How do you prefer to use the assigned character? |
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MidwestToImpress
NYC Midnight Regular Joined: 21 Jul 2016 Location: US Status: Offline Points: 340 |
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Posted: 16 Jan 2022 at 10:18pm |
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Hey Short Story comrades!
Overthinking our Round 1 over here (as is part of my *process*) and had a question! How do you prefer to use the “character” in your assignment (in this round or previous, or even just in stories you’ve enjoyed on the forum? Last year I went and straight forwardly made my assigned character (“a caterer”) my main protagonist. But interested in maybe going a different route this year. Have you had success (read: written a story you loved, regardless of judge success!) using your assigned character as a supporting character? An antagonist even? Vetting story ideas tonight so I can hit it big tomorrow and just want to make sure I’m not screwing myself by not casting my assigned character as my lead!
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dtill359
NYC Midnight Groupie Joined: 23 Jan 2021 Location: South Carolina Status: Offline Points: 140 |
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I got "caterer" as my character in the first round last year, and I used them as a supporting character. Made it into round 2, and the judges loved it.
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taaaylor
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 14 Jul 2018 Location: Idaho Status: Offline Points: 6946 |
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No preference for me, personally. I just follow what feels best for the story and the word limit. I've used the character as the main character, secondary character, love interest, and antagonist, depending on the story :)
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ZoeLou
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 19 Jan 2020 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 2809 |
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Not intentional, but they usually end up as my protagonist (except for this round, when they've become the love interest).
The one thing I do try intentionally (with every prompt, actually) is to push it to the vaguest possible interpretation without being DQ'd, so my coder worked with DNA code, and my mechanic built stars. Feels like a dangerous game but it's fun running away in random directions ;)
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Kneazle
NYC Midnight Groupie Joined: 20 Jan 2020 Location: New Zealan Status: Offline Points: 136 |
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Mine's the main character and it was the same with the last time I entered.
I got a Musician last time and a skater this time and they both seemed to work with the story I was writing. My musician was the pianist at a child's beauty pageant that was ruined by robot children.
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iress
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 28 Aug 2021 Status: Offline Points: 4138 |
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I like have only done specific "character" prompts twice and both were easy to make the main character for me. But now I have "trooper" and I want to get away from the military or police connotation. In California, our State police are not technically called "troopers" like in other states, and I know my story takes place here. Maybe girl scout or boy scout "trooper?" Maybe even Disney Storm Trooper costume actor. What I really want is the idiomatic way of, "you're a real trooper for putting up with x, y, z." But too far? DQ territory?
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cford
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 10 Jul 2021 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 2346 |
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I think if it was a repeated theme throughout, a character that was constantly putting up with things, like really obvious that he was 'such a trooper' then it would work. I had a character that was 'overdressed' for my subject and I definitely doubled down on it and he turned up overdressed the next day as well |
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jennifer.quail
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 07 Feb 2018 Status: Offline Points: 7931 |
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I placed third in a first round with a horror story where the prompt person was "artist" and I not only never have them physically appear, I went ahead and called it "The Artist is Not Present." I also placed high in a romance heat with a character "a disabled person" who never directly appears, either, though they are indirectly relevant.
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ZoeLou
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 19 Jan 2020 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 2809 |
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Agreed! Usually the advice is that you're fine as long as your interpretation is covered by a normal dictionary definition. Google says a trooper can be a "reliable and uncomplaining person" so I think you're fine! Might be a good idea to actually use the word "trooper" though so you can't miss it :)
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Suave
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 25 Jan 2015 Location: Thailand Status: Offline Points: 25027 |
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I like to kill them all. Don't force me to like anyone!
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