Aphelion

The "What If" Challenge:



Did you ever wonder if something was different in our current-day world, how things would be? For example, what if we were all monopedal, that is, what if all of us had only one leg? I'm not saying we all lost a leg through some sort of accident, although that might be an interesting story if we did, but what if no human had ever had more than one leg? How would life be different? If we all bounced around on one leg stalk, how might society and technology have evolved? Probably be a lot fewer foot races at the Olympics, but who knows.

What if the sky was green instead of blue? What kind of atmosphere would we need to get that? If we weren't breathing oxygen-nitrogen, how would that change the world in which we live?

What if no one had ever figured out rubber? What if snow was multi-colored instead of white? What if humans only reproduced asexually, by budding? Or perhaps men have the babies instead of the women.

The task this time is to take one simple, yet obvious, thing about ourselves or the universe in which we live and change it. From there, create a world for your characters.

Since this is flash, that's a big hurdle to jump. Let us narrow the focus down a bit, and give the audience some things they can easily relate to and fill in a few blanks for you: tell your story either about taking your main character character's chosen mate to meet the main character's parents the first time, or, if you'd like something more benign, an attempt to go for a picnic in a park.


What craziness or drama that ensues thereafter is your challenge. Are you up for it?


REQUIREMENTS: (1) Your "what-if" story must tell the tale of meeting the main characters parents the first time or of an attempt to go for a picnic in a park, in current-day on Earth; (2) One basic thing about the universe must be different and clearly indicated in the story without being overtly stated, and any other changes to the universe must have been caused by that one difference; (3) You must have at least two characters that "talk" to each other in some fashion. (4) 1,000 words or less, not counting title, byline, or "The End"; (5) The characters, setting, and story must be fictional and not previously published, even in these challenges; (6) One entry per author; (7) Give your story a title and a byline; and (8) Keep it clean. Rated 'PG-13'. (Basically, think, "Could I see this on CSI?" That allows a lot, really.)

CHARACTERS & SETTING: No copyrighted characters or settings, or references thereto. Famous, non-copyrighted fictional characters like Santa Claus, or religious figures such as the Devil, named angels such as Gabriel, or gods like Thor, etc. as supporting characters at best and at my discretion. The Wicked Witch and Dracula may be in the public domain, but don't expect me to allow them. No person that was ever a "real life" human being may be used as a character, but can be referred to, as in "President Kennedy had declared it would be so." Except as noted above under non-copyrighted fictional persons, character names may not be copied from fiction or real life, even if changed, i.e. Char-less Darween. All non-copyrighted settings are ok. Famous, unique sites like Stonehenge may be used over and again. No fan fiction or sequels, so don't bother putting your story in the Land of Oz or that great place you thought up two challenges ago.

DISQUALIFICATIONS/REFUSALS: If, in my judgment, any requirement or rule is missed, I won't post the story for voting, but authors are free to resubmit with changes until the deadline. Should a story be initially accepted and posted in the challenge, but then later judged by me to be in violation, the story may be disqualified and removed from contention at any time before contest end. Authors who feel a story may be in violation should send me a PM and state their case.

HOW TO ENTER: Stories must be sent by PRIVATE MESSAGE, and NOT posted into a thread. Just click the 'PM' button at the bottom of this post and paste your story in the message. You are responsible for doing your own formatting, and leave an extra line between paragraphs, just like when you see them in the 'zine. I will allow different colors, but not changed fonts or sizes, artwork, or any other embedded or external links.

DO NOT send a regular email to me.

Stories will be posted "blind"--without the author's name on them. All the story titles are literally tossed into a pith helmet and chosen at in random order. When the poll closes after the voting week, I'll post a list of the stories and who wrote them. All entries will then be reposted in the Flash Archive with the author's byline.

Entries from new authors are strongly encouraged. C'mon. Give it a try!

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.

DEADLINE: Stories should be in by 9 p.m. Central Standard Time (GMT-6), Sunday, January 20, 2013. The stories will then be posted for voting at approximately 10 p.m. Voting will close on Sunday, January 27th at approximately 9 p.m., GMT-6.

VOTING: Stories are rated on a scale of 0-10 in whole numbers in 6 different categories by filling in scores in a form that is posted by me immediately following the post containing the stories for this challenge. Voters copy and paste the form into a PM and send it to me for tallying. One vote per user (that is, per ip address), and authors may not vote for their own story.

IF YOU WISH TO SCORE A ZERO FOR A STORY, YOU MUST ENTER A ZERO IN THAT POSITION ON THE VOTING FORM. A challenge entrant who does not vote for the other stories will receive a 10% deduction in their own score at the time of contest close, and the other stories will be given marks equaling whatever their story's average is at the time of contest close.

If more than two stories are tied at the end of voting, there will be a succession of one-day runoff votes until a single winner is chosen or the number of winners is reduced to two.

WHAT YOU WIN: Writers get improved short fiction skills, increasing their chances in the marketplace, without the lengthy investment in time a longer story would take. That, as well as bragging rights and pride--there is stiff competition each month amongst some great stories.

