FLASH CHALLENGE: June '11
Posted: June 05, 2011, 03:54:18 PM
The "Implied" Challenge:
Not long ago, Rob Wynne sent me a link to a news story about planetary orphans, that is, planets astronomers found out there that aren't part of any solar system. They've been cast loose (or been driven out) from their "home," or perhaps they were lumps of matter that just weren't big enough to condense and burn into suns. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13416431 Rob wondered what kind of life could have formed there and if this could be a good hook for a challenge.
I think yes, and also no. Creating new life is interesting. It's world building, which is an important skill for writers, but this is a flash challenge, and there aren't a lot of spare words to flesh out a new world.
More importantly, a thousand words to just describe new life is not a very interesting story in itself. In a story, things have to happen. Characters move and interact. Plot develops. Furthermore, the most interesting stories aren't about a place at all, but instead the people in that spot, trying to perform some personal task while something bigger happens--particularly if those "people" are flawed in some important way. Readers love flawed, but compelling characters.
There again, there's that thousand word limit keeping your flash story down. How to get around it?
Imply.
That is, hint at the way things are just enough the readers can fill it in themselves, both for setting and for the character's back-story. Don't go on about how cold it is at midnight on your world--see your partner shivering in the deepest dark. Don't tell us how much your hero owes the local warlord--just have him agree too quickly to the price and hurry from the public market.
In short, this challenge is all about learning to write with the most impact in the fewest possible words.
To do this challenge, there are a number of things you will need to figure out before you write a single word:
Setting: Set your story on one of those "orphaned" planets. Figure it out in your head exactly what it's like, but do NOT tell us about it. Hint at what it's like through what your characters see or do.
Characters: Every character in your story must have a personal goal like falling in love, becoming the best swordsman in the regiment, avenging the death of their father, eating the last alien equivalent of a Twinkie on the planet, etc., but DON'T tell us what it is. (Ok, don’t really try the pseudo-Twinkie thing. I'm just trying to say the personal goal doesn't need to be something big and serious.) They may or not achieve it in the story, but just don't tell us what they're really aiming at. Each character also needs a flaw, but DON'T tell us what flaw your character has. The reader should be able to guess it by the time they're done.
A big event: There needs to be a big event going on (that you DO describe or explain to some degree) that the characters can interact in. The barbarian horde may be attacking. Aliens may have landed next door and are stealing all the females or perhaps just the pets. The base's cafeteria may be serving only tapioca pudding for the 13th straight day and a riot is going on. Whatever, so long as the action will sweep your characters into the plotline. Once they're there, their goals and flaws will dictate their actions, and bam, you're writing!
When you're done, you may surprise yourself at what an enjoyable story you've written.
REQUIREMENTS: (1) Your SF, Fantasy, or Horror story must tell the tale of one or more characters on a planetary orphan caught up in some larger event; (2) Each character must have a personal goal they want to achieve and also have a flaw; (3) Do not describe the world, the character's goal, or their flaw. These must be implied or shown; (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?")
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-les Darween. All non-copyrighted settings are ok. Famous, unique sites like Stonehenge may be used over and again. No fan fiction, 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 hat 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, June 19, 2011. The stories will then be posted for voting at 10 p.m. Voting will close on Sunday, June 26 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.
Every effort will be made to keep the voting fair. In the past, some voters have abstained from voting for some of the stories while voting for the others. Since total points scored decides the winner, this put the stories that weren't voted on at a disadvantage. Should this happen again, the skipped stories will be given marks equaling whatever the story's average is at the time of contest close. 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 or any 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.
Not long ago, Rob Wynne sent me a link to a news story about planetary orphans, that is, planets astronomers found out there that aren't part of any solar system. They've been cast loose (or been driven out) from their "home," or perhaps they were lumps of matter that just weren't big enough to condense and burn into suns. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13416431 Rob wondered what kind of life could have formed there and if this could be a good hook for a challenge.
I think yes, and also no. Creating new life is interesting. It's world building, which is an important skill for writers, but this is a flash challenge, and there aren't a lot of spare words to flesh out a new world.
More importantly, a thousand words to just describe new life is not a very interesting story in itself. In a story, things have to happen. Characters move and interact. Plot develops. Furthermore, the most interesting stories aren't about a place at all, but instead the people in that spot, trying to perform some personal task while something bigger happens--particularly if those "people" are flawed in some important way. Readers love flawed, but compelling characters.
There again, there's that thousand word limit keeping your flash story down. How to get around it?
Imply.
That is, hint at the way things are just enough the readers can fill it in themselves, both for setting and for the character's back-story. Don't go on about how cold it is at midnight on your world--see your partner shivering in the deepest dark. Don't tell us how much your hero owes the local warlord--just have him agree too quickly to the price and hurry from the public market.
In short, this challenge is all about learning to write with the most impact in the fewest possible words.
To do this challenge, there are a number of things you will need to figure out before you write a single word:
Setting: Set your story on one of those "orphaned" planets. Figure it out in your head exactly what it's like, but do NOT tell us about it. Hint at what it's like through what your characters see or do.
Characters: Every character in your story must have a personal goal like falling in love, becoming the best swordsman in the regiment, avenging the death of their father, eating the last alien equivalent of a Twinkie on the planet, etc., but DON'T tell us what it is. (Ok, don’t really try the pseudo-Twinkie thing. I'm just trying to say the personal goal doesn't need to be something big and serious.) They may or not achieve it in the story, but just don't tell us what they're really aiming at. Each character also needs a flaw, but DON'T tell us what flaw your character has. The reader should be able to guess it by the time they're done.
A big event: There needs to be a big event going on (that you DO describe or explain to some degree) that the characters can interact in. The barbarian horde may be attacking. Aliens may have landed next door and are stealing all the females or perhaps just the pets. The base's cafeteria may be serving only tapioca pudding for the 13th straight day and a riot is going on. Whatever, so long as the action will sweep your characters into the plotline. Once they're there, their goals and flaws will dictate their actions, and bam, you're writing!
When you're done, you may surprise yourself at what an enjoyable story you've written.
REQUIREMENTS: (1) Your SF, Fantasy, or Horror story must tell the tale of one or more characters on a planetary orphan caught up in some larger event; (2) Each character must have a personal goal they want to achieve and also have a flaw; (3) Do not describe the world, the character's goal, or their flaw. These must be implied or shown; (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?")
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-les Darween. All non-copyrighted settings are ok. Famous, unique sites like Stonehenge may be used over and again. No fan fiction, 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 hat 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, June 19, 2011. The stories will then be posted for voting at 10 p.m. Voting will close on Sunday, June 26 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.
Every effort will be made to keep the voting fair. In the past, some voters have abstained from voting for some of the stories while voting for the others. Since total points scored decides the winner, this put the stories that weren't voted on at a disadvantage. Should this happen again, the skipped stories will be given marks equaling whatever the story's average is at the time of contest close. 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 or any 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.
(That was one of my favorite episodes.)