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AprilBaker View Drop Down
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Points: 45 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AprilBaker Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 7:26pm
Originally posted by Random Random wrote:

Originally posted by AprilBaker AprilBaker wrote:

My requirements are Fairy Tale, revival, and winemaker. I’m getting hung up on revival. For words with multiple definitions we can use any version, correct? We don’t have to figure out how they are expecting us to use it?


Revival means what you think it means, just make the definition clear in the story.

Okay thanks! To some people revival is a religious event and I really don’t want to go that way. Would rather focus on the other definitions of the word.
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Originally posted by taaaylor taaaylor wrote:

Originally posted by KJZen KJZen wrote:

Piggy-backing here with a related question for anyone with experience in this competition.

I'm group 77: action adventure, rush hour, world-beater.  A/A isn't a genre I've had a lot of practice with except in longer forms--a picaresque/quest novel, for example. 

I know many of the A/A tropes and can work with them, but what happens if your writing naturally bends toward comedy? If your action/adventure is more Deadpool than Diehard?

Has anyone here used comedy in their horror or their drama or their adventure and been bumped for not staying "true" to genre? 

Hi groupmate! :) Action/adventure can absolutely be comedic or dramatic or anywhere in between. I've written almost exclusively light-hearted/comedic stories for A/A. The key elements are the fast pace, suspense, and danger to the protagonists. Here's more info from the genre page: https://www.nycmidnight.com/genres

I'm super stoked to read your entry, if you decide to share it when the forums open! :D

p.s. if you ever enter a microfiction NYCM contest, it's defined as action OR adventure. There you could lean more into adventure fic like, say, Indiana Jones or The Lord of the Rings, where a journey to a destination is more the focus.



*****

Still figuring out how to use the forums, but if I can find you again, I' ll tag you for a beta read if you're interested and am happy to reciprocate.  Today I outlined, fiddled with some dialogue and backstory, and wrote two action scenes that I think are hysterical.  

How are you doing? 
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Points: 88 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote fae Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 8:01pm
Originally posted by Random Random wrote:


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.
Thanks! That helps a lot. Bonus because it gave me a little chuckle. 

Originally posted by Pages Pages wrote:


The heart of drama is conflict. A gossipmonger could be causing serious problems by spreading rumours now that they're retired.
Thank you! I had a similar thought. Maybe there's something there.
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Perri Winkle View Drop Down
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Nice.

I also received political satire, but I'm in group 106 -- petition (subject) and chairperson (character).

Are you experienced in political satire? What do you recommend I do for research, etc.? I usually write fantasy :)
Kelly
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Points: 484 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Deschain Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 9:26pm
Originally posted by nod1v1ng nod1v1ng wrote:

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

I'm nervous about that though. My only other entry was a ghost story and I wrote about an incubus and the judges really hammered me for including non-consensual content...but that is literally what an incubus does. One judge didn't buy the main character's yearning for the incubus afterwards, even though the story said she was possessed. One judge thought that the encounter was supposed to be consensual and I'd erred by making it sound non-consensual. One judge thought it was supposed to be a fantasy and thought the language I used was too coarse. Three different takes, but the overall message seemed to be that you can't write about an incubus in a ghost story.

I guess I'll take your advice because I don't want to play it safe. I just hope I don't get booted again because I didn't choose one of the hackneyed paths like "ghost can see the action but is powerless to stop it" or "person doesn't know they're a ghost until the very end" or "ghost has unfinished business" or "ghost teaches main character a moral lesson"...
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Points: 785 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote WhistlerCrowe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 10:30pm
Hey y'all! My prompts are Mystery - Summer School - A boyfriend. The boyfriend is tripping me up. Leaning towards going the magical realism route with this, but I don't know how broad the character of a "boyfriend" can be... Could he be a minor character? Or the boyfriend of a secondary character who is mentioned within the story? Help, please. 
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Points: 5312 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Random Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 10:36pm
Originally posted by Perri Winkle Perri Winkle wrote:

Nice.

