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Competition: Variations on a theme 3.5 (Flashfiction)

124

Comments

  • #92
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 36,093 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    We could combine it with a suggestion from earlier. At an appointed time, everyone gets blind drunk, writes a piece and submits it. Then each contestant has to guess which sorry mess is his.


  • #93
    Antilles
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    So, pickarooney, which two users have the most distinctive writing style? :)

    I've noticed some thematic links between stories and wondered if it was the same author, but never thought to go and check


  • #94
    Also Starring LeVar Burton
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,503 ✭✭✭✭Also Starring LeVar Burton


    --amadeus-- wrote: »
    I'd be confident on two.

    But one of them is my own, so not sure if that counts :D

    I think I'd be able to name my own and that's about it...
    I'd probably just offend certain people if I tried to guess...


  • #95
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 36,093 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    Antilles wrote:
    So, pickarooney, which two users have the most distinctive writing style?

    Ah, that'd be telling. ;)

    I don't suppose a World-Cup themed competition would be very popular?

    If there are no other suggestions for version 4, how about one where I give a frist line (and maybe a last line?) and you take it any direction you want from there?


  • #96
    angelll
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 537 ✭✭✭angelll


    I'd like to do one with the last line decided rather than the first.


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  • #97
    Mr E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 55,678 ✭✭✭✭Mr E


    I'll roll with whatever people decide... thats part of the challenge!

    I think a world cup theme is a bit limiting, though.


  • #98
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 36,093 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    Mr E wrote: »
    I'll roll with whatever people decide... thats part of the challenge!

    I think a world cup theme is a bit limiting, though.

    No more limiting than any other theme really. I could imagine spy stories, murder-mysteries, psycho-dramas, erotic thrillers or children's bedtime stories all with World Cup themes. That said, I don't think it's a runner in that the mere mention of footballl will turn many people off.

    So let's set it around a one-day cricket international in Bangalore.


  • #99
    Mr E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 55,678 ✭✭✭✭Mr E


    I was trying to be diplomatic, dude. Let me phrase it another way:

    I don't want to do a world cup story. :)


  • #100
    --amadeus--
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,095 ✭✭✭--amadeus--


    I think a WC theme is like any other, it's just a setting for teh story and doesn't have to have anything to do with football (power, ego, pressure, expectation, disapointment, rivalry, hatred, bonding (not bandage!) are all themes that could be explored without needing to mention a football, for example)

    On teh other hand a story with a set opening or closing line I would find pretty much impossible to write, I think.


  • #101
    Also Starring LeVar Burton
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,503 ✭✭✭✭Also Starring LeVar Burton


    I'd be up for a World Cup theme, but I get the feeling I'd be in the minority... Dream Team was based on Football, and look at all the stories that managed to tell - hostage situations, plane crashes, bus crashes, weddings, suicide... The list goes on...

    I'm cool with whatever though...


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  • #102
    ToasterSparks
    Closed Accounts Posts: 368 ✭✭ToasterSparks


    I was actually going to suggest a World Cup theme as well!

    At first I thought it would be a horrible idea, but then I realised that it would just be a challenge for me like the other competitions were. The best way to improve our writing is to push ourselves outside our comfort zone, right?


  • #103
    Mr E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 55,678 ✭✭✭✭Mr E


    OK, I'm up for it, so. :)


  • #104
    Antilles
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    I'd definitely be up for a World Cup story. I'm against having the first/last lines set though. I want to write a story, not have it written for me :)


  • #105
    The Mad Hatter
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    I can't see myself bothering with a world cup story (which isn't a problem as I have a fairly interesting story I want to get started on anyhow), but I'd love the challenge of fitting a story into given first and last lines. That idea seems a bit unpopular, though...


  • #106
    kerash
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,688 ✭✭✭kerash


    Mr E wrote: »
    I was trying to be diplomatic, dude. Let me phrase it another way:

    I don't want to do a world cup story. :)
    Once upon a time there woz dis man who didn wanna rite a world cup storie...:P

    Looking forward to reading the next round, very impressive stuff from you lot! :) I'm wondering how you approach writing your stories with such a short time limit, does it just flow?


