Writing Challenges

how far can you stretch "ghost story" before getting disqualified? I had an idea for a story that's sort of magical realism with a ghost as one of the characters in the family, but the ghost wouldn't even be the main character, probably the third most important character. I think the biggest problem is that with magical realism, the ghost would just be treated like a family member, not "eek a ghost!"

I kind of like some of the other ideas I have better anyway, and after I pushed the envelope last time on my ghost story and it didn't go over so well, I might play it safe and go conventional.

SS R1 G23 Haunted by the Truth *TW*

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SharE wrote:

I’m am totally empty of ideas and I’m thinking of giving up. My genre is A/A, Strongman, Fantasyland.

I’ll keep thinking of ideas. I think my issue is weaving the prompts together. I can think of using strongman and fantasyland in a romance etc but not action.

A/A is what is holding me up the most. It’s not a favourite genre for me to read or watch in a movie or tv. I don’t really enjoy it.

There is my whinge of the day. Thanks for reading if you’ve got this far.

Fantasyland could be anything, up to and including the headquarters of your least favorite government three letter agency. The NSA is known as the puzzle palace. Calling Langley (CIA headquarters) fantasyland isn't a stretch, but don't forget it's got a certain amount of chic grimness to it and everyone works in vaults. It could be the name of a corporate research facility. It could be a section of the most expensive (and artificial) place on earth. I'm looking at you Disney.

A strongman could be an amateur body builder. It could be a guy who can bench press five hundred. It could be some skinny guy who is always choking down the latest supplements and his co-workers have turned it into a joke. It could be some woman who worked out once and nobody let her forget it. Just make sure the label sticks and makes sense for whatever reason that is.

Action adventure is something Stallone or da Ahnold would appear in. Think special effects without much story to tie them together. Lots of shooting and running and for reasons never fully explained the most muscular guy and the prettiest girl end up with the least amount of clothes on.

Just think constant motion, constant threat, non-stop action. Only in the last bond movie, arguably the worst movie since Spawn of Slithis, does the 'Action Guy' stand around and try to do a Shakespearean soliloquy.

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Now that I think about DARPA would make a great Fantasyland...and a great reason for A/A

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Edited by Random - 21 Jan 2023 at 6:04pm

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Deschain wrote:

how far can you stretch "ghost story" before getting disqualified?

I think after 15 ghosties I’m pretty authoritative on the subject. Happy ghosts. Sad ghosts. Scary ghosts. Ghosts that don’t know they’re dead. Ghosts that do. I’ve seen ‘em all. As long as it has a ghost, you’re good.

In fact, back in the day someone wrote a story about a woman who kept trying to find her dead husbands ghost and never did. There was actually no ghost in the story and it didn’t get a DQ.

What I do know about this contest is that creativity is often rewarded. Don’t play it safe. Think outside the box.

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fae wrote:

I got Drama, Retirement, Gossipmonger

It's the Drama that's the hang-up for me. I like to watch dramas sometimes, but I've never written drama. I've looked at the NYCM definition, and have been perusing examples of Drama short stories, but I still don't really have any 'great' ideas. The first thing that popped into my head was a story about drama in a retirement home, but I don't necessarily like that, and I feel like I'm leaning more towards comedic than dramatic. I've also seen people commenting that mixing genres can be ok if you do it right, so I thought about maybe adding in some fantasy/supernatural elements.

Not really sure how to build in the "character development" that's mentioned in the NYCM Drama definition. Maybe, someone learns a lesson as an outcome of the drama that happens? I also feel that I might be taking 'Drama' a bit too literal. I guess I'm looking for some different explanations on the defining characteristics of Drama as a genre here in this competition.

You've never seen a story that's not also a drama. The first time I tried to write drama I tried to be dramatic, and the only thing dramatic about it was how badly I did. That was the point where I quit getting hung up on genre and worried more about story.

Of course I put stuff in to appease the genre deities, but if I've written a pure anything I wasn't aware of it.

Write a story. Teach your main character something. Make them wiser, at least. Happiness is optional.

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fae wrote:

I got Drama, Retirement, Gossipmonger

It's the Drama that's the hang-up for me.

The heart of drama is conflict. A gossipmonger could be causing serious problems by spreading rumours now that they're retired.

SS R1 Serendipity Day
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