Discussion -- September 2011 Challenge

[Mouse]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

Parson, I've just read yours a couple more times and I do get it now. It was the 'jump drive' which was throwing me.

 

[Starbeast]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

I meant by SFF, SF or F, Starbeast -- I didn't mean they had to be both and I'm not expecting that. Just one or the other.

I thought it was just me.

Me three!

I only glanced through the stories to be sure I wasn't similar to anyone else's tale before adding mine, but after reading each one carefully, I see what some are saying about the lack of Sci-Fi or Fantasy. I was surprised.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

Without looking back over the entries I can't really comment on the lack of SFF, but it is something that seems to be coming out. I know that mine is probably one of those that seems to be lacking the SFF ingredient.

I did not really think about it when I wrote it, it sprang from my original effort which did have a strong SF content. So it might have slipped, although I would like to think that there is a subtle SFF angle to it.

 

[chrispenycate]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

Sometimes something will start SF, and then as you cut out non-essentials to reach the word limit, you lose your setting.

Yes, mine started fairly fantasy, but by the time it had been beaten into rhythmic shape it had probably become too obscure to be obvious (if that's clear?)

I'm not only not getting the SFF, I'm just not getting the stories generally. I think there's two which I think I get. And that's it. I'm being particularly dense this month.

And look, I forgot to Mouse test it.

Now, I don't think slaps are in order for bemoaning a not entirely successful entry, but to prevent general denigration of one's talent (or ability). Frequently in order to stimulate an "Oh no, I loved it" reflex from the reader. I know my present entry is too similar in construction to an earlier one of mine, and it's a bit more confused than I had intended, but that doesn't mean I consider I'm sinking into senility. (Well, I don't consider the submission evidence of it, anyway). Perhaps next month I'll get an enormous wave of inspiration, and won't be tempted to verse. In the mean time I can read the other entries and consider how to do better.

 

[Starbeast]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

Sometimes something will start SF, and then as you cut out non-essentials to reach the word limit, you lose your setting.

I hacked up my 300 Word Challenge entry like a mad gardener. It just didn't have the same impact after trimming I felt, but I retained the basic guts of the story.

Without looking back over the entries I can't really comment on the lack of SFF, but it is something that seems to be coming out. I know that mine is probably one of those that seems to be lacking the SFF ingredient.

When I say some stories lack either S-F or F, I am refering to a very small percentage, even though some are without, they are still very well written and entertaining.

In this month's contest, many stoires are using a very light sprinkle of science fiction and/or fantasy. I was surprised.

 

[High Eight]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

High Eight - I really like it when humour is inserted into these stories, and this one works incredibly well. Another really good take on the theme, with time travel being the curtain in this case. The idea of future holidaymakers travelling back to experience disasters a brilliant one. It could have been done all doom and gloom, but here it makes you smile.

Thank you for your comment, Perp. Having just got back from holiday (A cruise around the 'Vikingy' bits of the North Sea) and seen tourists at their best and worst (On a ship, no less!), my story pretty much wrote itself.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

I have a feeling that "behind the scenes" is a topic that beautifully lends itself to exotic explanations of the mundane, which is how the SFF gets lost in the thought process. At least, that's what has happened to all the ideas I've come up with so far! I think of something, start composing, and then realize it's not SFF. I think I have one now that is going to be ok, but it needs some work.

 

[TheTomG]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

I too missed the SF or F in some of the entries. I hope mine didn't miss out, I'd certainly be interested if what I had in my head on writing it made it across to the reader in the sparse number of words we had available. That is of course the challenge, and it is a useful lesson to know if I succeeded or not - in either case, knowing if I did or if I didn't will help me adjust and tune my writing.

I've always found it interesting that in the end any work of art is composed and created by at least two people - the artist, and the viewer. The piece of art actually arises somewhere in the middle, the meeting of the two minds, and so is always different for each viewer, and never purely a creation of the artist either. That actually is what makes writing (and creating images and music) such a drive for me, so that my ideas and thoughts and feelings and mind ("me") can genuinely meet and interact with the ideas and thoughts and feelings and mind of someone else, something far beyond any nodding and saying hi and shaking hands. Somewhere in the world of abstract objects, a meeting takes place that is more fundamental and deep than most any other human interaction.

Oops, tangents, it's getting late - I need to sleep

 

[Highlander]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

... I have to say I'm having problems seeing the SFF part of some of the stories, which probably means I'm missing the point of them all.

I tend to agree with you but I think the proportion of SFF content is rather higher than for just a few tales. I would categorise them as in sections as below:-

No SFF content 17 tales
Slight SFF content 9 tales
Significant SFF content 9 tales

So IMHO, I would say that over half have some SFF significance.

I would also agree that most of the tales probable had more SFF content before being whittled down to 75 words - but that is the Challenge, is it not?

All I would also all demonstrate the wide variety of "Behind the Scenes" scenarios that can come from many diverse and fertile minds.

 

[mosaix]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

I tend to agree with you but I think the proportion of SFF content is rather higher than for just a few tales. I would categorise them as in sections as below:-

No SFF content 17 tales
Slight SFF content 9 tales
Significant SFF content 9 tales

So IMHO, I would say that over half have some SFF significance.

My count differs a bit from yours, Highlander. I count about eight or nine that don't meet the 'genre' rule and I find that startling. In previous months I have only ever discounted, at most, two or three entries because of this.

Maybe it's because 'Behind The Scenes' has such wide scope for interpretation that the genre has been forgotten.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

I've just been through them myself, and I make it 8 that don't apparently meet the genre rule. (I included my own in that count).

However the definition of what is Science Fiction and Fantasy is very nebulous and I could make (I would like to think strong) argument that at least five of those eight could be covered by SFF.

SFF does not need to be in your face it can so subtle as to be insignificant.

Of course part of the challenge is to convey that and if the reader is missing it or does not agree with the writer there is very little that can be done.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

I've done the same , and count possibly 2 or 3 that aren't either fantasy or scifi. Your entry is not among them Perp; whether the monologue is delivered by God, the Devil, or a 'faceless beaurocrat' who has power over Presidents and Princes, one could certainly describe that scenario as 'fantasy'. Depending on your religious/political beliefs it could be true, but then again so could my time-travelling meddler.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

Thanks PM! Loved some of your interpretations!

 

[GreenKidx]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

After much deliberation, I have posted my entry. After voting ill post my two alternative options to see how they compare/dont compare.

 

[nixie]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

I'm liking it Greenkidx

 

[GreenKidx]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

I'm liking it Greenkidx

Thanks Nixie!

 

[Aun Doorback]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

mmh - This discussion is very interesting, especially as I suspect half of us who have now submitted are re-reading our own entries to see whether we have written it in enough of a SFF way! Subjective stuff, this writing lark. Note to self: make sure you throw in some magic / and or laser beams next time.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

mmh - This discussion is very interesting, especially as I suspect half of us who have now submitted are re-reading our own entries to see whether we have written it in enough of a SFF way! Subjective stuff, this writing lark. Note to self: make sure you throw in some magic / and or laser beams next time.

I don't think you needed to worry...

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

Boy, I sure hate following those two, but I needed to get mine out of the way and stop messing with it!

 

[mosaix]

Re: Discussion September 2011 Writing Challenge

Did I imagine it, or did GreenKidx post an entry this afternoon?