"APHELION PROJECT" CHALLENGE, pt. 1

[kailhofer]

The "Aphelion Project" Challenge, Part One:


Want to try something new?

A friend of mine told me something he read about George Bernard Shaw. Supposedly, Shaw used to take any piece he was reading, and halfway through, he would write down how he thought the story would end. When he was done, he'd compare the two and see how close he was. I haven't been able to confirm this, but true or not I thought it could be adapted for a challenge.

Enter the new shared universe around here, Bill Warren's Aphelion Project. No stories have yet been written for this series. I've discussed this with Dan, and with his blessing, this challenge proposes to explore some possibilities of this new universe, as well as try a variation on Shaw's reported "halfway" technique. It would also exercise your skills in voice, characterization, and plot.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story using a main character and setting that is provided for you. You may do anything you want to said character, as long as the character winds up in a predetermined ending point, a cliffhanger. Authors will have two weeks to write their 1,000-word "halfway" stories, and then we'll vote as to which we like best. The next month, all entrants will have another 1,000 words to try to write the ending to the winning story from the first part. (So by entering you give permission if you win for others to use your characters and story elements.) The vote for part two will be for which ending the audience feels best completes the winning story from part one--without knowing the 1st part winner's intent or plan. The 1st part winner will have to enter their second half like anybody else if they want to try to win again, but entry in both halves of the contest is not required.

STORY SETUP: Your main character is Lt. Cmdr. Dunsirn (Navy), second in command of Aphelion 2, which is halfway to Mars. Aphelion 1 is a day ahead. There are six people onboard each ship. The only important character point is that as second in command of the second ship to go to Mars, Dunsirn knows that history will never remember his (or her) name. IMPORTANT: Your story must end with Dunsirn discovered over the body of the most junior crewperson.

Your "1st half" story may not be more than 1000 words, and does not need to be hard SF. There isn't room for that in this format. Include title and a byline. Author's names will be posted on the story and the poll for this challenge. Do not send a bio. If, in my judgment, any requirement is missed, I won't post the story for voting. Sorry, but rules are for everyone. Stories may be Rated "R" (Dan is ok with that).

Pictures of the ships and general information about the Aphelion Project can be found here: http://www.aphelion-webzine.com/series/bwsu/index.html

HOW TO SUBMIT: Stories should be submitted to me by PRIVATE MESSAGE, and NOT posted into the thread. If you've never sent a PM, all you have to do is log into this forum and click the 'PM' button at the bottom of this post. That will take you to a special message board, a kind of Aphelion-only email, where you paste your story into the body of the message and then send it to me. You are responsible for doing your own formatting, and for the sake of uniformity, leave an extra line between paragraphs, just like when you see them in the 'zine. I'm allowing different colors for now, but I'm not going to allow changed fonts or sizes, artwork, or any other embedded or external links. I want all the stories to display the same on everyone's computer. DO NOT send a regular email to me--I don't want to risk a spam filter blocking someone's hard work.

NOTE: ONLY REGISTERED MEMBERS who have posted at least one message may submit a story. Without that one post, the system will not let you send a PM. So if you wish to join the challenge, post a hello or introduction, or just put your two cents worth in on any of the discussions going on anywhere in the Forum. We'll be glad to meet you.

DEADLINE: Stories should be in by 10 p.m. Central Standard Time, Thursday, April 24, 2008. The stories will then be posted for voting. Voting will close at 10 p.m. C.S.T. on Wed., April 30. Anyone wishing to take on the 2nd part of the challenge will then have until May 22, 2008 to craft a 1,000-word ending to the winning entry from part one.

VOTING: All the story titles are literally tossed into a hat and chosen at in random order. Vote totals will stay hidden until the poll is closed. If two or more stories are tied at the end of voting, there will be a succession of one-day runoff votes until a single winner is chosen.

If you feel a second story deserves a vote, you may legally vote again as a guest, but you'd need to do it from a separate network, say from a library or your workplace. Votes are tracked by IP address only, so a guest vote from your same network will change your previous vote to the newer one. Voting for yourself a second time is just tacky, so don't do it.

WHAT YOU WIN: Attention and glory. Respect. Perhaps even the envy of your competitors. No promise is expressed or implied that these stories will ever be a part of the official pantheon for the Aphelion Project Universe. However, your story just might wind up shaping all future stories in that venue, which would be pretty cool.

GUEST ACCESS: Guest votes will be allowed again, so feel free to tell friends and neighbors about the contest and encourage them to read all the stories, not just yours.

I wrote an example under the same rules and time constraints earlier, but I don't want to influence anyone's story in any way, so I will post it as an entry with the others that come in.

[kailhofer]

Interesting concept, Nate.  Really.  I'm already looking forward to Part II.

Just to make sure.  .  .It's been decided that there will be 12 total crew on Aphelion I & II and that this is the first trip to Mars.  

There are no names already in place for any other crew on either ship, correct?

This way, the winner(s) of this Challenge actually develop some of the characters that everyone else is stuck with.  .  .forever.

Just making sure before I name myself as the first person to set foot on Mars.  I know it would have to be near future, but do we have a specific year for this, yet?

I'd be shocked if we could do this any earlier than 2030, but I'm open for suggestion.

Thanks,

Bill Wolfe

The Bill Warren pages say that he thought the ships he rendered would accomodate 4-6 people each. I picked 6.

As it says in the rules, there's no guarantee that anything we come up with will be officially adpoted. There's just the possibility that it could.

As far as the Challenge goes, Dunsirn is the only set name. I think Dan mentioned he thought something around 2035 in the Bill Warren discussion thread. In any regard, in the future, but not all that much. And yes, we're going with it will be the first trip. I think it's more exciting that way.

(Darn it, I never even thought of naming myself as 1st to walk on Mars! If only I didn't have a rule about not changing my pre-made entries after others come in...  :'()

Nate

[kailhofer]

UPDATE: One week into the entry period, I have 3 stories. Deadline is Thursday, April 24th, 10 p.m. central standard time.

Anyone looking for something to spend some free time on this weekend, opportunity knocks!


Nate

[kailhofer]

Time is flying by. Still only 3 entries in. Deadline is Thursday at 10 p.m.

Enter now, and get great odds of winning! It's not as hard as it looks. Plus, you just might shape the writing of a whole universe!


Nate