  • #107
    Blush_01
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,016 ✭✭✭Blush_01


    Well I don't know about anybody else, but I thought I had a great idea for about 15 minutes. For some odd reason I couldn't write it, so I changed it completely to what I submitted instead. I keep reading it and picking at it now, there are so many lines that jar for me and it's driving me nuts! I think the other idea I had would have worked better, but I'd have needed a bit more time to iron out the kinks and do some research.

    That said, I loved the flash fiction. It was just a case of head down, get to work. A little bit of pressure never hurts! :)


  • #108
    Oryx
    Subscribers Posts: 19,421 ✭✭✭✭Oryx


    Just catching up on this thread. At first I thought, Boo! Hiss! to a world cup story, but sure, why not. Its football, right? With like guys running around and stuff, to earn zillions so their girlfriends get to buy more shoes. I think I understand it.

    The first and last line thing... mmm...No. I like the last line in a story, its the final word you get. I prefer it to be personal.


  • #109
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 36,093 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    Oryx wrote: »
    Just catching up on this thread. At first I thought, Boo! Hiss! to a world cup story, but sure, why not. Its football, right? With like guys running around and stuff, to earn zillions so their girlfriends get to buy more shoes. I think I understand it.

    Not necessarily...


  • #110
    angelll
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 537 ✭✭✭angelll


    I'd still prefer the last line comp. A few people have said they wouldn't like it,they would prefer to write the last line themslves...well that's the point,to make it difficult so we can all try new things isn't it? Personally i have an awful habit of adding a twist at the end of my stories ( i blame it on reading too much jeffrey archer :D) so writing a story where the end has to be one way would be a real challenge for me. I don't see the world cup as a real theme...


  • #111
    Oryx
    Subscribers Posts: 19,421 ✭✭✭✭Oryx


    pickarooney wrote: »
    Not necessarily...
    Its all balls to me, anyway.


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  • #112
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 36,093 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    There's a yachting World Cup...


  • #113
    angelll
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 537 ✭✭✭angelll


    There's now a discworld world cup too,does that mean i can choose that as a theme? Just do a fan fiction ;)


  • #114
    ToasterSparks
    Closed Accounts Posts: 368 ✭✭ToasterSparks


    Okay, I'm going to throw a random story idea into the mix. Feel free to hate it!

    Adam and Kate are days away from their dream wedding. At the wedding rehearsals, the bride (OR the groom) overhears a conversation that changes their lives forever.....


    Thoughts?


  • #115
    Antilles
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    pickarooney wrote: »
    Not necessarily...

    I was planning a story about a gigantic race of aliens who conquer Earth so they can hollow it out, stick a handle on Asia and use it to hold their drinks.


  • #116
    --amadeus--
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,095 ✭✭✭--amadeus--


    ToasterSparks wrote: »
    Okay, I'm going to throw a random story idea into the mix. Feel free to hate it!

    Adam and Kate are days away from their dream wedding. At the wedding rehearsals, the bride (OR the groom) overhears a conversation that changes their lives forever.....


    Thoughts?

    Bit close to VOAT 2, don't you think?


  • #117
    Antilles
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    --amadeus-- wrote: »
    Bit close to VOAT 2, don't you think?

    Adam and Kate are not doing anything. As they pass the time, Adam OR Kate overhears a conversation that he/she will forget within seconds.... :D


  • #118
    Antilles
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    How about pick the first line of a nursery rhyme as your first line, and use the rest of the rhyme as the theme for your story?


  • #119
    Blush_01
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,016 ✭✭✭Blush_01


    How about: the title of the piece has to be a palindrome. That'd be fun!


  • #120
    angelll
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 537 ✭✭✭angelll


    Blush_01 wrote: »
    How about: the title of the piece has to be a palindrome. That'd be fun!

    You have a strange notion of fun :p

    How about we each pick a genre that takes you completely out of your comfort zone? If you write sci-fi,pick romantic fiction. If you write romantic fiction,pick historical fiction and so on....


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  • #121
    Antilles
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    Some ideas:
    • A student, John/Jane, sits on a train when s/he sees someone s/he recognises.
    • A group of people come together again after many years.
    • Bill/Barbara sits on the roof of a tall building in tears.
    • Simon/Sandra discovers a horrible family secret.
    • Two feuding siblings come to blows on O'Connell Street.
    • Conor/Christine, a perfectly normal person, discovers s/he has a superpower.
    • Paul/Patricia feels his/her car hit something while driving in the country.


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