I also received political satire, but I'm in group 106 -- petition (subject) and chairperson (character).

Are you experienced in political satire? What do you recommend I do for research, etc.? I usually write fantasy :)

No reason not to write fantasy pol-sat.  Ever watch the second Shrek movie?

My favorite pol-sat is Master and Margarita.  It was a 'desk drawer' novel and never meant to see the light of day, mostly because the author knew Stalin (little soso dzugashvili) personally, but still would have ended up in the gulag for it.

1984

Soloviev or Skabieva or Simyonan one of the others for the last 12 months.  I swear MinTruth was their operating model.  I thought 1984 was supposed to be a cautionary tale, not a guidebook.

Animal Farm.

Brave New World

The difference between Huxley and Orwell is Orwell believed that which we fear will enslave us.  Huxley believed that which we love will enslave us.  They're both right.

<edit>
Should have mentioned 1984 is officially banned in the Russian Federation now.  For the record I read it in 1984 while I was *cough* 12 miles off the coast of the then Soviet Union.  The only guy who thought to bring a copy.  Surrounded by Philistines.
</edit>


Edited by Random - 21 Jan 2023 at 10:38pm
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Points: 5312 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Random Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 10:43pm
Originally posted by WhistlerCrowe WhistlerCrowe wrote:

Hey y'all! My prompts are Mystery - Summer School - A boyfriend. The boyfriend is tripping me up. Leaning towards going the magical realism route with this, but I don't know how broad the character of a "boyfriend" can be... Could he be a minor character? Or the boyfriend of a secondary character who is mentioned within the story? Help, please. 


Never have to meet him.  It.  Could be a frog for all anyone cares, just make the 'boyfriend' a frequent distraction for the main character.  Source of exasperation.  Constantly going to meet the boyfriend and some mystery gets in the way.  Almost anything you can think of.

I've made characters secondary, and the only reason you knew who the character was is I applied the label (and they earned it).

"Watch out for him, he's a TROUBLEMAKER".  And done.
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Points: 5312 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Random Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 10:47pm
Originally posted by Deschain Deschain wrote:

Originally posted by nod1v1ng nod1v1ng wrote:

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

I'm nervous about that though. My only other entry was a ghost story and I wrote about an incubus and the judges really hammered me for including non-consensual content...but that is literally what an incubus does. One judge didn't buy the main character's yearning for the incubus afterwards, even though the story said she was possessed. One judge thought that the encounter was supposed to be consensual and I'd erred by making it sound non-consensual. One judge thought it was supposed to be a fantasy and thought the language I used was too coarse. Three different takes, but the overall message seemed to be that you can't write about an incubus in a ghost story.

I guess I'll take your advice because I don't want to play it safe. I just hope I don't get booted again because I didn't choose one of the hackneyed paths like "ghost can see the action but is powerless to stop it" or "person doesn't know they're a ghost until the very end" or "ghost has unfinished business" or "ghost teaches main character a moral lesson"...


Don't let your imagination get the best of you.  Write the story and let the judges fall where they may.  Judging is improving anyway.  Always room for more, but if the story is good and you made the attempt to check the boxes...

In your example I might have pitched a fit to feedback.  Wouldn't have changed anything, but if the story stands the story stands, even if the judges don't know the difference between a succubus and a city bus.
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Points: 785 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote WhistlerCrowe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 10:58pm
Originally posted by Random Random wrote:

Never have to meet him.  It.  Could be a frog for all anyone cares, just make the 'boyfriend' a frequent distraction for the main character.  Source of exasperation.  Constantly going to meet the boyfriend and some mystery gets in the way.  Almost anything you can think of.

I've made characters secondary, and the only reason you knew who the character was is I applied the label (and they earned it).

"Watch out for him, he's a TROUBLEMAKER".  And done.

Wonderful. Thank you for the help!
That frog comment has me considering writing a retelling of The Princess and The Frog where the whole story is the two of them trying to find who turned him into a frog. 
I'm not going to actually do it, but the thought is there. LOL
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