuberpunk, neither of which are standard nyc options. The one time I failed to submit something for the final I spent too much time second guessing myself over genre.

I think I'm with Cheezo on this. It wasn't the genre that did for me this time, it was the f'kin prompts. I actively appreciated having genre options open as I bounced from brick wall to brick wall.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote lisafox10800 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Feb 2019 at 1:57pm
Originally posted by Tim G Tim G wrote:

Originally posted by cheezopath cheezopath wrote:

i have a slightly different take on this;
it's better to just focus on the two concrete aspects, and then afterwards attach a genre to the story.

that's why I won on a sci-fi horror and this time i wrote a cuberpunk, neither of which are standard nyc options. The one time I failed to submit something for the final I spent too much time second guessing myself over genre.

I think I'm with Cheezo on this. It wasn't the genre that did for me this time, it was the f'kin prompts. I actively appreciated having genre options open as I bounced from brick wall to brick wall.

I suppose it's where you start and how you approach these stories to begin with. If I don't land on a genre first, I find myself overwhelmed by too many possibilities for the setting and the object, and then I'm stumped. After genre, I go to setting or object to figure out who my characters are. (Who might go to... headquarters [in a GENRE story] and why) // (Who would use... object [in a GENRE story] and why)? If I can't make the setting and object work in that genre, I move to the next genre on my list. And so on. Until I find a fit I'm comfortable with.

I think we've been so conditioned with the Genre --> location --> object continuum OR genre --> object --> location for decision making that it becomes confounding to even think to start elsewhere.

So for instance, my first idea this round was around a zombie apocalypse, some kind of "end of days" theme. I had a final scene all mapped out but couldn't back it in to a story that would fit five pages. So scrapped it. But my brain was already on dystopia, sci-fi, heavy drama... and there was no way that I could have back-ended into something lighter or more fun. (Although a Killer Clown from my RomCom could have been interesting... but I believe Stephen King has already mastered that one!)

My (long winded, wall-o-text) point is, I think it's all about what you latch on to first to generate your ideas - whether it's genre, object, or setting. And in all prior rounds, the obsession is ALWAYS around what genre comes in. (Please, no political satire! Please, no Rom Com!) And when we finally get here and that chain is broken, we don't exactly know what to do because we never obsess about object or setting. And then there's the "final round pressure" to do something *really unique* with the setting or object - do you follow the prompts straight and really write about a multi-tool in its purest form or a headquarters that's legitimately a headquarters? Or take a different spin? What's the risk in going either way?

I'd be interested to hear how other people approach this! 


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My short story collection, Core Truths, is now available wherever books are sold.
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manifestlynot View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote manifestlynot Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Feb 2019 at 2:09pm
I see it both ways. Having an assigned genre feels safer - I know the tropes and can lean on those a bit when the other parts of the prompt are tricky. I would have killed for somewhere to go besides “headquarters/multi-tool.”

But, not having a genre allowed me to play with some ideas I would have nixed otherwise. I found myself in horror territory (which I usually never choose to write) then scaled back to action adventure (also not my top choice) with a sprinkling of PoliSat for good measure. Had I been limited to one of those three choices, I wouldn’t have stretched as far - though how successfully I did that is up for debate!

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote J_Fox Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Feb 2019 at 2:34pm
I’m with Tim and Cheezo. I'd have a great idea that involved the tool, but no HQ. Or vice versa. But mainly the former. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote fioOxf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Feb 2019 at 2:36pm
I haven't done as many of these competitions as most of you, but so far in all three I have done (Flash, Short Screenplay and Short Story) inspiration has come from Google. As a Brit, I have usually had to Google the prompts to make sure they mean the same thing in US English (or to find out what they actually mean, as they don't mean owt at all, here viz supercenter and transient person). A trip down the rabbit hole has tended to throw up a sparkle of an idea, which has then attached itself to characters. My stuff, I am discovering, is very character driven so when the shoe fits the character, or the supercenter fits the drag or the transient person is staying in a boarding house etc, the story starts to happen. I just googled multitool and found these https://www.amazon.co.uk/Godpick-Folding-Lock-Pocket-Multitool/dp/B01CCZ7JX6/ (the brand name is brilliant, too...) and https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fiskars-1350-sewing-multi-tool/dp/B001BYCKD4 ; which are already beginning to give me ideas I might play around with, if I ever get another day off....  I think it boils down to using a weakness (ignorance ;) ) as a strength - well, as a something, anyway - in my case. My weakest thing so far (in my opinion not the judges') was one where the prompts were a+a / river / child safety seat. Maybe I should have googled what a river is......... 
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