LEGAL STUFF: I'll try to do my best lawyer impersonation: By entering this challenge you are technically granting Aphelion: The Webzine of Science Fiction and Fantasy perpetual electronic rights only to post and archive your challenge entry. Aphelion would rather not lay any claim on them at all, but by posting them on a public site, they'd legally count as being published no matter what.

Ok. A real lawyer would have been less interesting. I tried.

TaoPhoenix wrote:Wow, interesting and tough challenge. Some points to clarify:

"What if no one had ever figured out rubber?" The other suggestions were more scientific. This one is more cultural. Does that mean that the one thing could be that some historical event turned out differently?

I was going for something like the sap used was never "rubbery" or that the sense of inventiveness to harness it did not exist. I mean, think about how important rubber was. Practically every machine used in the industrial revolution used rubber gaskets or seals. It lead to practical tires on cars. Imagine if you didn't have that. It certainly would have changed society.

So as far as a historical event turning out differently, no, not in an of itself. Something fundamental can cause the event to turn out different, like say Ben Franklin couldn't get the spark on the key of his kite string... because electricity didn't exist or would not flow through wires.

I'm going for a physical property of the universe or ourselves being different. Does that make sense?

In some kind of case like a dropped sentence clause, the picnic seems to leave room for going to it with any number of characters from 0 to (some large number until it gets infeasible). Is that true, or is it still supposed to be about two beings in rapport with a choice of two destinations?

It's meant that you have two possible generic plotlines: your significant other meeting the folks the first time... or going on a picnic. The rules say you must have at least two characters who talk to each other in some way (so there is something clear to evaluate for the "dialog" score) so there have to be two or more schmoes trying to do this picnic thing. There is no upper limit on the number of characters. If your fundamental thing is that the dinosaurs never died off, you may want to bring many people along so there are still a few left after the velociraptors finish gnawing on them.

Tao,
Since we've only got a thousand words here, we can't afford elaborate explanations. Just pick one thing, change it, and follow the changes.

H. G. Wells suggested this method of story construction oh, way back when. Assume a normal universe as we know it, then insert one improbable event (change one thing) and watch people's reactions. The example he used was of pigs flying.

Don't try to explain the inexplicable, just show what people do about it.

TaoPhoenix wrote:

kailhofer wrote:I was going for something like the sap used was never "rubbery" or that the sense of inventiveness to harness it did not exist. I mean, think about how important rubber was. Practically every machine used in the industrial revolution used rubber gaskets or seals. It lead to practical tires on cars. Imagine if you didn't have that. It certainly would have changed society.

So as far as a historical event turning out differently, no, not in an of itself. Something fundamental can cause the event to turn out different, like say Ben Franklin couldn't get the spark on the key of his kite string... because electricity didn't exist or would not flow through wires.

I'm going for a physical property of the universe or ourselves being different. Does that make sense?

Hi Nate,
Hoping not to sound a bit repetitive, I think there's still a bit of a clarification needed here. With a shout out to Bill Wolfe and the other hard science types, that seems to be a big part of a plot point that this challenge hinges on. Presuming that otherwise logic-fallacies are put away for a minute, I see some three levels of events.

1. "Physics is different". (Logical Fallacies are hand-waved away here.) Gravity is more or less than what we know it, friction is different than what we know it, heat flow between two objects/liquids is different, etc. Therefore some kind of normal event *cannot* happen simply because the underlying equations are different.
2. "Biology/Geology is Different". Physics are still "as we know them Jim" but some misc event changed the players. We evolved the pogo-foot, all Rubber plants ever caught some weird disease and became extinct, or some asteroid hit California and broke it off into the sea. So the natural context is still sensible, but some event removed an element we rely on, so that it *would have been the same* except for the missing Rubber Plants. And no Microsoft.
3. "Sociology is Different". All parts of the world are as we know them, but the People factors are different. Ben Franklin forgot to wash his hands on a crucial day in April in London, and then he caught a plague carried by a rat and died at age 12, thus negating all his achievements. Isaac Newton was shot in a quarrel, delaying Calculus because Leibnitz gave up in despair and after a minor run-in with the law, was committed to an asylum. One crucial message did in fact get delivered in the Revolutionary war and so the American Rebellion was crushed out and so America as we know it does not exist.

What I would like to know is if all three categories are allowed, or if any of them are discouraged.

Thanks,

--Tao

are you making the requirement something "hard coded" into the environment like us evolving one foot, or rubber plants became extinct or even worse, some coefficient that makes rubber what we know it simply doesn't work,

Stay away from number 3 and you'll be fine. Actually, I really like the idea of no friction. What a world that would be.

I just bounced a story back for mods... and it was a very compelling story, too, if the changes can be made.

But it's the only story submitted so far.

A different one in! Will only need a teeny, tiny tweak and it will be good to go...

What are you going to write?

Three of the Usual Suspects made it through the door with their stories and are ready to duke it out for your approval and rating. Give them some competition, if you dare.